The government announces that it has finalized the details of the sale of one of Israel’s largest defense contractors, the state-owned IMI Systems, to Elbit Systems, a major Israeli defense electronics company.
IMI, formerly known as Israel Military Industries, is the maker of iconic Israeli infantry firearms like the Uzi, the Galil assault rifle and the Negev machine gun, as well as much of the IDF ground forces’ ammunition, multiple types of rockets for air and artillery systems, and precision ordnance.
Israeli minister of Defense Avigdor Liberman (c) at the inauguration ceremony for the new Elbit factory in the southern Israeli town of Arad. April 2, 2017. (Ariel Hermoni/Ministry of Defense)
Officials celebrated news of the sale agreement by noting that under the conditions agreed to by Elbit, IMI will shut down its Ramat Hasharon factories and move them to the job-starved Negev. They will reopen in the Ramat Beka industrial zone south of Beersheba.
The move is expected to free up land for the building of thousands of housing units in the Ramat Hasharon area, where demand for apartments is high.
— Judah Ari Gross
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