Fascinating Dispute
By Via Laura Rozen, a story that just hasn’t received much play here:
The Israeli-American crisis over the sale of an advanced technology weapons system to China has also turned into an Israeli-Chinese crisis in the wake of an American demand that Israel not return to the Chinese the Harpy assault drone that China recently acquired and which it sent back to Israel for an upgrade. The firm demand was raised at a meeting between Israel’s representatives and the Pentagon’s representative, Lisa Bronson. The Pentagon is demanding that Israel in effect break its contract with China and not return the drones, which have already become part of the Chinese operational deployment. Israel’s representatives were shocked by the demand, but American sources say that Israel will give in.
This is part of a larger conflict between the US and Israel over the sale of high technology equipment to China. Unsurprisingly, the Americans don’t want the Chinese to have sophisticated Israeli equipment, while the Israelis would prefer to be free to sell to whomever they wish. This is not new, but I hadn’t realized that the situation had escalated to the point that the US is pressuring Israel to essentially steal Chinese equipment.
It looks as if some neocons may be coming to the realization that Israeli and US security interests are compatible, but not identical. Those neocons have always been a bit slow on the uptake. . .