President Reagan decided, a week after Israel went into Lebanon last June, to hold up notification of the sale of 75 F-16 jet fighters to Israel, the State Department revealed. But Department deputy spokesman Alan Romberg stressed that this decision did not mean the President has determined that Israel’s operation in Lebanon has violated United States law requiring that any weapons sold Israel be used only for defensive purposes.
Romberg’s remarks Friday were made in an effort to explain Reagan’s statement in Los Angeles last Thursday that the United States is “forbidden by law” to supply the planes to Israel while it is “occupying” Lebanon.
It was the first time anyone in the Reagan Administration had given any reason for holding up the sale after it had given Congress the required informal notification of it last May. Up to now, Administration spokesmen, when asked about the planes, said the President will decide, a situation which Romberg maintained still holds.
THE ISSUE OF LAW
“As the President pointed out (in Los Angeles), under law any weapons that are supplied must be used only for the purposes of legitimate self-defense,” Romberg said.
“While Israeli forces remain in Lebanon, concerns arise as to whether it will be consistent with the spirit of the law to go ahead with the Congressional notification regarding the aircraft which has been held up ever since Israel went into Lebanon. However, the President was not stating that he is making a determination” of whether Israel has violated the law.
Romberg mainted that Reagan had notified Congress last July that there was a possible “substantial violation” of the law in Israel’s invasion of Lebanon. Israel regards the invasion as an act of self-defense. Romberg said the notification to Congress was contained in a classified letter. Later, it developed that the letter was declassified September 10. The law says that either Congress or the President can made a determination that a violation has occurred although neither is required to do so.
Romberg said he did not know why the President chose now to make public the reason for holding up the plane sale. The President’s remarks were made after a speech on arms control when he was asked by a member of the audience why the planes were not being released, particularly in view of the military buildup by the Soviet Union of Syria.
DENIES THERE IS A CONTRADICTION
Romberg denied that there was any contradiction in holding up the F-16s and the recent announcement by the Pentagon of the sale of 200 Sidewinders to Israel. He said it is a “question of judgement” and the President has made a judgement in one case and not in the other.
The spokesman also denied that the delay in providing the F-16s was a reversal of the policy enunciated by Administration officials, particularly Secretary of State George Shultz, that the United States would not use military or economic aid to pressure Israel. On September 5, when he was asked specifically about using the F-16s as pressure, on CBS TV’s “Face the Nation,” Shultz replied: “Our emphasis will be… on the importance of peace. I think that’s a tremendous pressure. Pressure isn’t the right word. It’s a tremendous objective that people have.”
When Shultz was asked again about the use of pressure, he said: “We don’t have any plans to try to maneuver people in a peace negotiation by talking about withholding aid or anything like that. I think the emphasis has to be on the positive side and that’s where it has to be.”
Romberg noted that the decision to hold up the planes was made before Shultz became Secretary of State and a week after Israel went into Lebanon. He said it occurred on June 13, the day when the 20-day notification to Congress expired.
Israel, which already has 75 F-16s, was offered an additional 75 in 1978 after the United States made major arms sales to Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt. The planes are due for delivery starting in 1985. Romberg did not know whether the delay in notification to Congress would have any effect on the delivery date. Congress has 30 days, after being formally notified of the proposed sale, in which it can vote to reject it.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
