US Sanctions Impair Israel's Operational Capability, US Demands Veto On Israeli Sales While Unrestricted US Sales To Arabs Continue

2005-06-12

[IMRA: If Prime Minister Ariel Sharon thought that Washington's "reward" for retreating from the Gaza Strip and northern Samaria would be long term in nature, American sanctions - including a freeze on the supply of night vision equipment which could harm the IDF's operative activity send a clear message that he was terribly mistaken.

It should be noted that the American supply of the most advanced weapons systems to Israel neighbors takes place without any serious examination of the consequences of the sales. Instead they are covered by the following circular logic: since sales to the Arabs are restricted by law not to change the balance between Israel and the Arabs, by definition any sales to the Arabs does not have an impact on the balance. Thus there is the dubious assertion that the supply of billions of dollars of advanced weapons is of no significance.

Does this mean that the Arabs are fools when they spend billions of dollars on American weapons that, according to the very same American authorities involved in the sale, have no significance?

Or, alternatively, does this mean that the American government believes that the people in the Congressional oversight committees that should be monitoring compliance with the requirement that sales to the Arabs not tip the scales are fools?

And while on the topic - why is it that a quick check of the AIPAC website www.aipac.org finds no mention of the issue of American weapons sales to the Arabs? The word "Tabuk" - the Saudi air force base near Israel's border where, in gross violation of an American commitment the Saudis deploy American jets - does not even appear anywhere in the AIPAC website. ]

U.S. to Israel: Tighten control of arms exports

Ze'ev Schiff, Haaretz Correspondent

www.haaretz.com/hasen/ spages/587093.html

WASHINGTON - The crisis between Israel and the United States over the sale of assault unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to China is deepening: The U.S. has been imposing harsh sanctions on Israel for a few months now, following the dispute between the two states over the sale of the drones.

The moves, which are damaging to Israel, involve undermining security deals and information exchanges on advanced weapons systems, and freezing shipments of military equipment required for operative activity.

The U.S. has made three demands of Israel in order to settle the crisis, involving supervision of defense industry exports and coordination with the United States.

The controversy erupted over a deal Israel made to sell its Harpy Killer UAVs to China. The U.S. claims that the deal was made behind its back and against its express wishes.

In 2000 Israel canceled the sale of Falcon airplanes to China following U.S. pressure.

The U.S.'s first demand is that Israel provide it with details of more than 60 deals it made with China in recent years, so that Washington could assess the damage caused to its security, if any.

Mofaz has appointed former Air Force commander Major General Herzl Bodinger to settle this issue with Washington.

The second demand is a close examination of the Israeli security equipment supervision system. Washington wants to know how "holes" are created in the system, how those who break regulations are punished and why the government is not directly involved in the supervision.

The third demand is the formulation of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) about arms sales. Sources in the U.S. administration say it will be possible to draft the MOU once the differences over the Israeli supervision are ironed out.

The controversy triggered a personal trust crisis between outgoing U.S. Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas J. Feith and Defense Ministry Director General Amos Yaron. Recently, however, the dispute deepened and expanded into several security areas that could gravely damage Israel.

The sanctions against Israel were approved by the highest ranking American officials. Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice approved them about seven months ago, and they were imposed with the knowledge of Steve Hadley, national security adviser to President George W. Bush.

This is contrary to the Israeli assumption that the crisis would blow over with the departure of the officials with whom the argument had erupted. These include Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, who already left for the World Bank, Feith and Undersecretary of Defense for Technology, Security Policy and Counterproliferation Lisa Bronson. Feith and Bronson are soon to end their tenures in the defense department.

Israel has agreed to the Americans' demand that it change its supervision regulations on security exports. However, an Israeli delegation to Washington failed to settle differences on this in recent days.

The sanctions have been imposed on Israel's entire security industry, not merely on plants that made deals with China. One company that could be damaged, although it did not make arms deals with China, is Elbit. Elbit is contending with other companies in the U.S. to sell equipment for the advanced F-22 Raptor aircraft. So far it has competed successfully against a British company, but it is feared that if the crisis continues the Americans may prefer the latter.

The Americans have also suspended technological cooperation with the Israel Air Force on the future Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft. Air Force Commander Major General Eliezer Shakedi recently visited the U.S. and voiced his fears regarding the operative effects of the sanctions.

The U.S. has halted cooperation on a large advanced simulation system for the IDF's ground forces, dealing with the future battlefield, and stopped the information exchange on Hunter 2, the assault UAV Israel is developing with an American company.

The crisis has disrupted the contacts of senior Defense Ministry officials with their counterparts in the American Defense Ministry, who are not responding to telephone calls from Israel. A meeting of a strategic work team that convenes every six months was put off.

Yaron has recently written to Deputy Minister of Defense Gordon England, who replaced Wolfowitz, suggesting settling the crisis. But England replied only to Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz.

The U.S. is also holding up a shipment of night vision equipment. Some of the equipment disappeared from one of the shipments, and an Israeli probe indicates it was stolen before the goods left the U.S. Meanwhile, Washington has declared a freeze on all such equipment shipments to Israel, which could harm the IDF's operative activity.

Following the crisis, one can sense the repulsion toward Israel among lower- and middle-ranking officials in Washington. More and more of them are saying that it is not worth doing business with Israel.

Source: IMRA – Independent Media Review and Analysis