Posted on 09/22/2005 11:53:59 AM PDT by sofaman
The US imposed a sales embargo on spare parts for helicopters during the first year of the Intifada, former head of the Shin Bet, Avi Dichter, revealed on Thursday.
In a speech at the Saban Center for Middle East Studies at the Brookings Institution, where Dichter is now a fellow, he said that the embargo was short-term, and was imposed because the of the Israeli policy of "targeted killings" by the Israeli air-force using US made helicopters. "The embargo was lifted after the 9/11 attacks", Dichter said in his speech.
This is the first time an Israeli official has mentioned such an embargo on military equipment, and it is not clear what spare parts were banned for sale to Israel.
Human rights groups and members of Congress tried, in the early years of the Intifada, to get the US administration to stop supply of aircrafts to Israel, claiming the Israeli air force was breeching the "terms of use" agreed upon with the US government.
The Pentagon and the State Department rejected those claims and did not put new limits on the sales to Israel.
Dichter, who recently met with PM Ariel Sharon to discuss the possibility of joining the political arena, said he is still considering his future, but did not dismiss the possibility of a career in politics.
"I will make my decision in the next three months", said Dichter, who will be spending that time in Washington. "It will take no longer and no shorter that three months."
Dichter refused to say which party he is thinking of joining – "first I'll decide what course I'm taking," he said, adding that the field of politics attracts him more now than it did five years ago.
In his speech, in front of an audience of Middle East experts, Avi Dichter said it is now up to the Palestinian Authority to decide if it wants to choose the path of harboring terrorism, as do Lebanon, Syria and Iran, or the way of fighting terror, like Egypt and Jordan have chosen. "If the PA chooses to fight terror they can build a paradise on the ground," said Dichter, "but if the PA goes the other way, I can assure them they'll enjoy the fruits of hell."
Dichter portrayed the Israeli way of dealing with terror as a success, but pointed out that it was successful only after Israel arrived at the conclusion that it must use full force against the terrorists.
"If the M-16 can send a message, then sometimes the F-16 can deliver that message even better."
According to Dichter, Israel erred when it chose the policy of limited response to terrorism, and gained victory only after it employed full force. He said that there is no sense in a measured response, because the escalation will happen in any case.
They also expect to outlast any upstart Republicans which might happen to infest the White House temporarily.
Condi was supposed to be cleaning that mess up. But she seems to be playing along with them. Not good.
Yes, I would like an exact time line of implementation - me thinks you are right.
See post 14. If this is true, it would have been post Feb, 2001.
Same here. It is shameful that our government would do this to our only ally.
The right, by and large, are ardently pro-Israel. I visit the Middle East forum over at DU, and it gets really ugly there at times.
Anti-semitism has found a home on the Left, I'm afraid.
And so my choice is the two faced bullying tactics of the Bush crowd vs. the outright Jew hate on the left.
That's some choice.
At least Dubya doesn't hate Jews, but his neocon advisers need rectal brain surgery.
Not much of an 'about face', I'm afraid. The US State Department is a law unto itself, untouchable. It has been anti-semitic since before there was a State of Israel.
There are serious rumors that Ariel Sharon will retire to enjoy the fruits of bribery. Israel's got a bigger chance of change than US foreign policy.
"Bush: Weak terror response led to 9/11"
and to prove it, he offers the story you posted as proof. Too bad he refuses to learn fom HIS OWN mistakes!
I'm not crazy about Bush either, but we work with the best we have at the moment.
I am no longer convince of that. His sins are growing by the day. They are every bit as destructive as the democRATS' sins.
I won't vote for either party.
A. In California, it doesn't matter.
B. Even if it did, Bush has screwed our state over.
C. He has screwed Israel over.
So where does that leave you? We thought we could have some influence in the RNC, donate money, turn out the votes, all that. Nope, when it comes to national issues like the ongoing tidal wave of illegal immigrants, or supporting little Israel it seems like we get no where.
A third party is certainly tempting, but there isn't a viable one.
I believe this policy came from high up in the Bush Administration. It is a similar policy to Bush 1/Baker policy of arm twisting. Baker held up loan guarantees and parts until he extracted compliance from PM Shamir.
There were ongoing rumors of a similiar arm twisting going on prior to the Gaza pullout - that US was witholding spare parts and weapons deals to move the pullout and Israeli compliance along. Also that the publicized dispute over arms sales to China, which the Israelis claimed they had not done without the US ok, was a trumped up excuse which mysteriously evaporated at the time of the Gaza pullout.
This excuse would have provided excellent cover for what was in reality a US attempt to mandate Israeli policy. This cover protected Israel from the religious right Pres Bush supporters who also normally advocate forcefully for Israel.
It's still hard to judge, he sends different messages different days, to different audiences, and may well have no long term policy re Israel. Might be a continuation of Bush I (Arafat was pleased, later surprised, with GWBs election), with a time out post 9-11, or given our involvement in Iraq, he may feel he has to offer the Arabs something. In any case, the best thing Israel can do is follow their own course, unilaterally. You're right about the China "scandal", that was about Gaza. Likely the AIPAC publicity was as well.
Nor will it ever be viable. It might just get some action by being disruptive though. I think that these politicos do pay attention to what we write and think. I think Tom Tancredo is looking better and better....
Shameful, shameful actions on the part of our government to a loyal ally fighting for its existence.
Ditto for my home state of Pennsylvania, which has become bluer than blue in regards to Presidential races. Cancels out my vote.
It should have been called the Clintifada..
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