Secretary Gates Goes to Israel
The visit of Defense Secretary Gates to Israel is important at many levels. He will, apparently, put to bed the nagging procurement problems that have plagued Israel’s Ministry of Defense and our Department of Defense. He will bring his and the President’s perspective on Iraq, Iran and Syria. Clarity is necessary because of Speaker Pelosi’s diplomatic mischief while visiting Syria. And he will engage Israel in a discussion of Saudi Arabia and a proposed new arms sale to the desert kingdom.
The visit of Defense Secretary Gates to Israel is important at many levels. He will, apparently, put to bed the nagging procurement problems that have plagued Israel’s Ministry of Defense and our Department of Defense. He will bring his and the President’s perspective on Iraq, Iran and Syria. Clarity is necessary because of Speaker Pelosi’s diplomatic mischief while visiting Syria. And he will engage Israel in a discussion of Saudi Arabia and a proposed new arms sale to the desert kingdom.
Sources say the Saudis have requested advanced F-15 and F-16 fighter-jets and air-to-ground weaponry that could erode Israel’s qualitative military edge. The Israelis are concerned and so is Congress. According to Middle East Newsline, one source suggested there would be “sweeteners” to overcome Israeli objections. The good news is that Secretary Gates will engage Israel. The bad news is that, yet again, an American administration appears to be willing to overlook real Saudi security needs and real Saudi troublemaking for the U.S. and our allies, and ask Israel to bear an additional security burden.
The Saudis do not face a threat that can be ameliorated by F-15s. They face the internal stresses that come from a wealthy tribe that has produced nothing constructive for its educated elite to do, while filling the heads of its young people with a religious message of intolerance for differences of gender, religion and nationality. The Saudis have spent billions of dollars funding religious terrorism and now find that at least one of its enemies is willing to fight back. No, not the Jews – victims though they are of outrageous anti-Semitism and vile Jew-baiting. But how long did the Saudis think they could fund and spread violent Sunni radicalism before violent Shiites took them on?
Saudi Arabia is afraid of both Persian Iran and of Arab Shiism exploding out of Iraq in two directions, through Jordan, to Lebanon (through Iran’s ally Syria) and down into the Arabian peninsula. Right. But in no case is Saudi Arabia going to take on Iran militarily. The best they can hope for is that the U.S. is successful in Iraq and takes whatever action is required to prevent the mullahs from achieving nuclear weapons capability. The Saudis can be most helpful by turning down the funding for radical Sunnis, providing diplomatic support for the government of Iraq and by not asking for airplanes that have no utility against the existing threat.
Defense sources have noted that Israel also has a list of requests for Secretary Gates, including “advanced airborne weapons and technology, approval for Israeli subsystems on the F-35, and an expanded intelligence exchange on threats in the Middle East.” These can and should be on the table when the Secretary visits. Israel’s defense requests should be taken seriously because they come from an allied country – to be agreed to, worked with, or not agreed to on their merits. But they should not be discussed as a quid pro quo for sales to Saudi Arabia.
Secretary Gates has already proven to have a strong grasp of the nuance of the region and the threats to American and allied interests there. We hope and we expect that he will address Israel’s security needs and our joint interests as allies and friends, and not view Israel as an appendage to old-line thinking on Saudi Arabia.