Here is an article by an experienced U.S. political scientist that presents a most unassuring glance at the anti-Israel policies of the Clinton Administration:
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THE JEWISH PRESS - Friday, June 16, 2000

THE CLINTON ADMINISTRATION AND ISRAEL

by PROFESSOR HOWARD L. ADELSON

The Clinton administration, to the dismay of most American Jews, has changed the traditional policy of the U.S. in the Middle East to the detriment of Israel. It is apparent that the U.S. under Clinton has taken the position that Israel does not require any strategic or tactical depth for its defense, because its relationship with the U.S. provides just such strategic or tactical depth by its aid to Israel in time of crisis.

0f course, the Israeli experience shows that to be totally false. The only time that the U.S. moved quickly on behalf of Israel was during the Nixon adimnistration, when the Executive branch of the U.S. government moved to re-supply Israel, despite the protests of people like Henry Kissinger.

It is, however, obvious that the unique Israeli-American relationship that the Clinton administration proclaims as the cornerstone of its policy in the Middle East has been seriously eroded by the actions of that same Clinton administration. The Clinton administration has tried, tirelessly, to create points of tension be- tween Israel and the Republican members of Congress who have been the staunchest supporters of Israel. How has the Clinton White House done this?

Israel is a tiny country with a very significant defense industry that it cannot sustain without the facility to sell arms and equipment that it has developed and manufactured to other countries that want to buy that equipment. This is absolutely crucial to the defense of Israel. Without the ability to manufacture sophisticated weaponry, Israel lies helplessly before the Arabs. It will be totally dependent upon the generosity of the U.S., but the Clinton administration and others, such as the Bush administration, before it, hoped to use that dependence as a means for influencing the policies adopted by any Israeli government. This problem recentiy erupted as a result of a change in policy on the part of the Clinton White House. Several years ago the Chinese People's Republic approached the Israelis for the purchase of the Israeli version of the American AWAC's control system. The U.S. has furnished that system and trained the crews in its operation for the Saudi Arabian Air Force. Israel protested at the time that this constituted the erosion of the qualitative superiority of the Israelis over the Arabs, but the powers that be in Washington refused to accept the Israeli complaint.

At the same time, the U.S. refused to supply similar equipment to Israel for purchase against the aid funds given by the U.S. In desperation, the Israelis designed and built their own system to perform precisely the same functions as the AWAC's. It may well be that the Israeli system was superior to that produced by the U.S., but one cannot be certain of that.

The Chinese People's Republic asked Israel to agree to a multi-billion dollar sale of several such AWAC's aircraft. Israel apparently informed Washington' of that fact, and the powers that be in the Clinton administration registered no objection to that sale. This year, as the first of the aircraft was being readied for delivery to the Chinese, the Clinton Defense Department and State Department objected vehemently to the sale.

As a result of the machinations of the Clinton administration, there is a threat from Washington that the U.S. will reduce its military aid to Israel by precisely the amount received for the first Israeli AWAC's aircraft. It must be clearly understood that Washington is not charging that any of the technology in that aircraft was derived from anything that was furnished to Israel by this country. It is an AWAC'S system completely Israeli in origin. Nevertheless, the Clinton administration, which has just taken steps to normalize its own trade relationship with the Chinese People's Republic, is demanding that Israel cancel the sale and refuse to engage in such transactions in the future.

Such a step by Israel, of course, would completely alienate the Chinese who are among the five permanent members of the Security Council. Beyond a shadow of a doubt it would stimulate powerful anti-Israel feelings among the Chinese.

It must also be stated that the U.S. sees the possible sale of such a highly sophisticated aircraft control system to the Chinese as altering the balance of power in the Straits of Taiwan and as a possible threat American Vessels patrolling that area. Under the circumstances, the Clinton administration is refusing to allow the sale of even one of these aircraft to the Chinese even though that aircraft has been built and outfitted for precisely that sale without earlier objection from Washington.

Building and selling sophisticated arms is absolutely vital to the defense of Israel. That the U.S. fully intends to keep Israel totally dependent upon Washington has been demonstrated in the past, when the U.S. withdrew its support for the building of the sophisticated Lavi fighter.

Foolishly, against the wishes of Minister of Defense Moshe Arens, the Israeli government allowed the U.S., in effect, to prevent the development of an Israeli high performance fighter that could compete for sales with the finest fighter aircraft produced by the U.S. Israel, after investing a great deal of time, effort, and money simply withdrew from the attempt to design and build a world-class fighter aircraft. It was a crude demonstration of the role that the U.S. has designed for lsrael. The Clinton administration reportedly has taken this a step farther, lt is demanding that Washington should have the right to veto, not merely the resale of arms and equipment of American origin in Israeli hands but even any arms and equipment totally developed and manufactured by Israel. Such American control of sales of foreign built, sophisticated armament systems has never been demanded by the U.S. from any other country to which it provides arms. It has always demanded that it have the right to veto the resale of American equipment and arms that were furnished, and Israel has never objected to that provision. In this instance, however American demand goes much farther. If this American demand is accepted by the Israelis, it well effectively means that there cannot be any Israeli armaments industry providing weapons for defense of the country. Israel will become totally dependent upon the U.S. for the maintenance of its armament industry and the re-supply of its armed forces.

By stimulating such a demand in the Congress, the Clinton administration is attemting to turn Israel into a so-called "banana republic". To demonstrate that it means business, the Clinton administration has already begun to withhold from Israel some of the highly sophisticated weapons that it is furnishing to Egypt and other Arab states. Those Arab states, as a direct result of the policy of the Clinton administration to furnish them with the most advanced weapons systems, are now capable of altering the strategic balance in the Middle East.

Now, as a result of the actions of the Clinton administration, the qualitative superiority of Israel armed forces is open to question. Thus the constant refrain of the Clinton administration that while Israel must risk a great deal to make concessions to the Arabs, it must also accept Arab quantitive superiority, the U.S. would always preserve the quaualitative superiority of Israel, proving to be a false promise. The Clinton administration is changing the balance of power in the Middle East to the detriment of Israel. That is a catastrophe that may easily lead to war. War under those conditions would be an even greater catastrophe.

As a result of the actions that President Clinton has initiated by stimulating the protests of the Defense Department and the State Department, the danger of war in the Middle East has been vastly enhanced. As soon as the Arabs recognize that they have not merely quantitative superiority but qualitative superiority as well, they will initiate hostile operations designed to end the existence of Israel. Arab propaganda, which is intended to be heard only by other Arabs, makes it abundantly clear that the Arabs are still searching for a means to eliminate Israel. Statements by Arabs made in the wake of the retreat from the Security Zone in Southern Lebanon reveal that the final goals of the Arab leaders have not changed in any way.

The Clinton administration has proved that there never was a "window of opportunity" for anyone except the Clinton White House. It remains the policy of the Clinton White House to pressure Israel to make whatever concessions are necessary to achieve a treaty with Arafat and with Assad. Only by achieving something that he can call a comprehensive peace in the Middle East can William Jefferson Clinton achieve his goal of being awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. Hilary Rodham Clinton, who might have influenced the President to assume a more moderate position, has always been an ardent supporter of the Arab demands. Her influence in Washington has always been at the service of the Arabs and opposed to the Israelis. She was a very early advocate of a Palestinian (Arab) State in the Holy Land, even though the creation of such a PLO state is clearly a threat to Jordan and to Israel.

Hilary Rodham Clinton refuses to recognize the role of modern Israel in establishing a better status for Jewish people around the world. She has never expressed meaningful solidarity with the revival of the Jewish nation. There can be no doubt that she has been a malevolent influence in the Clinton administration. She will be a real danger for Jews, if, heaven forbid, she is elected to the Senate of the Senate of the U.S. Those Jewish politicians within the Democratic Party who are offering her support are truly harming the American Jewish community. Those supposedly liberal Jews who believe, as did so many in Europe during the years preceding the Holocaust, that they can, by some sleight of hand, avoid the penalties that will fall upon all Jews, are blind to the realities of political life in the U.S.

Clinton is, according to reports emanating from Israel, offering to spend billions upon billions of dollars to achieve his goal of bringing Israel to sacrifice its possibility for a healthy existence. He is, in fact, encouraging the growth of anti-Semitism in this country. According to some reports, the Barak Government is asking for some 17 billion dollars simply to complete the retreats that Clinton is demanding. It is far from certain, despite tbe promises of the Clinton administration, that the Congress will appropriate that 17 billion dollars. It is quite certain, however, that such a raid on the Treasury of the U.S. to pay for the Israeli concessions to the Arabs will become a tremendous source of anti-Semitism in this country. One can easily hear the likely demagoguery of people like Patrick J. Buchanan.

Despite the beliefs of men like Clinton, peace is simply not purchasable. All that can be bought is an uncertain truce. Only if the parties to a peace treaty are prepared to accept its terms as final, can a real peace truly be negotiated. To achieve a peace there must be certain evidence that the psychological attitude of the Arabs has changed. That is certainly not true at this momenL Repeatedly the Arabs have been saying that any peace treaty is merely a first step on the road to the extinction of Israel. Their goal remains the obliteration of the State of Israel.

Clinton wants to weaken Israel so much that it is left with no option other than to yield to all of the Arab demands. He is determined that the Israel defense industries must be destroyed. He is determined that the Arabs, particularly the Egyptians and followers of Arafat, are strengthened sufficiently so that they can once again contemplate armed action against the State of Israel. He expects Israel to make tremendous concessions to the, Arabs, including the Syrians, so that Israel will stand virtually helpless before the Arabs.

Clinton wants the, Israelis to place their entire destiny in the hands of the administration in Washington even though there has been no formal tie on the part of the United States to spring to the defense of Israel. Stationing American troops between the Arabs and the Israelis is al- ways a mistake. It is also a device to be used by agitators in the U.S. Such symbolic troops, of course, will be removed at the first sign of trouble, but the damage will have been done.

In the past, Israeli leaders took the greatest pride in the fact that Israel could stand alone against its enemies. The Barak Government has clearly given up that proud position. Instead, it is yielding on every front to the Arabs because that is it what Clinton wants. That is a mistake that will eventually be paid for by all of the communities of Jewry around the world.