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Should Israel Worry about the Sale of Advanced Aircraft to the UAE?

Sept. 24 2020

On Tuesday, the Israeli defense minister Benny Gantz came to Washington and met with his American counterpart Mark Esper to discuss the possibility that the U.S. will sell its top-of-the-line F-35 jets to the United Arab Emirates. Despite the breakthrough in relations between Jerusalem and Abu Dhabi, many Israelis fear that selling the aircraft to the UAE would erode the Jewish state’s qualitive military edge over its neighbors—which the U.S. is required to by an act of Congress to uphold. Shimon Arad explains these concerns:

In the volatile Middle East, circumstances and intentions change far more rapidly than capabilities. Examples from the region’s recent history include the so-called “Arab Spring,” the rise and fall of the Muslim Brotherhood regime in Egypt, and the antagonistic Islamist turn of Turkey

Second, the decision to release the F-35 stealth fighter to the UAE would be a precedent that it would be impossible not to extend to other Gulf states—especially Saudi Arabia. . . . Once this threshold is crossed, it will be harder for Washington to deny other highly advanced weapons systems to Egypt, Jordan, or Morocco.

Third, the UAE and Saudi Arabia have no real military need for the F-35, and their existing fourth-generation F-16s, F-15s, and Eurofighters . . . are more than a match for Iran’s outdated air force. The . . . Gulf States need . . . improved defensive capabilities rather than the means to carry out surprise stealth attacks.

By contrast, James Stavridis, a retired U.S. admiral and the former supreme commander of NATO forces, argues that Washington can sell Abu Dhabi the jets without eroding Israel’s qualitative edge if it agrees to “increase its support to Israel more broadly.”

This can be done first by allowing accelerated [arms] procurement under the current Memorandum of Understanding—a ten-year agreement with the Israelis on aiding their overall security—which would bring not only the F-35 but also new F-15X fighters and KC-46 refueling tankers. . . . Washington could [also] increase the intelligence flow to Israel (already high, but not quite at the level of the Five Eyes program of English-speaking nations) and share more of its cybersecurity technology; cyberwarfare can provide enemies strong counters to new [hardware] like the F-35.

Given the rising threat of Iran, the U.S. would be smart to improve the UAE’s defenses. But protecting commitments with Israel takes priority.

Read more at Bloomberg

More about: Benny Gantz, Israeli Security, United Arab Emirates, US-Israel relations

The Summary: 10/7/20

Two extraordinary events demonstrate something important about Israel’s most fervent adversaries. One was a speech given at something called The People’s Forum (funded generously by Goldman Sachs), which stated, “When the state of Israel is finally destroyed and erased from history, that will be the single most important blow we can give to destroying capitalism and imperialism.”

The suggestion that this tiny state is the linchpin of a global, centuries-old phenomenon like capitalism goes well beyond anything resembling rational criticism. Even if Israel were guilty of genocide, apartheid, and oppression—which of course it is not—it would not follow that its destruction would help end capitalism or imperialism.

The other was an anti-Israel protest that took place in front of New York City’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, deemed “complicit” in Israel’s evils. At organizers’ urging, participants shouted their slogans at kids in the cancer ward, who were watching from the windows. Given Hamas’s indifference toward the lives of Gazan children, such callousness toward non-Palestinian children from Hamas’s Western allies shouldn’t be surprising. The protest—like the abovementioned speech—deliberately conveyed the message that Israel is the ultimate evil and its destruction the ultimate good, cancer patients be damned.

The fact that Israel’s adversaries are almost comically perverse does not mean that they can be dismissed. If its allies fail to understand the obsessive and irrational hatred that it faces, they cannot effectively help it defend itself.

Read more at Mosaic