Israel Matzav

The return of bipartisanship?

Here's some encouraging news from the US House of Representatives. A bipartisan group of 198 representatives has signed a letter raising concerns about the $60 billion arms package to the Saudis.

In a letter to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, 198 representatives voiced a range of complaints about Saudi policies, and said they “would like to know how these sales will affect Israel’s qualitative military edge.”

House members aren’t likely to block the deal, officials said, but would like conditions applied to the sales to try to prevent the weaponry from potentially being used against Israel, US or allied forces.

Lawmakers noted, for example, that the administration could require modifications in aircraft guidance systems and other electronics to make it harder for the weapons to be used against Israeli targets. The US also could require that the aircraft be based in the eastern part of Saudi Arabia, to provide Israel time to prepare for defense in the event of an attack, lawmakers said.

The letter was primarily the work of House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman, D-Calif., and ranking minority committee member US Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla.

Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif. [pictured with tefillin. CiJ], who signed the letter, said he was optimistic that the administration will be able to meet the lawmakers’ requests because of the leverage provided by the deal.

“This giant weapons sale is obviously critical to Saudi national security,” he said.

...

The group of lawmakers raising questions included both liberal and conservative members, and the letter faulted several Saudi policies. They complained that Riyadh has not moved to normalize relations with Israel, has lagged on financial support to the Palestinian Authority and has not done enough to try to pressure Iran to curtail its nuclear weapons program.

It would be nice if support for Israel went back to being bipartisan. Unfortunately, the White House still has to get with the program.

Labels: Howard Berman, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Saudi arms package

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:37 PM