A member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee warned that the U.S. promise of “strategic cooperation” with Israel does not offset the threat to Israel’s security posed by the Administration’s proposed $8.5 billion arms package to Saudi Arabia.
Speaking before 700 members of Pioneer Women at a dinner opening the organization’s 27th biennial convention here Sunday night, Rep. Michael Barnes (D. Md.) declared that the sale of AWACS reconnaissance planes and enhancement equipment for F-15 fighter planes would create a threat to Israel “that cannot be overstated” and that Israel “should not take too much comfort” from any offer of strategic cooperation. The actual ingredients of such a policy “remain to be seen,” Barnes said.
He asserted that the arms sale “would be against the best interests of the U.S.” He warned that — given the “unstable” character of the Saudi government — there would be a serious danger of the American equipment falling into the “wrong hands.”
Calling the sale “the preeminent issue before Congress,” Barnes predicted that the House would veto it but “there is a strong chance” the Senate would approve it. A veto by both chambers will be required to block the sale.
Sen. Daniel Moynihan (D. N.Y.), who greeted the delegates, described the Middle East arms race as “alarming and appalling.” Ann Block of Washington, D.C. is the chairperson of the four-day convention, which will also be addressed by Chaim Herzog, a member of the Knesset and former Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, and Akiva Lewinsky, treasurer of the Jewish Agency.
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