Israel Stands Pat Onits Opposition to Sale of Awacs Even if Technical Changes Are Made

Israel made it clear today that it will continue to object to the U.S. sale to Saudi Arabia of five AWACS surveillance aircraft and enhancement equipment for the 62 F-15s the Saudis have purchased from the U.S. even if the terms of the proposed weapons package are modified to continue American control of the AWACS after the Saudis take possession of them.

Israeli Ambassador Ephraim Evron, leaving the State Department this morning, said Israel opposes the sale even if technical modifications are made. He said that “advice given us” by the State Department that Israeli pilots would be able to shoot down the AWACS–carrying American air crews–should they pose a threat “is not something that I think will appeal to most people.”

Evron visited the State Department to deliver a message related to the current situation in Lebanon. At his meeting with Assistant Secretary of State-designate for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, Nicholas Veliotes, the Israeli envoy expressed verbally his government’s strong objections to a speech by the Saudi Arabian Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, Sheikh Ahmed Zaki Yamani, in New York last week that Israel considered “offensive and abusive” and “close to” anti-Semitism.

Yamani, addressing a Foreign Policy Association luncheon, claimed Israel was a greater menace to the security of the Middle East than the Soviet Union and that Israeli policies opened the way for Soviet influence in the region.

At its weekly session in Jerusalem yesterday, the Israeli Cabinet recorded a consensus to seek to influence American public opinion against the proposed weapons sale to Saudi Arabia, using particularly the opposition to it in Congress. At the State Department, meanwhile, spokesman Dean Fischer confirmed today that the Reagan Administration will present the package to Congress only after” consultations with the leaders of Congress.”

Senate majority leader Howard Baker (R. Tenn.) revealed on the CBS-TV “Face the Nation” program yesterday that the Administration had agreed to hold up its presentation of the Saudi package to Congress until probably next fall, so that Congressional leaders can have “input.” Baker said the proposals as they now stand would probably be rejected by Congress. He indicated that the input would give the U.S. some type of control over the AWACS after they are delivered to Saudi Arabia, beginning in 1985.

LEGISLATOR ‘CONVINCED’ OF DANGER OF AWACS

Rep. Stephen Solarz (D. NY), who last week inspected AWACS aircraft at the Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma and also viewed a demonstration of the AWACS role in simulated aerial combat, said today that despite the Administration’s denial, “I am convinced that the acquisition of AWACS by Saudi Arabia would pose a clear and immediate danger to the State of Israel.” Solarz, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, explained:

“Once the Saudis possess AWACS, no Israeli aircraft could take off from any air base in Israel without being monitored by Saudi Arabia. This intelligence information could then be easily and readily transmitted not only to Saudi aircraft but to other Arab air forces as well. The AWACS would therefore rule out the possibility of an Israeli pre-emptive strike against any Arab states, even if such a strike were essential to preclude an anticipated coordinated attack by the Arab confrontation states against Israel.”

Solarz also said that AWACS can be used in “coordinated attacks against Israel or even to control Saudi aircraft in combat against Israeli planes. “He said that while the Administration has indicated that Israel could easily shoot the planes down, “in fact, Israeli pilots would find the AWACS to be elusive targets.”