US/Saudi AWACS Sale - Considering Israel

Considering Israel

Israel, feeling its security directly threatened, was the most strongly opposed to the AWACS deal of anyone involved. Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin expressed “profound regret and unreserved opposition” to the Saudi AWACS proposal. Experts on Israeli defense said that AWACS could track every move of Israel’s air force, denying it the chance to launch a “surprise first strike, the basis of Israeli defense doctrine.” While Israel’s “unreserved opposition” was based on the real security threat it faced, its “profound regret” could have been rooted in perceived betrayal by the United States. A protector of Israel since the Six-Day War, the U.S. was planning to sell military surveillance planes to Saudi Arabia, a country hostile towards Israel. A Boston Globe editorial from May 4, 1981 recognized this contradiction as well as other threats posed by the AWACS sale, noting, “the intention to sell AWACS planes to Saudi Arabia constitutes not only a manifest contradiction of Reagan’s campaign promise to enhance Israel's security, but also serves to further destabilize the Mideast, a region whose stability was supposed to be a strategic priority of the Reagan foreign policy.” The sensitivity of Congress to the threats against peace and stability, was matched by its sensitivity to Israel’s concerns.

The Reagan Administration actively sought to diminish Israel’s voice and influence over the deal. In public speeches, Administration officials admonished Israel for getting involved in a U.S. foreign policy matter. Secretary of State Alexander Haig said the President must be “free of the restraints of overriding external vetoes,” and went on to say that were the AWACS deal blocked by Israeli influence, there would be “serious implications on all American policies in the Middle East... I’ll just leave it there.” Reagan himself declared, “It is not the business of other nations to make American foreign policy.” In August 1981, the Administration delayed indefinitely the delivery of military aircraft to Israel, a move that Israelis interpreted as pressure to approve of the AWACS sale.