In December, the Israeli Defense Ministry announced that it would buy tens of thousands of new standard-issue rifles from a domestic manufacturer, instead of importing them from the U.S. And on Tuesday, it sealed a deal with Elbit—known for its drones and other advanced military technology—for the manufacture of heavy bombs and the raw materials used for producing rocket and missile fuel. The goal of these measures isn’t to make American military assistance unnecessary, but to lessen Israel’s dependence.
The editors of the Jerusalem Post consider the event last March that made it “painfully evident” that this dependence had become a problem:
three soldiers were killed and another fourteen were wounded when an explosion went off in a booby-trapped building in Khan Yunis. In the debate that followed the incident over why the IDF sent in troops to destroy the building, rather than doing it from the air, one reason proffered was that the IDF was reserving the type of bomb that would have been needed to level the building for other operations. In other words, Israel was afraid of running out of bombs, and the IDF was carefully monitoring its supply of ordnance to be able to fight a long war on numerous fronts.
The long-term danger of this type of dependence on the U.S. for arms became even more acutely evident in November, when Senator Bernie Sanders sponsored three different bills that would have embargoed future arms sales to Israel. . . . Though the bills were roundly defeated, about one-third of Democratic senators voted for the measures, something that justifiably causes concern when considering whether the U.S. will continue to be as forthcoming in its sale of arms to Israel a decade from now.
No country, especially not one of Israel’s size, can attain full weapons independence. But at the same time, this dependence can be reduced, so as to decrease the amount of leverage other nations—even friendly ones like the U.S—can have on Israel’s decision-making process during times of war.
Read more on Jerusalem Post: https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-836551