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By Correspondent Patrick Saint-Paul in Jerusalem

June 16, 2005

Le Figaro - Original Article (French)    

The officials of Israeli armament companies present at the Salon du Bourget are taking particular care this year not to be seen in public with potential buyers. This is the latest tangible sign of a crisis in the relationship between Israel and the United States after a sale of Israeli arms [chiefly drone aircraft] to China. The espionage related chill in relations between the Sharon government and its closest ally comes just as American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is to conduct a tour of the Middle East this weekend.

A high-level Pentagon expert was accused on Monday of having passed classified information on Iran onto two high-level AIPAC officials, the American pro-Israel lobby [in Washington], as well as to an [Israeli] diplomat. Israel denies any wrongdoing in the affair. It has already been caught red-handed on several occasions spying in the United States. In Washington, these denials have been accepted circumspectly.

But the affair of the arms sales to China is causing increasing murmurings in Israel, where great care is usually taken not to irritate Washington, Israel’s main political and financial supporter. Israel sees the latest American accusations on this affair misplaced. “It is time for the prime minister to make it known to the Americans at the highest level that they have gone too far and that we are a sovereign country and not a puppet show,” said a high level Israeli official to the daily Yedioth Ahronoth.

Following the sale of Israeli Harpy fighter drones to China on Monday, United States officially expressed concern through the State Department and the National Security Council. The United States confirmed that a contract was signed behind its back with a potential rival of Washington - against its explicit recommendations.

The U.S. Department of Defense on Sunday imposed sanctions on the Israeli defense minister. The Pentagon is even refusing all contact with the Director General of Israel’s Defense Ministry, Amos Yaron, who is implicated in the contract. According to the Israeli press, Washington has even called for his dismissal. The United States has also supposedly demanded information concerning 60% of Israel’s recent arms contracts with China, and has requested a detailed report on its arms exports in general.

“There is a crisis,” said Youval Steinitz, head of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee in the Knesset and a hawk close to Prime Minister Sharon. “There is no doubt that the relationship with the United States is vital for Israel. But despite the enormous importance of American diplomatic, economic and military aid, Israel must maintain its independence and a certain reciprocity in this relationship.” Steinitz acknowledges that a mechanism should be put in place so that Israel does not sell sensitive weapons to potential rivals. But he calls the American request for the dismissal of high-level Israeli defense officials “humiliating.”

Under a cloak of anonymity, Israeli officials accuse the United States of acting solely in its own economic interests: feeling threatened by the rise of Israeli’s arms industry around the world, and in particular its sales to China, a big potential client for the United States.

The daily Haaretz says that the prime minister should personally intervene to resolve the crisis, saying Israel will “only be able to come out of this fight on the losing side.”