Posted on 06/14/2005 7:23:46 PM PDT by datura
Tuesday, June 14, 2005 The Bush administration has begun to block arms shipments to Israel and suspend joint programs after the two allies failed to resolve a dispute over arms sales to China.
U.S. officials said the Defense Department and Israeli representatives were unable to draft a memorandum of understanding that would halt Israeli weapons sales to China. They said the two sides could not agree on a supervision mechanism for Israeli arms exports.
Israel has agreed to increase government supervision of arms exports, the long-held turf of the Defense Ministry, Middle East Newsline reported. But officials said the Israeli delegation refused to accept U.S. demands for increased access to Israeli negotiations with foreign militaries. The countries were said to have included India and Singapore, two leading clients of Israel's defense industry.
"This is certainly an issue that is being discussed between the United States and Israel, and we have made our concerns about the sale and transfer of defense equipment and technology to China known to Israel," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said on Monday.
Whitman refused to confirm a report by the Israeli daily Haaretz that the administration has demanded details of more than 60 military and security deals with China. He also did not address the Pentagon boycott of senior Israeli defense officials.
"We continue also to raise concerns with our allies, our friends and partners and look for them to take responsible approaches to arms sales to China, too," Whitman said. "This is broader than just Israel."
The failure to draft the MoU appeared to have heightened the crisis between the Pentagon and Israel's Defense Ministry. The Pentagon has boycotted high level meetings with Israeli officials since July 2004 in wake of Israel's efforts to upgrade the Harpy unmanned aerial vehicle for China.
Since then, the Pentagon has embarked on a process of escalating sanctions. They included the suspension of Israeli participation in the Joint Strike Fighter program.
Officials said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon sought to resolve the crisis during his visit to the United States in late May. They said a week after Sharon's return, the United States informed Israel that it had been suspended from the JSF program.
In 2005, the administration began holding up arms deliveries to Israel, such as night-vision systems, and delayed a scheduled strategic cooperation session. Officials said the U.S. Army has stopped relaying information on a project to develop the Hunter-2 UAV, based on an Israeli-supplied platform. Northrop Grumman has been the prime contractor of the project for the U.S. Army.
The Pentagon has also refused to engage with three Israeli defense officials. They were identified as Defense Ministry director-general Amos Yaron, head of the ministry's New York-based procurement division Yekutiel Mor, and Sibat arms export chief Yossi Ben-Hanan. These officials were said to have been responsible for Israel's defense relationship with China.
Israeli defense sources said the Defense Ministry has responded to all of the Pentagon requests and still envisions an MoU by August 2005. But they acknowledged ministry opposition to the U.S. demands for increased transparency of arms deals and the dismissal of the three officials.
"The Defense Ministry is holding discreet and pertinent talks with the United States to solve the misunderstandings, which it does not believe need to make public," an Israeli Defense Ministry statement said.
Nonsense. And World Nut Daily is not a credible source.
I support Israel, and until something more threatening than this comes along, I will continue to support Israel. But I believe we need to "Trust but Verify" with all of our so called Allies
My trust level of this administration has been dropping like a tungsten rod from low earth orbit now since the last election. It's reaching the same territory as my trust of the 'toons.
I had hoped that things had moved on since then, and that we had some integrity back in government, only to find we've been tricked again. Which makes me extremely angry.
IMO, we need to clean our governmental houses with industrial strength chlorine and start again with the original 10 Amendments to the Constitution and throw all else out. (Including the politicians.) As said, it's my dream - I know it won't happen.
Precisely when was Israel elevated to "our most important ally" status?
Important, yes ---- but hardly our MOST important --- far from it....
However, I suspect that Israel may consider us THEIR most important ally.... Maybe!
Semper Fi
" (our most important ally)"
You need to put a sarcasm tag on that BULL$#!T.
This comes from Bill Gertz and Geostrategy Direct.com. Not Farah's DEBKA squad. Sorry. It's a subscription service, but not like the G-2 Oija board Farah uses.
I trust NOTHING from WND. Don't confuse the two though.
Best that the spaniel not bite the shepard on the leg.
==Nonsense. And World Nut Daily is not a credible source.
It is not nonsense...and you can't just DECLARE World NET Daily a non-credible source. If you have problems with them state your case and then offer your preferred alternative sources so we can judge where YOU are coming from--HUAC
==My trust level of this administration has been dropping like a tungsten rod from low earth orbit now since the last election. It's reaching the same territory as my trust of the 'toons.
Couldn't agree with you more. Please add me to your ping list if you have one--HUAC
Currently - and I never, ever thought I'd say this - Japan is our only TRUE ally. Australia is right there as well, but the socialist ties to Mother England sometimes clouds Australia's vision.
Japan has taught us a few lessons over the years. Carrier operations. A lot of submarine ops. They're all fricking business when it comes to national sovereignty and security. Thankfully they also understand that the US economy drives the planet - we helped them out during the Asian crisis, they've helped us a bunch as well. More than any other nation on earth.
Having an old school biker say that Japan (our industrial enemy of the '80s) is our only TRUE friend is saying a lot. I've got relatives that survived Bataan.
Will do.
I was commenting on the link he/she/it posted in post #33, which is a Hal Lindsey article in World Nut Daily.
"........After all it is just FREE TRADE!"
3 posted on 06/14/2005 7:29:52 PM PDT by Evolution (Tolerance!?
One day, maybe not in my lifetime and possibly not in yours, they are going to learn the hard way that nothing is free. And I believe that they will not like to pay the price of what this "Free Trade" with Red China is going to cost.
Sorry - I was mistaken. Didn't mean to be so short - but I've had so many that think all intel news comes from Farah. (shudder.)
I'm all for "Fair Trade" not "Free Trade".
The Free Traitors have sold us out so badly - I hope we can recover in time.
Basing national security on fairy tales isn't a good idea.
==Basing national security on fairy tales isn't a good idea.
Only a FOOL says there is no God. But, as it turns out, if you look at my earlier post, I make a very compelling post as to why Israel should NOT be selling weapons technology to the GODLESS Communist leadership of RED CHINA.
Before you question it, my loyalty is to the US barring divine intervention. The US should hold Israel accountable for selling weapons top China. Of course we should also hold American companies accountable. Ceasing arms gifts to potential enemies of Israel might also be nice.
Rev. 16:14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
The whole world will come against Israel.
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