MENL, JERUSALEM [MENL] — Israel has launched a lobbying effort to prevent a U.S. sale of advanced precision-guided air munitions to Egypt.
Israeli officials said the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has urged the Bush administration to block or delay plans to sell the Joint Direct Attack Munition [JDAM] to the Egyptian Air Force. The officials said the introduction of such a weapon in the hands of an Arab neighbor would threaten Israel's security and the military balance in the Middle East.
“We have good reason to be concerned,” Yuval Steinitz, chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, said. “We are not talking about just rearmament. But we are talking about [Egyptian military] simulations of conflicts with Israel and all of the indoctrination of Egyptian officers for a possible confrontation with Israel.”
Officials said the Israeli objection to the JDAM export to Egypt was raised in strategic talks in Washington in September. They said the issue would be raised again during another round of strategic talks in Tel Aviv at the end of October.
