December 1989, Page 24, 25

If Israel Has Illegally Exported American Missile, Nuclear or Computer Technology, What Should the US Do?-Four Views

Pull Israel's Leash

By Muhammad Hallaj

Years ago Israel sneaked into the nuclear club, and now it is sponsoring South Africa's debut as a nuclear power. Israel's refusal to accede to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty has taken a most sinister turn.

Israeli-South African military collaboration is neither new nor a well-kept secret. It has been known for years that since 1976 a series of military cooperation agreements between Israel and South Africa have made them virtual partners in the development and production of military hardware, including nuclear weapons. South Africa provides Israel with financial backing and a regular supply of uranium, and Israel provides South Africa with know-how-much of it American in origin.

Israel's priorities are not necessarily America's.

Israel's partnership with South Africa is not limited to military collaboration. South Africa's main method of evading international economic sanctions has been by marketing its goods as Israeli products. But their partnership in the military, particularly in the nuclear program, is most dangerous because it undermines the global effort to contain the spread of weapons of mass destruction.

Recent revelations of Israeli-South African collaboration in developing and testing a ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead is a clear and urgent signal that Israel's role as spoiler of the global trend toward a more peaceful and democratic world has become intolerable, and that it has become imperative to shorten its leash. The US government has contributed to this ominous turn of events in many ways, including the following:

1) Dealing with Israel as a "strategic asset" has given Israel practically limitless access to US military technology and material, without accountability.

2) Acceptance of the myth that Israel's militarism is essential to its survival has led to the habit of excusing its excesses, no matter how outrageous.

3) Acceptance of the myth that Israel is a model democracy and that it shares America's ideals and values has created the habit of discounting evidence of Israeli wrong-doing.

4) Acceptance of Israel's contention that the world is "out to get" the Jewish state and that disapproval of Israel's behavior is a form of anti-Semitism has encouraged Israel to ignore world opinion and to disregard international sanctions.

5) Washington's habit of readily accepting Israel's explanations encourages Israel to violate US laws and ignore its concerns.

Israel's priorities are not necessarily America's. The Israeli role as one of the world's principal merchants of death brings it profit and helps it break out of its international isolation.

Above all, Israel's nuclear program is its guarantee that it will continue to get all it wants from Washington to keep Israel from resorting to the nuclear option. This is not just an Arab or African concern; it is also an American concern.

Now Israel wants the US to make available to it a supercomputer which can simulate nuclear explosions, making it more difficult to detect violations. The US should not only withhold further transfers of such technology to Israel, it should consider sanctions. Until the US does this, Israel will have no incentive to behave itself.

Muhammad Hallaj is director of the Palestine Research and Education Center in Fairfax, VA, and editor of its magazine, Palestine Perspectives.

Israel Has a Long History of Violations

By Allan C. Brownfeld

If recent reports that Israel and South Africa are cooperating to develop and test an intermediate-range missile are true, the Bush administration is faced with a dilemma.

The question of Israel's role in sharing nuclear technology with South Africa comes as the US is considering the sale of supercomputers to two Israeli universities. A 1987 Pentagon-commissioned report, disclosed in October, asserts that there is close cooperation between the Israeli universities and Rafael, a military research and development institute, and SOREQ, a scientific center that does research in advanced physics, which the report says can be applied in the development of nuclear weapons.

The US urges friends throughout the world to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty as a condition for receiving US military assistance. We have been pressuring Pakistan in this regard for many years. Israel refuses to sign this agreement yet continues to receive massive US aid.

Beyond this, however, is the fact that Israel has a long record of using US assistance in violation of the agreements under which it has been provided. In invading Lebanon with US supplied weapons, Israel violated not only the US Arms Control Law, but an agreement that Israel would use weapons only in self-defense. When Israel used the cluster bomb in Lebanon, it volated a second agreement that this weapon would only be used if Israel were attacked by the regular forces of two or more nations, and that cluster bombs would never be used in a built-up civilian area.

For many years, Israel has been receiving US military aid, and has been favored not only with massive assistance but with a virtual exemption from adherence to the rules which other US allies must follow. When Turkey invaded Cyprus in 1974, for example, Washington suspended all military assistance for two years because the Turks had illegally used weapons the US had provided for self-defense. Yet, when Israel invaded Lebanon eight years later, the Congress completely ignored the provisions of the Arms Export Control Act. The US response, rather than once of censure, was to promise delivery to Israel of 75 more advanced F-16 planes.

Now the Bush administration must decide whether or not Israel is to be held to the same standards as other recipients of US aid. If it is not, the US can hardly present itself as an honest broker in the Middle East. Surely, clear violations of agreements made by foreign governments with the US must be penalized. Sadly, as with many treaties with the Soviet Union which have been violated with impunity, the US reaction appears to be impotent.

Our relationship with Israel should be based upon mutual trust. Unless and until agreements are honestly fulfilled, such trust can hardly exist. Perhaps putting an indefinite hold on any sale of supercomputers to Israel would be a good place to begin to show our concern. A serious reconsideration of any military joint ventures now planned or to be entered into in the future would be another. Business as usual would be a dangerously wrong message for all concerned.

Allan C. Brownfeld is a nationally syndicated columnist and associate editor of the Lincoln Review and America's Future.

Israel/South Africa (Take Your Choice)

By George Thompson

The Arabs have a proverb that explains what is happening in the ominously developing relationship between Israel and South Africa: "The good man finds the good man." Presumably the same applies to "the bad man."

The US should join the rest of the civilized world in calling for an end to these relations.

And why not? It was only a question of time before these maverick birds of prey found each other. Their destinies have been linked ever since each raised an iron claw against inhabitants of the lands they occupied.

Picture poor Israel/South Africa (take your choice): Surrounded by enemies within and without, lashing back at the UN and the rest of the world (who "don't understand our need to survive") by jailing, beating and committing genocide.

Picture the prime minister of Israel/South Africa saying, "I will not deal with the Palestine Liberation Organization/African National Congress. It is a terrorist organization."

Picture what you have seen on the TV screens and in the newspapers of the world before Israel/South Africa decided not to show and tell what it is doing within its political borders.

The US, like many a doting parent unhappy with its offspring's choice, foolishly hoped that maturity would bring an end to the relationship. Unfortunately, Israel and South Africa are now locked in an embrace that threatens peace in the rest of the world. But, like all things, time has a habit of catching up with events, rights and-in the case of this juvenile escapade-wrongs.

Consider the points above. Then consider the fact that both countries have been guilty of practices believed to be beyond the pale of conventional international behavior in the society of nations we all share.

Consider the fact that each has resurrected the tragic memories, images and guilt of what happened during the second world war to a people that now, ironically, is deeply involved in perpetuating such acts.

Consider also the fact that when those acts occurred two generations ago, the world looked away. But the guilt remains. Now that it is happening again, we cannot watch and wait, mute and motionless.

That's why the world-particularly the US-must now feel outraged by Israel's agreement to share with South Africa not only super-computer technology and the Lavi fighter, but the development of nuclear weapons, bought and paid for with US taxpayer funds.

South Africa is a renegade state. It has been so named by the civilized world.

Israel is also a renegade state and it has been so named by the UN as well as by most of the rest of the civilized world.

It is time that the love affair between Israel and South Africa and Israel and the US come to an end. The US should join the rest of the civilized world in calling for an end to these relationships.

The US should tell Israel that continuing to cavort capriciously with a black-hating South Africa can no longer be tolerated, that it can no longer flirt with disaster for the rest of the world.

The US should end this wayward child's affiar. We can do it best by cutting its $3 billion annual allowance.

George Thompson, a retired foreign service officer, is a nationally syndicated columnist and talk show host.

International Controls Are Needed

By Sol Schindler

To answer a hypothetical question, clearly the United States cannot condone violations of agreements it has made with other nations. If we enter into an agreement with another country we should stick to the provisions of that agreement as should the country we have made the agreement with. Such a policy hardly seems arguable; but what is it we are talking about?

An international effort is required, but where would it come from?

NBC-TV has reported that Israel helped South Africa build intermediate-range missiles. Two things seem to be involved: the transfer of US military technology without permission; and the export of missile-related technology, regardless of its origin, to countries lacking such technology. In short, proliferation of missile capability.

In regard to the first part, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher has said that the US had no indication that Israel has transferred any US missile technology to South Africa, and that "we [the US] had not, and we do not, provide permission to resell US military technology to South Africa." Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin is quoted as saying "Israel does not supply US military technology to foreign countries without the prior consent of the US. This rule has no exceptions."

Actually, the NBC-TV report referred to the Jericho intermediate-range missile which Israel has developed on its own and which is simply the most current of a line of successful Israeli-built missiles.

If Israel has not transferred US military technology without permission it may, nevertheless, have contributed to missile proliferation by transferring its own. There is nothing illegal about this since sovereign countries control their own assets. Witness China selling Saudi Arabi silkworm missiles despite American protests. However, it is American policy to keep missile capability, nuclear bomb capability, and poison gas capability as restricted as possible. In 1987 we initiated a missile control pact which sets guidelines for the export of missile-related technology from the seven leading non-communist developed nations. Neither Israel nor South Africa is included, however.

The question of missile proliferation has been raised in the past in discussions between US and Israeli defense figures and will be raised again, according to Pentagon officials, in new discussions. Whatever military connection Israel has with South Africa will be severed, sooner rather than later, not only to meet US policy but to conform to Israel's own imperatives.

Of general concern is the proliferation of catastrophic weapons. India has the atomic bomb and Pakistan is building one. Iraq, with French assistance, is in the race and Israel reputedly already has the capability. Libya has a poison gas plant while Iraq has used poison gas against the Kurds. Missiles seem everywhere and their use in the Iraq-Iran war against civilian targets increased progressively, with increased bloodshed the only result.

American efforts to control proliferation should be applauded, but considerably more is needed. Obviously, an international effort is required, but where would it come from? The UN hardly seems capable of such an effort.

Sol Schindler is a retired foreign service officer who writes on international affairs.