[WCUSP] IPS-POLITICS: Israel Violates Law on U.S. Weapons in Mideast

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POLITICS: Israel Violates Law on U.S. Weapons in Mideast

Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Jul 17 (IPS) - Israel is in violation of U.S.
 arms control laws for deploying U.S.-made fighter planes, combat 
helicopters and missiles to kill civilians and destroy Lebanon's 
infrastructure in the ongoing six-day devastation of that 
militarily-weak country.

 The death toll, according to published reports, is over 200
 people -- mostly civilians -- while the economic losses have 
been estimated at about 100 million dollars per day.

 "Section 4 of the (U.S.) Arms Export Control Act requires that
 military items transferred to foreign governments by the United 
States be used solely for internal security and legitimate 
self-defence," says Stephen Zunes, professor of politics at the 
University of San Francisco.

 "Since Israeli attacks against Lebanon's civilian
 infrastructure and population centres clearly go beyond 
legitimate self-defence, the United States is legally obliged to 
suspend arms transfers to Israel," Zunes told IPS.

 Frida Berrigan, a senior research associate with the Arms Trade
 Resource Centre at the World Policy Institute in New York, is 
equally outraged at the misuse by Israel of U.S.-supplied weapons.

 "As Israel jets bombard locations in Gaza, Haifa and Beirut,
 killing civilians (including as many as seven Canadians 
vacationing in Aitaroun), it is worth remembering that U.S. law 
is clear about how U.S.-origin weapons and military systems ought 
to be used," Berrigan told IPS.

 She pointed out that the U.S. Arms Export Control Act clear
 states that U.S. origin weapons should not be used for 
"non-defensive purposes."

 "In light of this clear statement, the United States has an
 opportunity to stave off further bloodshed and suffering by 
demanding that its weaponry and military aid not be used in 
attacks against Lebanon and elsewhere, and challenging Israeli 
assertions that it is using military force defensively," she 
added.

 That would demonstrate the kind of "utmost restraint" that
 world leaders called for at the G8 Summit of the world's most 
industrialised nations, which just ended in St. Petersburg, 
Russia.

 The 25-member European Union has said that Israel's military
 retaliation against Lebanon is "grossly disproportionate" to the 
kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers last week by the Islamic 
militant group Hezbollah, which is a coalition partner of the 
U.S.-supported government in Beirut.

 Israel has accused both Syria and Iran of providing rockets and
 missiles to Hezbollah, which has used these weapons to hit 
mostly civilian targets inside Israel.

 Israel's prodigious military power -- currently unleashed on a
 virtually defenceless Lebanon -- is sourced primarily to the 
United States.

 Armed mostly with state-of-the-art U.S.-supplied fighter planes
 and combat helicopters, the Israeli military is capable of 
matching a combination of all or most of the armies in most 
Middle Eastern countries, including Iran, Syria, Egypt, Jordan 
and Saudi Arabia.

 The air force has continued to devastate Beirut and its suburbs
 with no resistance in the skies during six days of incessant 
bombings, causing civilian deaths and infrastructure destruction.

 "The Israeli Air Force now flies only U.S.-origin fighters, a
 mix of F-15s and F-16s, and the rest of the service's fleet is 
almost completely of U.S. origin," says Tom Baranauskas, a senior 
Middle East analyst at Forecast International, a leading provider 
of defence market intelligence services in the United States.

 While in earlier years Israel bought from a variety of arms
 suppliers, with the French in particular being strong sellers to 
Israel of such items as Mirage fighters, over the past couple of 
decades the United States has developed into Israel's 
preponderant arms supplier, he added.

 "The U.S. domination as Israel's arms supplier can be seen in
 the Congressional Research Service's (CRS) annual study of arms 
sales," Baranauskas told IPS.

 He said the latest CRS survey shows a total of 8.4 billion
 dollars of arms deliveries to Israel in the 1997-2004 period, 
with fully 7.1 billion dollars or 84.5 percent coming from a 
single source: the United States.

 A major factor in this trend was the rise in U.S. Foreign
 Military Financing (FMF) -- outright U.S. grants to Israel -- 
which now totals about 2.3 billion dollars a year paid for by 
U.S. taxpayers.

 By U.S. law, Baranauskas said, 74 percent of FMF assistance to
 Israel must be spent on U.S. military products. This U.S. 
assistance has now become the main source of financing for 
Israel's major arms procurements, especially its fighter planes.

 >From a historical perspective, he said, U.S. assistance to
 Israel during 1950-2005 has been staggeringly high: Foreign 
Military Financing (FMF) amounting to 59.5 billion dollars; 27 
billion dollars in Foreign Military Sales (FMS) mostly 
government-to-government arms transactions; and eight billion 
dollars in commercial arms sales by the private sector.

 Berrigan of the Arms Trade Resource Centre said the United
 States is undoubtedly the primary supplier of Israeli firepower.

 In the interest of strengthening Israel's security and
 maintaining the country's "qualitative military edge" over 
neighbouring militaries, the U.S. Congress provides Israel with 
annual FMF grants that represent about 23 percent of its overall 
defence budget. Israel's 2006 military budget is estimated at 7.4 
billion dollars.

 According to the Congressional Research Service, FMF levels are
 expected to increase incrementally by 60 million dollars a year 
to a level of 2.4 billion dollars by 2008 compared with 2.2 
billion dollars in 2005.

 "Israel has been the largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid
 every year since 1976," Berrigan said.

 Additionally, the United States provides Israel with billions
 of dollars worth of weaponry.

 She pointed out that recent military sales to Israel include
 propulsion systems for fast patrol boats worth more than 15 
million dollars from MTU Detroit Diesel; an eight-million-dollar 
contract to Lockheed Martin for high-tech infrared "navigation 
and targeting" capabilities for Israeli jets; and a 
145-million-dollar deal with Oshkosh Truck Corp to build more 
than 900 armour kits for Israeli Medium Tactical Vehicles.

 In December of last year, Lockheed Martin was awarded a
 29.8-million-dollar contract to provide spares part for Israel's 
F-16 fighter planes.

 Berrigan also said that Israel has one of the world's largest
 fleets of F-16 fighter planes, made in Fort Worth, Texas and 
also in Israel by Lockheed Martin Corporation. 

 Israel has a total of over 378 F-16s, considered one of the
 world's most advanced fighter planes -- besides 117 F-15s, 94 
Skyhawks, 110 Phantoms -- all supplied by the United States.  
(FIN/2006)