Russia - not Israel - is touting strategic cooperation
It is Russia - and not Israel - that has gone public about the strategic coordination between the two countries. The Israelis, while realistic about the decline in American activity in the region due to the Obama administration's tendency toward isolationism and Islamophilic behavior, nevertheless do not wish to stick it in the United States' face, probably in the hope that some day a different administration will take charge. The Russians, on the other hand, have no reason to hedge their bets and are
proud that Israel is cooperating with their camp.
"We don't interfere with
them and they don't interfere with us," Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon
said in a radio interview, tersely summing up Israel's accommodation
with Russia.
Another reason Israel is holding back could be because it does
not know the full extent of Russia's plans for Syria or what effect they
could have on Assad's allies – Iran and the Lebanese guerrilla group
Hezbollah.
A de-facto axis between Moscow and Israel's two most powerful
regional enemies could seem an unsettling scenario for Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu's government, but it might also be seen as providing a
moderating influence.
"The new order in the Middle East is loose coalitions for
specific purposes, so a Russian partnership with Iran and Hezbollah to
save Assad is not necessarily bad for us," a Netanyahu confidant told
Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Russian President Vladimir Putin "is not looking to mess with
Israel, and it's unlikely he would look kindly on Iran or Hezbollah
messing with Israel now, either," the confidant said.
The assurance has been echoed by Russia, which hosted Netanyahu for Syria "deconfliction" talks on Sept. 21.
It took until this week for the United States, whose forces have long
been in sync with Israel on Syria, to agree on similar coordination
with Russia.
...
Shein said Russia was
familiar with the reasoning behind past Israeli air strikes in Syria,
including against alleged arms transfers by Iran or Assad's army to
Hezbollah, and "fully aware of Israel's strategic importance in the
Middle East."
But he said Syria's neighbors and overall regional stability were
threatened by the conflict, suggesting Israeli security might be best
served by an Assad victory.
Israel called for Assad to be ousted after the civil war began but
the Netanyahu government has recently preferred neutral rhetoric even
though Western powers continue to demand an eventual change of
leadership in Syria.
...
Moscow, meanwhile, has made no secret of seeing vindication for its Syria strategy in the Netanyahu government's posture.
"Israel’s prudence from the outbreak of the conflict in Syria has
become apparent in the fact that Israel did not consider the overthrow
of President Assad as an indispensable condition to avoid foreign
intervention and impediment for the beginning of a national
reconciliation," Shein said.
He linked this to what he described as Israel's "wisdom" in not
taking sides when Russia seized the Crimea region from Ukraine last year
following the removal of a Ukrainian president who was sympathetic to
Moscow.
"I hope it reflects concern for the development of Russian-Israeli
relations in a true, friendly and cooperative manner," Shein said.
Israeli officials have spoken respectfully, but not lavishly, about their evolving relationship with Russia.
A diplomatic dividend such as Russian recognition of Israel's
ownership of the Golan Heights is nowhere on the horizon, and Moscow's
growing relationship with Iran worries the Netanyahu government.
What could go wrong?
Labels: Bashar al-Assad, Golan Heights, military cooperation, Russia, Syria, Syrian uprising, Ukraine
US publishes details of Arrow 3 missile base Israel wanted kept secret
The headline of this story - as reflected in the graphic above - sounds really awful. But after reading the story, I have to wonder how the IDF expected a competitive bidding process to be carried out without at least some group of people gaining access to
these plans.
The Obama administration had promised to build Israel a
state-of-the-art facility to house a new ballistic-missile defense
system, the Arrow 3. As with all Defense Department projects, detailed
specifications were made public so that contractors could bid on the $25
million project. The specifications included more than 1,000 pages of
details on the facility, ranging from the heating and cooling systems to
the thickness of the walls.
"If an enemy of Israel wanted to
launch an attack against a facility, this would give him an easy how-to
guide. This type of information is closely guarded and its release can
jeopardize the entire facility," said an Israeli military official who
commented on the publication of the proposal but declined to be named
because he wasn’t authorized to discuss the facility. He declined to say
whether plans for the facility have been altered as a result of the
disclosure.
"This is more than worrying, it is shocking," he said.
Pentagon
spokesman Lt. Col. Wesley Miller said he couldn’t comment on the
specifics of the Arrow 3 base, but he said the United States routinely
published the details of its construction plans on a federal business
opportunities website so that contractors could estimate the costs of
jobs. He said such postings often might be revised after contracts were
approved.
Israeli officials appear to have been well aware of the
danger of outsourcing building projects to the United States. In an
interview with the Reuters news agency in March, Lt. Col. Peleg Zeevi,
the head of the bidding process at Israel’s Defense Ministry, justified
Israel’s long history of relying on the United States to help build
military installations by saying that Israel needed "a player that has
the knowledge, ability and experience."
"We are aware of the
security issues that arise in deals with foreign firms, but because we
want real competition and expertise, we will create conditions that will
allow and encourage their participation," Zeevi said.
It
appears, however, that Israeli officials were caught by surprise that
details of the facility at Tel Shahar, classified so top secret that
Israel’s military won’t officially confirm its location between
Jerusalem and Ashdod, would be made so public.
If this is the way the US does public tenders, and if Israel understood that and did not want these details disclosed, why didn't it arrange to approach a small number of trusted US defense contractors privately, with US government approval, to solicit bids without putting these kinds of details into the public domain? Or is the story here that Israel thought that's what it was doing or wanted to do and that the Obama administration thwarted those efforts? If that's the case, it's a serious breach, but that's not what the story appears to be saying....
Or since reporter Sheera Frenkel is based in Israel, is there something more here that didn't make it past the IDF censor?
Hmmm.
Read the whole thing.
Labels: anti-missile systems, Arrow 3, Iranian nuclear threat, military cooperation
US troops deploying to Israel?
I knew there was an anti-missile exercise going on here with the US this month, but for some reason, they're talking about
deploying thousands of US troops to Israel. That makes it sound like
they plan to stay a while (Hat Tip:
Betty W).
Calling it not just an “exercise”, but a “deployment”, the Jerusalem Post quotes US Lt.-Gen Frank Gorenc, Commander of the US Third Air Force based in Germany. The US Commander visited Israel two weeks ago to confirm details for “the deployment of several thousand American soldiers to Israel.” In an effort to respond to recent Iranian threats and counter-threats, Israel announced the largest ever missile defense exercise in its history. Now, it’s reported that the US military, including the US Navy, will be stationed throughout Israel, also taking part.
Also confirming the upcoming US-Israeli military missile exercises is JTA.org - 'global news service of the Jewish people'. In their account, they report, 'Last week, plans for Gen. Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, to visit Israel in January were leaked to Israeli media; his visit likely will coincide with the largest-ever joint U.S.-Israel anti-missile exercise'.
While American troops will be stationed in Israel for an unspecified amount of time, Israeli military personnel will be added to EUCOM in Germany. EUCOM stands for United States European Command.
In preparation for anticipated Iranian missile attacks upon Israel, the US is reportedly bringing its THAAD, Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, and ship-based Aegis ballistic missile systems to Israel. The US forces will join Israeli missile defense systems like the Patriot and Arrow. The deployment comes with “the ultimate goal of establishing joint task forces in the event of a large-scale conflict in the Middle East”.
Hmmm.
Labels: military cooperation, US-Israel relationship
IDF signs security cooperation agreement with Greece
My enemy's enemy is my friend. Israel has signed a
security cooperation agreement with Greece.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak signed a security cooperation agreement with the Greek Defense Minister, Panagiotis Beglitis today, Sunday ([September] 4) at a meeting at the Kirya Base in Tel Aviv.
"We welcome the Greek Defense Minister and thanked the Greek government for their rapid assistance during the Carmel fire. We're pleased with the strengthened relationship between Greece and Israel in all aspects, including defense," said Barak at the end of their meeting.
Barak added that the Israeli and Greek nations are "ancient nations that provided the world with culture. Looking ahead, the nations expect to see a deepening of the cooperation between the two governments, defense ministries and peoples."
According to Barak, the security cooperation agreement represents future cooperation with the Greek government. "Both Greece and Israel are undergoing a difficult period in the world and I believe we view each other positively."
In recent years, the IAF has been training with many foreign armies however recently the cooperation between the Greek Army and the IDF grew significantly.
Last June IAF participated in a joint training exercise with the Greek Air Force at the Larissa area using UH-60 Black Hawk and Boeing AH-64 Apache helicopters.
So we are now allied with Greece, Cyprus and Bulgaria, and Turkey is now allied with Iran, Syria and Egypt (next story).
What could go wrong?
Labels: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Iran, military cooperation, Syria, Turkey
Israel and Bulgaria to sign military cooperation agreement
The Bulgarian government has approved a
military cooperation agreement between Israel and Bulgaria (Hat Tip:
Joshua I).
The Cabinet in Sofia has approved a draft of an agreement between Bulgaria’s and Israel’s defence ministries on military co-operation in conducting joint military drills and training, Bulgarian National Radio (BNR) said.
The agreement regulates the interaction between the two countries in the planning of the joint drills, the status of the armed forces on the territory of the host country, environmental issues, jurisdiction, customs and financial issues, responsibility in the event of accidents, as well as claims and liabilities of the two countries in abiding by international agreements.
It is expected that the conducting of joint military drills with Israel would improve the training of Bulgarian military units operating in multinational environments, BNR said.
That's yet another slap in the face for Turkey. Heh.
Labels: Bulgaria, military cooperation
