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The U.S. Role in Israel's Arms Industry
by: Bishara Bahbah
December - December
1987
The Link - Volume 20, Issue 5
Page 10
IAI wasted little time in capitalizing on the arrangement. It published a full-page advertisement [which appears in the PDF version].130
In conclusion, Israel’s ability to establish an arms industry of impressive dimensions that produces a diversity of technologically sophisticated weapons is beyond dispute. The stunning growth of its exports over the past 15 years--from $100 million in 1970 to between $1 to $2 billion in the 1980s--is a reflection not merely of the growth of the industry and the high performance of its products, but also of Israel’s ability to seize opportunities offered by the vagaries of international politics.
All this would have been impossible without:
—the funds for research and deveopment and the complete technical data packages that were provided by the U.S.;
—the joint ventures and the subsidiary relationships established with leading U.S. arms manufacturers;
—the liberal and exceptional uses of U.S. FMS funds that allowed Israel, among many other things, to buy its indigenously-produced arms with U.S. funds and use offsets on contracts financed by U.S. financial military assistance;
—the permission granted to Israel to co-produce and produce under license U.S. military products and to take on subcontracts for U.S. arms manufacturers;
—allowing Israel to modify, sell, service and maintain U.S. military equipment;
—and, finally, leasing and purchasing from Israel hundreds of millions of dollars annually in Israeli arms products.
As to the future, there is little doubt that the progress and expansion of Israel’s arms industry will continue to be heavily dependent on the U.S. involvement. Very few indicators refute the assessment that the U.S. will persist in providing Israel with the needed finances, advance technology and access to the lucrative U.S. arms market. Such a support cannot but guarantee a booming Israel’s arms industry and the molding of a more militaristic Israel, compliments of the United States.
Bishara B. Bahbah is the author of the recent book, “Israel and Latin America: The Military Connection.”
NOTES
1. Thomas Friedman, “How Israel’s Economy Got Hooked on Selling Arms Abroad,” New York Times, December 7, 1986, p. 1E.
2. Quoted in the Jerusalem Post, February 16, 1986.
3. Estimates of Israeli arms sales are educated guesses, based on sources ranging from Israel’s trade statistics to scattered data published in the international press and specialized journals. Most recent estimates of Israeli arms sales range from $1.2 billion to well over $2 billion per year. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), one of the most respected sources on the international arms trade, gives the lowest figures. This is because SIPRI includes in its calculations only major weapons systems such as aircraft, tanks and naval ships, and excludes small arms, ammunition and defense electronics which constitute the bulk of Israel’s military exports.
4. Friedman, p. 13.
5. Dan Zarmi, “A Penetrating Self-Examination in the Metal Industry,” Ha’aretz, (Tel Aviv, Hebrew), March 7, 1977.
6. Richard Goldman and Murray Rubenstein, Shield of David: An Illustrated History of the Israeli Air Force, (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1978), p. 78.
7. Bishara A. Bahbah, Israel and Latin America: The Military Connection, (New York: St. Martin’s Press in association with the Institute for Palestine Studies, 1986), p. 43.
8. Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), World Armament and Disarmament Yearbook 1973, (London: Taylor and Francis, 1973), p. 349.
9. Bahba, Israel and Latin America, P. 43.
10. Israel Government Yearbook 1969-70, (Jerusalem: Central Office of Information, 1970), p. 115.
11. Goldman and Rubenstein, Shield of David, p. 78.
12. U.S. Assistance to the State of Israel, p. 11.
13. Benjamin Beit Hallahmi, The Israeli Connection: Who Israel Arms and Why, (New York: Pantheon Books, 1987), p. 191.
14. U.S. General Accounting Office, U.S. Assistance to the State of Israel, (uncensored draft [made available by the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee], Washington, D.C., April 1983), p. 37.
15. Ibid.
16. Ibid., pp. 38-39.
17. James Gordon, “Israel Spurs Defense Equipment Sales Efforts in U.S.,” Aviation Week & Space Technology, April 29, 1985.
18. Ibid., p. 39.
19. Joshua Brilliant, “Prospects for Greater Arms Sales to the U.S.,” Jerusalem Post, April 11, 1984.
20. U.S. Assistance to the State of Israel, p. 38.
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