Israel will make no further arms deals with Argentina but would deliver any arms already contracted for, Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir said over the weekend.
The British government had asked for clarification of the arms relationship between Israel and Argentina after attention was drawn last week to the fact that an Argentine fighter plane downed by Britain off the coast of the Falkland Islands was identified as an Israeli-made Dagger, a forerunner of Israel’s Kfir fighter plane.
Shamir said that Israel wanted to stay out of the Falklands dispute and had concluded no arms deal since the crisis erupted. According to officials here, Israel is a minor supplier of arms to Argentina, the source of less than 10 percent of Argentina’s arms imports.
Reports in foreign publications noted that Israel has sold Argentina two squadrons of Daggers, known as Neshers. Buenos Aires has also purchased four aluminum-hulled Dabur-class patrol boats, several Gabriel ship-to-ship missiles and Shafir air-to-air missiles, among other advanced weapons. Israel officially maintains a tight news blackout on arms sales.
Editorials in several Israeli newspapers noted that Britain itself has been Argentina’s main weapons supplier, and they charged that London’s complaints against Israel was duplicitous. Editorials also contended that Britain had no right to complain about Israeli arms sales because it had consistently supplied weapons to Arab countries that were sworn to destroy Israel.
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