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Since Israel's declaration of independence in 1948 it has been involved in five wars with neighboring states. Its vulnerable location -- bordered by Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan, and within missile distance, of Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia -- has prompted the U.S. to maintain a commitment, since the Truman administration, to "safeguard Israel's security and well-being" and cultivate its "qualitative edge." In other words, we help make Israel's military technology far superior to that of any of its neighbors'. This also, incidentally, helps the U.S. "secure access to [Middle Eastern] energy resources." Barely larger than New Jersey, Israel is nonetheless the fourth-largest recipient of weapons from the U.S. -- since 1993, it has received close to $10 billion in weapons alone -- as well as engaging in joint military exercises, weapon research and development programs, and exchanges of military scientists and engineers with the United States.
To help fund its operations, Israel has since 1986 received an annual U.S. allotment of $1.8 billion in foreign military financing (FMF), dedicated to weapon procurement. Israel is also the only country allowed to spend $475 million of its FMF each year to develop and buy weapons domestically. And Israel's due for a raise: The 1999 Omnibus Bill allots the country an additional $6 million next year for procurement and also raises the cap on Israel's own weapons development by $15 million. It's quite a deal, considering that the U.S. has indirectly contributed to Israel's 1993-1995 ranking as the world's seventh-largest arms supplier. But this has not gone unnoticed or uncriticized in the U.S.; Israel is notorious for selling weapons to countries such as China and apartheid-era South Africa while the U.S. and much of the world imposed sanctions against them for human-rights abuses or strategic threats. The U.S. also fears that Israel's close partnership and resulting knowledge of sophisticated military technology is propelling still-secret American weapons into the wrong hands. The U.S. Arms Export Control Act (AECA) specifically states that no country may sell U.S. "defense articles or service" to a third country (known as unauthorized retransfer) without U.S. approval. From 1975 to 1995, 17 reports went to Congress concerning so-called end-use violations, seven of which pertained to Israel. Yet the U.S. has continually backed down from taking action against Israel, primarily due to enormous pressure from Israel's well-organized congressional lobby. Also, according to Dov Zakheim, former deputy undersecretary of defense under Reagan, "They have never been caught red-handed. It is reasonably safe to say that Israel is not foolish enough to transfer stuff that can be found out." Two of Israel's alleged end-use violations involve "selling modified versions of our weapons" or "sending technicians familiar with our equipment" to other countries, Zakheim says. In one case, Israel allegedly sold a modified version of the Patriot missile to China in 1992, which led the State Department to send an investigative team to Israel. The team found no evidence to support the claims. In another case, there is the possibility that the PL-8 missiles China made and then sold to Iraq have U.S. Sidewinder technology on board -- which Israel may have passed to China in the sale of its own, possibly Sidewinder-enhanced, missiles. More recently, tensions over the Arrow land-to-air ballistic missile defense system have developed, with rumors of a possible sale to India of certain components of that system; this would violate U.S. sanctions against India for its nuclear tests. But the Arrow case is especially sensitive because just two of the missile's five components were joint Israeli-American creations, while the other three were developed unilaterally by Israel, including the missile's Green Pine radar. Nonetheless, American pride gets in the way of resolving the conflict: Duncan Hunter, a professor of international security at American University in Washington, D.C., told Defense News that "to make the case that Arrow components are exclusively Israeli [is] not well received in the Pentagon or State Department."
Israel has received 14 Bell Textron AH-1E attack helicopters (October 1995, under the Excess Defense Articles (EDA) program, free), software for its F-15s from Boeing (also free through the EDA), 17-Nov-95 two Hughes AN/TPQ-37 Firefinder counterbattery radars (November 1995), and 2,640 Hughes TOW-2A/B anti-tank missiles. United Technologies' Sikorsky division chipped in 15 Sikorsky UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters (April 1997, $53 million), while United Defense unloaded 28 M-577 command APCs. Israel has also received a veritable cornucopia of arms from Lockheed Martin in the 1990s, including 301 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) tactical rocket pods and related support (October 1997 FMS, $30 million), a passel of Hellfire II anti-tank missiles (April 1995, DCS, $45 million), and 121 free Martin Marietta Walleye missile tubes, courtesy of the Pentagon's EDA program. These arms sales continue in spite of criticisms of Israel's human-rights record (particularly toward the Palestinians) and its relations with Lebanon. According to the U.S. State Department's annual report on human rights, Israel's "High Court of Justice heard 46 abuse-related cases -- almost all asking for an injunction to halt the torture of a specific individual." The Israeli government may legally use force during interrogations and detain prisoners for periods of time without explanation or allowing contact with lawyers and family. Israel also continues to bulldoze Palestinian homes when those homes lack construction permits, which Israel never gives them, according to the Palestinian Committee on Land and the Environment. Israel, the committee says, has demolished 700 homes since 1993. Tensions with Lebanon continue along with sporadic fighting, shelling, and killings of noncombatant civilians on both sides. But the U.S. remains bound to Israel. As Bob Satloff, executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, states, "We are getting a good bargain and it is a fairly reasonable investment in Israel's security. It helps to ensure allied security." -- Suzie Larsen Flags courtesy of World Flag Database
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