US does not allow Israeli air security system sale to Germany

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
19 Sep 2022 09:46

Germany takes a preliminary decision to purchase "Israel's" Arrow 3 air security system rather than a competitor offer by Lockheed Martin Corp.

An Arrow-3 missile is launched at a test site in "Israel" in January. (Israel Security Ministry/Getty Images)

"Israel" Today reported on September 18 that US President Joe Biden's administration has blocked the sale of an advanced Israeli air security system to Germany.

The details revealed that "Israel" failed to sell its exo-atmospheric hypersonic anti-ballistic missile system, Arrow 3, to Germany, despite its numerous attempts to get US approval.

The air security system is an "Israel" Aerospace Industries (IAI) and Boeing joint US-Israeli security project funded by the annual foreign aid to "Israel".

On March 11, the US Upper house approved $3.8 billion in military aid for "Israel" in line with the Memorandum of Understanding signed by former president Barack Obama in 2015, including $1 billion in supplemental funding for "Israel’s" failed Iron Dome missile system.

The US aid to the occupation, taken from US citizens' pockets, aids in the brutal and violent Israeli attacks against Palestinians and promotes Israeli projects to expel and ethnically cleanse Palestinians.

It is worth noting that in May last year, during the Israeli aggression on occupied Al-Quds and the Gaza Strip in the battle of Seif Al-Quds, US President Joe Biden approved a deal to send $735 million worth of precision-guided weapons to “Israel".

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz officially expressed in early March an interest in purchasing the system during his meeting with former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett.

Following the meeting, Israeli Security Minister Benny Gantz phoned the US administration to request that the sale be approved. Despite multiple efforts, the request was refused.

As normalization deals surge in the #Arab world, so does the Israeli arms sales, the same arms used to murder, suppress, and occupy #Palestinian people every single day. pic.twitter.com/WLDqWmDfKR
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) April 15, 2022

US approval is required since US taxpayers pay 80% of the project's budget, investing up to $2.2 billion in IAI alleged research and development.

The US government literally takes the money out of its people's pockets to aid "Israel" through their taxes, which is clear proof of the US government's dedication to funding the Israeli occupation and its role in the region, contrary to all their human rights claims.

Scholz expressed increased interest in the system during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid on September 12 in Berlin.

“We are very keen to work with Israel, including in the area of air defense where Israel has a very effective product with the Arrow 3 system,” Scholz said in a joint press conference with Lapid.

The public remarks surprised Lapid because "Israel" frequently goes out of its way to keep the facts of potential arms shipments hidden.

Lapid was taken aback by Scholz's clear allusion to "Israeli missiles" and refused to furnish him with any technical details, according to "Israel" Today's Ariel Kahane.

Bloomberg reported later that Germany has chosen the Israeli security system over its rival, the US-manufactured Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) by Lockheed Martin Corp.

Scholz aims to integrate the Israeli system “within the framework of NATO,” despite the Arrow 3 system being relatively new, with no proven efficiency beyond control tests.

Unlike THAAD, the Arrow series of air systems' usefulness is still debatable, given its repeated failures over the years.

"Israel" admitted in April 2021 that it had failed to fire down stray missiles that had crossed into "Israel" on many occasions, detonating in the air or falling in open regions.