Full military arms embargo
A ban on all trade and transfer of military materiel with a state, covering sales, purchases, transit through third countries, parts, dual-use goods, software and services, not only finished weapons.
A full military arms embargo is a ban on all trade and transfer of military materiel with a state, not only on finished weapons. The definition Break the Chain uses is the one set out by the Democratic Socialists of America's National Arms Embargo Organizing Committee: "A military embargo prevents all trade/transfer of military materiel, which includes weapons, weapon parts, dual-use items, etc." The same text says the ban reaches "technology, software, components, vehicles, steel, jet fuel, surveillance equipment, and other parts, goods and services used by the Israeli military," and adds: "Transporting any of these items through US territory must also be prohibited under a comprehensive military embargo."
The word full marks the difference from a partial measure. Ending military aid, suspending one weapons category, or pausing a single sale leaves the rest of the supply chain running. A full military arms embargo closes the sale, the purchase and the transit of military materiel at the same time, and it applies regardless of who is paying for the cargo.
What does a full military arms embargo cover?
Four obligations, in DSA's framing of what states owe under international law: not to sell military materiel, including dual-use items, to Israel, or to allow private companies to export it; not to buy or import Israeli military materiel; not to transit military materiel to Israel through their own territory; and not to allow academic collaboration in military research that enables the occupation, apartheid or violations of the Genocide Convention.
Military materiel means any equipment, weapons, supplies, parts and infrastructure that enable armed forces to conduct military operations. Dual-use goods, the parts, components, technology and software that serve civilian and military purposes alike, sit inside the definition, because a jet engine part or a cloud contract can sustain a war as surely as a bomb.
How is it different from an arms embargo or a people's arms embargo?
An arms embargo is the general term for any ban on weapons transfers, mandatory or voluntary, imposed by a government, a regional body or the UN Security Council, and it can be narrow. A full military arms embargo is the comprehensive version of that measure. A people's arms embargo describes who builds it: workers, unions and communities at the ports, airports and warehouses the cargo passes through, acting before governments do.
What does it mean at JFK and Port Newark?
A full military arms embargo is one of the three demands Break the Chain brings to JFK, alongside transparency and accountability from the carriers that move the cargo and a commitment that civilian infrastructure will not be used to move military materiel. The cargo documented in the campaign's research, explosives flown from JFK, tank and F-35 components on passenger flights out of Newark, and sea cargo through Port Elizabeth, is exactly the trade the definition covers. The full quoted definition, with its source, is on the research page.
Also known as: military embargo, comprehensive military embargo, full arms embargo
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Cite this page: Break the Chain (NYC-DSA Anti-War Working Group), "Full military arms embargo," Arms-Trade and Logistics Glossary. https://wecanbreakthechain.com/glossary/full-military-arms-embargo/
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The paper trail ends at the loading dock. Break the Chain documents the NYC-area companies that move the cargo, each with a documented role and a published source, and publishes the research as it lands.