Israel apologizes to U.S. over China arms sale

Reuters ^ | Megan Goldin

[bill1952]

Israel publicly apologized to the United States on Sunday over arms exports to China that have drawn criticism from Washington and strained U.S.-Israeli security ties.

"It is impossible to hide the crisis between Israel and the United States with regard to the security industries. We are doing everything possible to put it behind us," Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said on Israel Radio.

[bill1952]

"An Israeli official is negotiating an agreement which would likely enable the United States to supervise Israeli arms sales to countries that Washington deems problematic, including China and India."

I guess somebody started listening...

[FreedomPoster]

It's amazing how much listening improves, after a strong slap to the face and a shouted "HEY! LISTEN UP HERE!".

[tomakaze]

re:Israel publicly apologized to the United States on Sunday over arms exports to China that have drawn criticism from Washington and strained U.S.-Israeli security ties.
 
merely strained? how many times do we let them pull this crap?
cut em off and see how they deal with it.

[Guillermo]

So Israel, where is the true explanation of your unprovoked attack on the USS Liberty?

[texas_mrs]

Now can Clinton give the US an apology for giving away our information to China?

[rdb3]

So Israel, where is the true explanation of your unprovoked attack on the USS Liberty?

Maybe my coffee hasn't kicked in, but, I could have sworn that this was about Israel's arms sale to China, not the USS Liberty.

[bill1952]

Israel ping

[phoenix_004]

What is req. of israel is not an apology but to stop advanced weapons sales to china.As a compensation for any financial losses they might suffer as a result of this action ,they should be allowed to increase their defence sales to other countries like india, singapore,etc.

[Guillermo]

Well since they seemingly attempted to settle the China issue, maybe they can move on to the unprovoked murder of 34 American sailors.

[IAF ThunderPilot]

The incident over the USS Liberty occurred in the middle of the Six Days War, a war when Israel fought for its very existence.
In the mess of the war, the IDF thought the ship was an Egyptian ship sent to attack Israel, and so the order was given to attack the ship.

Quite stupid to claim that Israel would deliberately attack its only ally, don't you think?

In addition to, all the Israeli and US investigations pointed the incident was indeed a mistake.
As also Israel apologized for the attack and payed compensations to the victims' families.

But then again, there will always be those who wish to continue the conspiracy theory, for their political interests.
Perhaps you are one of those.

[Erik Latranyi]

So Israel, where is the true explanation of your unprovoked attack on the USS Liberty?

This has nothing to do with this thread. Israel explained and apologized for the USS Liberty incident many years ago.

The only people hanging-on to the USS Liberty conspiracy theory are anti-semites and liberals.

[rdb3]

Well since they seemingly attempted to settle the China issue, maybe they can move on to the unprovoked murder of 34 American sailors.

I look forward to the day where inflammatory and glaringly off-topic posts are not inserted into threads "just because."

[gaspar]

The Liberty, the essential role Israel played in Iran-Contra, Pollard, and now this. Israel may be an ally of sorts, but its dependability is questionable.

[Wiz]

It is leading in a good direction, but there is no guarantee they would not do the same again, nor it is uncertain if they will report all the military sales to foreign countries. Israel has been involved in many incidents stealing American technology in the past decades that many Americans will probably not trust Israel anymore. Israel has done enough. In fact, there could be loop holes for military sales. Recently, Israel has made business with France for UAVs. I hope this will not be sold to China "indirectly" to fool America. I also hope technology of America is not being used in French UAVs as well.

[Skylab]

Remember, some people believe that a 200 million strong Chinese army will come from the East to attack Israel in the Last Days, and now we learn that Israel is selling weapons to China, I'm wondering, what's going on? Can the dispensationalists explain this?

[rdb3]

Can the dispensationalists explain this?

It's nothing for "dispensationalists" to explain. It's right in the Bible. Let the Bible explain.

[RFEngineer]

Now we get to find out if the apology is simply a PR move, or an expression of genuine regret.

We now get to ask for anything and everything we need to know to assess the present and possible future state of Chinese capability, and Israel gets to provide it without delay or hedging.

Then we get to decide whether we can ever cooperate with Israel again on matters of technology. Israel knows what she must do. I hope she does it. For her sake, we need to be able to trust Israel. Time will tell......

If I must find a little humor in all of this.....the biggest loser here is Jonathan Pollard. Don't pack your bags just yet, ol' boy!

[Skylab]

Where in the Bible does Israel sell weapons to China?

[RFEngineer]

"This has nothing to do with this thread. Israel explained and apologized for the USS Liberty incident many years ago."

I'll take a stab at tying the Liberty and this thread......the USS Liberty incident is an argument for MORE trust and cooperation with Israel - so that Israel doesn't accidentally repeat an incident such as the Liberty.

Their handling of the sales to China makes it more likely that another incident will occur in the future while we are trying to help Israel, because we will be unable or unwilling to share with Israel certain technologies/intelligence on US forces that will make an incident much less likely to occur.

[rdb3]

Where in the Bible does Israel sell weapons to China?

Which one are you talking about, the 200 million man army or military sales? The 200 million man army is found in Revelation 9:16. Whether or not this army is from China remains to be seen.

Nothing to my knowledge shows any military sales in the Bible.