Dual-Use Technology

Dual-use technology refers to products, software or knowledge with both civilian and military applications, a category central to Israel's defense-tech economy. In Israel, civilian dual-use exports require a license from the Ministry of Economy, while military and defense-linked dual-use items go through the Defense Export Controls Agency (DECA) at the Ministry of Defense under the Defense Export Control Law of 2007.

What Counts as Dual-Use Technology?

Dual-use technologies span semiconductors and computing hardware, software and algorithms including encryption, AI models and intrusion software, advanced materials and composites, manufacturing equipment such as CNC machines and 3D printers, telecommunications infrastructure, and some biological research tools. In Israel's economy, cybersecurity software, AI systems, satellite-imagery analysis and drone technology are the primary dual-use sectors.

Who Regulates Dual-Use Exports in Israel?

Israel splits dual-use export licensing between two ministries. The Ministry of Economy and Industry administers civilian dual-use exports under the Import-Export Order (Regulation of the Export of Dual-Use Goods and Services), known as the Wassenaar Order. DECA, housed in the Ministry of Defense, licenses defense and military-linked dual-use exports under the Defense Export Control Law of 2007, a statute Israel adopted after the United States imposed sanctions over an earlier unauthorized Israeli defense sale, according to Globes' reporting. Anyone marketing or exporting defense equipment, know-how or services must first obtain DECA approval as a registered defense exporter.

Is Israel a Member of the Wassenaar Arrangement?

Israel is not a full member of the Wassenaar Arrangement, the roughly 41-state multilateral regime that coordinates export controls on conventional arms and dual-use goods, but it is treated as a compliant or adhering state that voluntarily follows the arrangement's control lists. Israel adopted the Arrangement's 2013 update adding intrusion software to the controlled list by amending its own Wassenaar Order in January 2014, according to legal analysis from Israeli law firms Goldfarb Seligman and Shibolet.

How Has Enforcement Played Out in Practice? The NSO Group Case

In November 2021, following international reporting that NSO Group's Pegasus spyware had been used to target journalists, activists and government officials in multiple countries, Israel's Ministry of Defense cut the list of countries eligible to buy Israeli cyber-surveillance technology from 102 to 37, Calcalist reported, removing Morocco, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE from the approved list. The U.S. Commerce Department separately added NSO Group to its trade blocklist that same month, and Amnesty International brought a case in Tel Aviv District Court seeking to have NSO's export license revoked outright. The episode shows how a single dual-use product can draw simultaneous Israeli, American and civil-society enforcement action.

What Are the Commercial Stakes for Israeli Companies?

Israeli companies in cybersecurity, AI and semiconductors must classify their products correctly, since purely civilian products can move faster through the Ministry of Economy's licensing track, while anything with a military or intelligence application falls under DECA's more restrictive defense export regime. Misclassification or unlicensed export exposes a company to criminal liability, asset seizure and the kind of reputational damage NSO Group faced after the Pegasus revelations and the resulting U.S. blocklisting and court challenges.