Crain’s Business omits the fact that a local military contractor is making weapons systems for Israel amidst an internationally condemned genocide against the Palestinians

Last week Crain’s Grand Rapids Business posted a story with the headline, GE Aerospace lands $33M Air Force contract to redesign F-16 black boxes.

The business press article talks about the contract, the commitment from GE Aerospace and what it means for the company.

There were numerous omissions from the article, beginning with the fact that this was a Department of Defense contract, which means that the public is subsidizing GE Aerospace to make the F-16 black boxes.

The other more important omission in the Crain’s article has to do with that fact that the US sells F-16s around the world to numerous countries. According to a recent Slash Gear article the countries that have purchased F – 16s “outside of the United States are Turkey, which has roughly 230 F-16s. Egypt, with 218 F-16s, comes in second place, and Israel, with 174 active F-16s, takes third place.”

The fact that Israel has purchased 174 F – 16s from the US is alarming and instructive, especially while the US is continuing to support Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people.

This is not the first time that companies in West Michigan are manufacturing weapons that will be sold to Israel, as I noted in a 2024 article listing several local companies making weapons systems being used by Israel.

Such an announcement is equally disturbing now that we are three years into the hell that Israel is unleashing on Gaza. Many scholars are calling what Israel is doing as genocide, along with international organizations, even B’Tselem, an Israeli Human Rights organization. For Crain’s Grand Rapids Business to not report on this crucial aspect of the GE military contract is unacceptable.