While some European governments freeze military cooperation with Israel under pressure from their own streets, Belgrade is heading in the opposite direction. And not quietly - with invoices.

The numbers tell the story. In the whole of 2023, up to October, Serbian arms exports to Israel totalled 540,000 euros. By mid-2024, that same export had reached 16.3 million euros. In 2025 it jumped by 140 percent to 114 million euros, with 38 Serbian cargo flights to Israel in that year alone. This is not incidental trade. This is a strategic decision.

Four days for a permit

The beginning is the most telling part. According to published accounts, Israeli representatives contacted their Serbian counterparts on 8 October, the day after the Hamas attack. They asked for ammunition. The export permit was issued in four days, and the shipments left for the Israeli air base at Nevatim. Four days. How long does it take in Belgrade to get a permit for something less delicate than ammunition in a war zone?

UN special rapporteur Francesca Albanese, during a visit to Belgrade in March, accused the Serbian authorities of cooperating with Israel "shamelessly". The accusation did not change the dynamic. Benjamin Netanyahu publicly thanked Aleksandar Vučić back in February 2024 for Serbia's "unwavering support, in word and deed", calling him "a true friend of Israel".

What Belgrade gets in return

The weapons do not move in only one direction. The key contract with the Israeli company Elbit Systems is worth 1.6 billion dollars and runs for five years. It covers production of reconnaissance and combat drones in Serbia, development of loitering munitions, precision long-range artillery rockets and electronic warfare systems. Serbia had already bought PULS rocket systems and Hermes 900 drones. During 2026, Belgrade and Jerusalem also signed an agreement to ease the exchange of intelligence and defence data.

That means combat drones built on Israeli technology are being produced next door. Not imported - produced. The difference is fundamental: an import is a transaction, production is a capability that stays.

The balancing act nobody names

For years Serbia has cultivated the image of a country caught between Russia and the West, forever vague, forever undecided. The reality is different and far more calculated. Russia is the traditional arms supplier, China has moved strongly into air defence and drones, and Israel and France exist so that Belgrade does not depend on either of the first two. This is not indecision. This is diversification, executed better than many in the region want to admit.

There is a second layer. Serbia is the land corridor between southeastern Europe and the rest of the continent, and with the new trade routes - particularly the India-Middle East-Europe one - Belgrade is positioning itself as a logistics point that will be hard to bypass.

Meanwhile, Turkey is strengthening defence ties with Croatia, Albania and Kosovo. So none of the neighbours is sitting on its hands, and the Balkans are slowly being distributed among external military patrons. The question nobody asks out loud is simple: who pays the price when everybody around is stockpiling weapons, and nobody has a regional agreement on what they will do with them?