'End Myanmar arms sales,' US rabbis urge Israel

A group of US rabbis on Thursday called on Israel to end arms sales to Myanmar, following reports that that Tel Aviv has sold tens of millions of dollars worth of arms to the Southeast Asian country.

Myanmar has been accused of ethnic cleansing amid a military operation that has seen thousands of Rohingya Muslims flee the country.

T'ruah, a non-profit organisation consisting of rabbis from several Jewish denominations, said that 300 Jewish clerics had signed a petition calling for an end to the reported arms sales.

"The US stopped arming/training Burma's military this week. Now it's Israel's turn," the group said on its Twitter page.

In another post, T'ruah said that the "Talmud prohibits selling weapons lest we find ourselves contributing to bloodshed," referring to one of Judaism's cenrtral religious texts.

In April this year, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) delivered six patrol boats to Myanmar, having signed a deal amid warnings of alleged ethnic cleansing against the country's Rohingya Muslim population.

News of the sales emerged amid reports that similar boats were used to sink vessels filled with refugees fleeing state violence.

Israel has carefully responded to the reports, with a statement from its foreign ministry saying that it "vehemently denies" allegations of its "alleged involvement" in Myanmar's controversial military operation.

Israel has not commented, however, on whether weapons had been sold to Myanmar in the past.

Since August, more than half a million civilians have fled alleged state-sponsored violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.

A United Nations report described in February how the Myanmar army and police used systematic violence, including rape and torture, against Muslim civilians.