Avi Dichter, who led the Israel's Shin Bet internal security service until earlier this year, spoke Thursday at a Brookings Institution terrorism symposium. The gist of Dichter's talk (pdf) was that Israel only made real gains against Palestinian terrorist groups after deciding to use every weapon at its disposal. The Israeli arsenal includes American-made attack helicopters, but according to Dichter the US prohibited the export of parts for those choppers in the early days of the al-Aqsa Intifada:
By the way, the United States put an embargo on spare parts for helicopters in the first or maybe the second year of the intifada. After 9/11, of course, everything has changed. Because people, even here in the States, understood that when fighting against terrorists, you must understand the terrorists' way of thinking.
As far as I know this has never been previously reported, which is surprising because you might have expected the Israelis to throw a fit and rally their supporters in Congress to overturn any sort of arms embargo, however limited. And Dichter should know, no? It's quite a bombshell to toss out as an aside ("by the way") in an off-the-cuff response at a thinktank Q&A session.
The Arms Export Control Act (AECA) limits US arms exports to those required for "legitimate self-defense", but this provision has always been broadly interpreted in Israel's case. NGOs like Amnesty International have pressured the US and European governments for years to curb arms exports to Israel. Helicopters are a particular focus due to their key role in carrying out Israel's policy of targeted killings in the West Bank and Gaza. Up until now it had appeared that those pressure groups had never made any headway.
Will some enterprising reporter please ask if about this at the State Department's daily press briefing? It's timely, too, since Israel is ramping up airstrikes once again.
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