A Special Relationship
Jamail, Milton & Gutierrez, Margo
ISRAEL'S MILITARY ROLE IN CENTRAL America is a topic that often provokes heated controversy. Before the Iran-Israel-contra scandal began to unfold in November, there was little discussion...
...These early contacts between Israeli and Central American militaries, and the blend of military structure with co-operatives and civic action programs-especially agriculture-proved significant...
...The weight of the defense contractors acting as a lobby for Israel-when combined with conservative Christian fundamentalists and domestic Jewish support--makes for a very powerful array of forces...
...arms sales and assistance in Central America play no evident role in Israeli foreign policy concerns-a factor which Washington has played to maximum advantage...
...The Israelis also clearly understand the nature of the governments buying their arms...
...Klieman reports that export sales account for something resembling half of the total value of defense equipment production...
...24 (Tel Aviv: Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, February 1984), pp...
...Costa Rica's National Youth Movement "was active in the rural areas in the form of voluntary clubhouses, and its activities included volunteer work camps...
...In April 1984, Egypt broke diplomatic relations with El Salvador and Costa Rica, protesting their embassies in Jerusalem...
...Israel received $4.5 billion from the United States in 1986, making it the world's largest per capita recipient of U.S...
...Jewish community divided on the issue-support Israel's efforts in Central America...
...Edy Kaufman, "The View From Jerusalem," The Washington Quarterly, Vol...
...Aaron Klieman,Israel's Global Reach: Arms Sales As Diplomacy (New York: Pergamon-Brassey's, 1985),p...
...7 Elements of Israel's Gadna paramilitary youth organizations were adapted to the Central American programs by personnel from the Israeli Ministry of Defense, who acted as trainers and advisers...
...Paper No...
...There is another dimension to the Israel-Central America connection that lawmakers critical of Administration policy find troubling...
...When constituents would ask lawmakers about the Israeli role, a standard reply was "we have no hard evidence of Israeli involvement...
...29 At bottom it does not much matter whether Israel acts as a surrogate for the United States in Central America or there is simply a "convergence of interests...
...ONTACT BETWEEN THE ISRAELI MILItary and defense establishment and Central American youth was made as early as 1964...
...Klieman, Perspectives and Prospects, p.40...
...The world's ninth largest arms dealer, Israel is first among Third World arms exporting countries...
...In a maneuver designed to ensure passage, the Administration has on occasion linked the two policies in legislation...
...Ibid., p. 26...
...8 The Nahal concept has been applied in a number of Latin American countries, including El Salvador, with the goal of "building a positive and constructive image of the armed forces in their respective nations...
...3. Shimeon Amir,lsrael's Development Cooperation With Africa...
...While U.S...
...The spice brought Guatemala some $70 million in revenue in 1980, most of it from the Arab countries...
...Washington Post, August 17, 1983...
...A Reagan Administration official referred to the complementarity of U.S...
...MARCH/APRIL 1987 16A HIGHER ISRAELI PROFILE IN CENTRAL America would surely please U.S...
...Weapons production and foreign sales have been pursued and encouraged by every Israeli government and were not an aberration of the Likud government of Prime Minister Menachem Begin, who began supplying Guatemala in the 1970s...
...Klieman, Perspectives and Prospects, pp...
...His article in a Guatemalan military journal detailed the curriculum of these preparatory courses...
...In sum, the Israelis have adopted the Cold War agenda of the United States which requires them to act as U.S...
...Some observers attribute this shift to the Israelis' growing anti-communism...
...As Aaron Klieman, an Israeli arms sales analyst, points out, the Likud represented more of a reinforcement and acceleration of the previously existing pro-arms orientation than a fresh policy initiative identified with any leader, political ideology or government...
...6 The goal of these programs was to incorporate young people "into socially productive activity," 14MARCHIAPRIL 1987 MARCH/APRIL 1987 14instilling in them a sense of social and national consciousness...
...30, no...
...With the Arabs and most socialist states buying elsewhere, Third World countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America have become Israel's best potential customers...
...The new Israeli state maintained cordial relations with most Latin American countries...
...Analysis suggests five motivations...
...Miami Herald, June 3, 1984...
...2 (Fall 1976), p. 12...
...congressmen for their own requests for economic and security assistance by cultivating ties with Israel, including at the military level...
...And even in the event of press speculation the groundrules call for silence: either denial or no comment.'"20 DUE TO THE SECRET NATURE OF THE arms trade, it is often not possible to distinguish among the various schemes grouped under the rubric of Israeli involvement: official government sales...
...media...
...At U.S...
...32-45...
...policy in Central America is ideology...
...Nonetheless, Israeli weaponry is crucial to clients such as Guatemala and the contras who are shunned-at least publicly-by more conventional suppliers...
...After the 1967 war and occupation of the West Bank, Gaza, the Sinai and the Golan Heights, Israel became internationally isolated, which only worsened after the 1973 war...
...or arms merchants such as David Marcus Katz...
...The most popular items are the Galil assault rifle and the Uzi submachine gun, as well as Israeli advice in the field of counterinsurgency and computer technology for use in social control...
...military sales to the region are scrutinized closely by Congress, Israel can do the job without provoking domestic protest...
...diss., University of California, Berkeley, 1975), p. 227...
...If Washington did not condone Israeli military sales and advice to "friendly" Central Americans, it would certainly attempt to squeeze its ally out of the region...
...Transcript,The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour, November 26,1986, p.9...
...In fact, Israel's role was never a secret...
...is the country's largest manufacturer...
...In effect, Israel's activity places control of U.S...
...In the 1980s Israeli "exports of technological know-how, data packages, and the most sophisticated electronics, computer programs, and optical components of direct or indirect military application have met with singular success in finding a ready market...
...Following an announcement in August 1983 publicizing El Salvador's plan to move its embassy from Tel Aviv, the two countries agreed to support each other at the United Nations...
...2 Klieman identifies three military functions served by weapons sales...
...For the Israeli economy, the weapons trade has become essential...
...foreign aid...
...The first involves the sale of secondhand equipment, the second the provision of military training and advice and third, the sale of more conspicuous items such as boats and planes.5 The first two categories have been most applicable to Central America...
...private Israeli companies selling military technology or helping to construct armaments plants through joint licensing ventures...
...According to the memorandum, the United States could grant third countries permission to spend part of their U.S...
...2 Concerning private weapons salesmen, Klieman notes, "their operations disguise the trail of at least some Israeli arms, which are 'laundered' and resold through a maze of fictitious companies in different countries...
...and Israeli policy in the region as a "convergence of interests...
...27 The Memorandum of Understanding on "strategic cooperation" signed by U.S...
...military credits in Israel.* *For more on the memorandum, see Jane Hunter's article in this issue...
...Increasingly shaped within a Cold War framework, Israeli foreign policy coincides more closely with the foreign policy goals of the United States...
...Klieman, Global Reach, p. 41...
...Prior to this pact, El Salvador backed the PLO as the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people...
...9. Edy Kaufman, Yoram Shapira and Joel Barromi, Israel-Latin American Relations (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books, 1979), p. 2 0 . 10...
...Second, strategic planning is facilitated since arms industry plants can operate at full capacity and, finally, foreign sales help defray research and development costs...
...But it is Klieman's fourth category that is probably Israel's most important military contribution on the isthmus...
...He notes, "less conspicuous and therefore less politically sensitive, such scientific items are highly promising...
...Washington Post, December 12, 1986...
...A Special Relationship" The roots of Israel's special relationship to Central America go back to the late 1930s when Nicaragua, and later Guatemala, supported the Zionist struggle for statehood...
...Klieman, Global Reach, p. 114...
...dirty work.Suspended soon after, it was revived in November 1983...
...And should reduced local purchasing continue, the proportion seems bound to rise further, implying even greater dependence on the arms trade.' 4 HE ISRAELIS OFFER A WIDE RANGE OF military equipment and "know-how"-computer technology for military use to aircraft...
...In fact, the only two countries in the world which maintain embassies in Jerusalem are El Salvador and Costa Rica...
...Bidding...
...The closest of Israel's diplomatic allies in the region are El Salvador, Costa Rica and Guatemala...
...The participation of Israeli military and defense personnel in these "familiarization tours," as well as in the youth movements and youth leadership courses, helped lay the foundation for future interaction with Central American military officers...
...Before the Iran-Israel-contra scandal began to unfold in November, there was little discussion of the Israeli dimension of the Central American conflict...
...Miami Herald, September 4, 1986...
...Miami Herald, December 13, 1982...
...intervention in Central America are hesitant to criticize Israeli participation, fearful of alienating their constituency, angering Israeli lobbies or of being labeled anti-Semitic...
...Based in Guatemala, the mobile teams participated in "training counterparts in all other Central American states [and] planned and executed several model settlement projects in Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Costa Rica, and El Salvador...
...References A Special Relationship 1. Television News Index and Abstracts...
...Klieman, Global Reach, p. 44...
...More active ties with Central America would not materialize until after 1960...
...17-18...
...22 Israeli scholar Amos Perlmutter commented on The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour: "There isn't a pistol that can leave Israel without government approval of one sort or another...
...Israel's "special relationship" with Central America soon took on more overt military dimensions...
...Taken in the context of a highly sympathetic climate, arms sales MARCHIAPRIL 198715 MARCH/APRIL 1987 15The Israel Connectio Aca The Israeli Connection decisions are dominated by the Israeli Defense Ministry.'" There has apparently been a blanket decision to seriously compete on the lucrative international arms market, with little attempt to justify individual sales...
...8. Jorge Mario Reyes, "Israel, un pais que se preocupa por su juventud,"Revista Militar (Guatemala), Vol...
...23 Yet the market for Israeli arms is limited...
...Klieman comments: Arms support for various pro-Western regimes is part of what Israeli representatives allude to when describing Israel as a proven strategic asset-a fact better known to Pentagon and State Department officials from classified documents than to the American public at large...
...Israel may well be motivated by the need to ensure its alliance with the United States in the Middle East and to maximize influence over U.S...
...2 Confronted with the facts, supporters and critics alike are wondering what's in it for the Israelis...
...Israel finds Central American leftists too sympathetic to the PLO...
...Arms for the Contras," CBS "Sixty Minutes," February 22, 1987...
...Between the mid-1960s and the mid-1970s, Central America played host to a number of Israeli technical assistance projects, most in agriculture and "civic action...
...retired or reserve military officers offering private contract services...
...3 In conjunction with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Organization of American States (OAS), Israel provided "mobile teams" made up of experts in economics, rural development and field crops...
...Ibid., p. 22...
...It is shrouded in secrecy where "discretion is usually prized as essential...
...Reyes, pp...
...But as long as U.S.-Israeli relations remain too controversial to discuss, the United States will likely use Israel to pursue its objectives in Central America...
...I 1. Washington Post, December 12, 1986...
...5 Israeli advisers also participated in the organization of youth movements and youth leadership training, notably in Costa Rica (1966-1969) and El Salvador (1972...
...The government-owned Israel Aircraft Industries Ltd...
...surrogate in Central America...
...19-20...
...Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger and Israeli Minister of Defense Ariel Sharon on November 30, 1981, provides the framework for Israel to do U.S...
...Israel in the role of arms supplier predates the Begin era...
...foreign policy on the isthmus further out of the reach of many North Americans...
...2. New York Times, December 7, 1986...
...Klieman notes that the "purchaser is likely to be a non-western country with a defense-conscious government, rightist in orientation, in which the military is either the actual or proximate locus of power...
...Yet media attention has not focussed on the Israeli connection...
...It is important to note that while Israel often follows the United States, it sometimes leads...
...T HE ISRAELIS DECIDED TO ENTER INTO arms production soon after achieving statehood in 1948...
...And at times the two nations have competed for access to the profitable Central American weapons market...
...Klieman, Global Reach, p. 25...
...Ibid., pp...
...Thus, when Israel adopts Washington's Cold War agenda in Central America, it pleases not only the Reagan Administration, but its friends in the defense establishment and fundamentalist Christian circles as well...
...It is not, therefore, in any way a new brand of Israeli diplomacy or a departure from pre-1977 practices...
...Between 1977 and 1984, the three network television nightly news programs ran only four pieces-a total of 12 minutes-on the Israeli presence in the region.' Now, revelations of the Iran-contra scandal have drawn attention to the issue, yielding a number of substantive stories in major U.S...
...Third World leaders assume they will have better prospects of gaining an appreciative ear among U.S...
...As arms merchant Israel can produce weapons it otherwise could not afford, while simultaneously providing employment for a significant portion of the labor force...
...7, no...
...Asia and Latin America (New York: Praeger, 1974), p. 18...
...25-26...
...While Israel has at times clearly acted as a proxy for the United States in Central America, it does have its own agenda and is not simply Washington's "errand boy...
...Israel and the Cold War Mentality A major reason for the convergence in Israeli and U.S...
...B UT GIVEN THE ISRAELIS' LESS THAN hostile relations with the Soviet Union, anti-communism does not sufficiently explain Tel Aviv's alignment with Washington on most foreign policy issues...
...Vanderbilt Television News Archives, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, 1977-1984...
...The Washington Post reported that "the arrangement also includes hopes in the Salvadoran government that the influential pro-Israel lobby in the United States will lend a discreet hand in congressional debates over the wisdom of the [Reagan] Administration policy on Central America...
...MERIP's Middle East Report, No.144, January-February, 1987, p.3...
...Israeli social scientist Edy Kaufman comments, "In the polarized context of present day Central America, arms supplies to only one side clearly put Israel in the anti-communist camp...
...Cardamom prices have since dropped...
...9 Most policy deliberation on weapons deals is hidden from the public and usually from the Israeli parliament, the Knesset...
...That year, 52 young people from 11 Latin American countries, including some Central Americans, travelled to Israel at the invitation of the Ministry of Defense to participate in a seminar on the objectives and organization of the Gadna and Nahal (military-agricultural settlements...
...In 1965 and 1966, Israeli advisers introduced methods of field inspection and pest-control to combat insects threatening El Salvador's cotton crop...
...5. Amir, p. 104...
...Cardamom Exports Will Resume," This Week in Central America and Panama, September 15, 1980, p. 287...
...It's like Israel has become just another federal agency," one Israeli analyst commented, "one that's convenient to use when you want something done quietly...
...In exploiting such perceptions, Israeli diplomats are not above suggesting the purchase of its military goods as an acceptable and fair quid pro quo for using the near-legendary strength of the pro-Israel lobby in the Congress and its influence with the American Jewish community on behalf of the arms client...
...Beating Swords Into Dollars Israel has developed a sizeable arms industry which employs an estimated 18 to 25% of the industrial work force-at least 58,000 people-with annual foreign sales of $1.5 to $2 billion...
...Swords Into Goodwill For the diplomatically isolated Israelis, arms sales are clearly a way to buy foreign friendships...
...3 2 Israel has in recent years developed a close alliance with Pentagon planners and defense contractors, supplying them with information on its military activities in the Middle East...
...The reality is simple, yet profoundly connected to Israel's life-line-the United States...
...4. Michael Rubner, "Israel and Latin America: The Politics of Bilateral Aid" (Ph.D...
...First, "the weapons sold are only a byproduct of weapons built for local needs...
...One young Guatemalan on the tour, a lieutenant in the infantry, came home gushing with enthusiasm for the training Israeli youth received...
...Buying into the Cold War anti-communist consensus and becoming a "strategic asset" to the United States in the global crusade against communism surely buttresses Israel's position...
...4 (Fall 1984), p. 45...
...Foreign military assistance, of which the sale of weapons is a major component, is a deeply entrenched national practice...
...28 Even members of Congress opposed to U.S...
...Robert Kaiser, Washington Post associate editor, quoted one House of Representatives member as saying, "I displayed my usual cowardice," after voting for aid to El Salvador in a bill that included aid to Israel...
...Klieman divides Israeli arms exports into four phases...
...Middle East policy...
...Another observer points out that Israel sells weapons to regimes who share its determination to fight the "spread of communism...
...policy-makers, lending much needed legitimacy to their flagging policy...
...24 It is also Klieman's view that in purchasing arms from Israel, a country views its "ties with Israel as the key to the influential American Jewish community and thus as a way to create a favorable climate and image for its standing with the United States...
...4 One account names Contra with radio specific endeavors undertaken with Israeli cooperation, such as agricultural training at Costa Rica's National Institute for Vocational Training, and an irrigation project and vegetable co-operatives in Guatemala...
...Not motivated by an overriding fear of communism nor intense interest in the region, the Israelis have sought to ingratiate themselves to the United States, embellishing their image as "strategic asset," and ensuring continued largesse from Washington as well as improved access to potential clients and political supporters...
...Klieman notes, "without sales to the Third World, it is fairly safe to assume that some of the industries at home would collapse...
...The Miami Herald reported that the Israeli Defense Ministry in fact often passes less-desirable clients to private consulting firms when "the government is reluctant to have active military personnel directly involved...
...The human rights concerns that have caused Congress to place restrictions on U.S...
...The Israeli arms industry expanded rapidly, and with it the need for foreign markets...
...These same forces-with the U.S...
...Yoram Peri and Amnon Neudach, The Military-Industrial Complex in Israel: A Pilot Study (Tel Aviv: International Center for Peace in the Middle East, 1985), p. 78...
...50 (October-November-December 1965), p. 30...
...Aaron Klieman, Israeli Arms Sales: Perspectives and Prospects...
...7. Yoram Shapira, "Israel's International Cooperation Program With Latin America: The Political Angle," Inter American Economic Affairs Vol...
...Guatemala was the first country to set up its diplomatic mission in Jerusalem, but its embassy was moved back to Tel Aviv in 1980 in compliance with a UN resolution, and after Kuwait, Jordan and Saudi Arabia threatened a boycott of Guatemalan cardamom...
...Kaiser adds, "Not that he opposed the aid to Israel the bill contained...
...The Central American portion of total exports is relatively small...
...The New York Times and The Washington Post have published features on the Israeli arms industry and CBS's "Sixty Minutes" aired a segment in February on Israel's part in arming the contras...
...he just resented, as many members do, the absolute political requirement that many feel to 'vote Israel' whenever the occasion arises, even if that means abandoning another principle...
...2 5 Central America's friendly stance has not been costfree...
...According to two researchers at Tel Aviv's Center for Peace in the Middle East, "Israeli arms sales policy is not characterized by any overall strategy stemming from an orderly decision-making process...
...Since 1977 there has been "hard" evidence of Israeli arms deliveries to Somoza's Nicaragua, to Guatemala and later to the contras...
...In short, the weapons industry, including foreign sales, has become a cornerstone of the Israeli economy...
...Klieman, Global Reach, p. 119...
...Cynthia Amson, "Israel and Central America," New Outlook, March/April, 1984, p. 20...
...6. Ibid., p. 40...
Vol. 21 • March 1987 • No. 2
