Word: 16s
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...Congress, a number of Israel's traditional friends and supporters were disturbed over recent developments. Four Republican Senators called on the Administration to withhold indefinitely deliveries of the F-16s as a sign of Washington's displeasure over the bombings. Declared Democratic Senator Paul Tsongas of Massachusetts: "We have got to start distinguishing between Begin and Israel. The real trouble is the way Begin is eroding our general support for Israel. There is now in Congress a clear, widespread and deep-rooted unhappiness with Begin...
...between us and the Arabs." That was the way one frustrated State Department spokesman summed up the latest dispute between the U.S. and its prickly ally in the Middle East. All week long, the Administration had been gearing up toward a formal announcement that the shipment of advanced F-16s to Israel, which had been embargoed after the attack on Iraq's nuclear reactor last month, would be resumed. In fact, some of the F-16s had been flown to Pease Air Force Base in New Hampshire for the trip to the Middle East. But then on Friday word...
...Beirut raid. It even refused to admit that there had been any postponement at all. After reading a statement, written at the White House, that "the U.S. deplores this intensified violence" in the Middle East, State Department Spokesman Dean Fischer insisted that no decision on the F-16s had been made, and none would be announced until Tuesday. But that was not the full story. President Reagan had summoned his top foreign policy advisers shortly before 10 that morning to discuss the Beirut raid. The weapons that the U.S. supplies to Israel are, by law and contract, to be used...
Reagan, whose foreign policy calls for strong support of Israel, would clearly prefer to release the F-16s, assuming nothing else goes wrong. The President last week sent his special Middle East envoy, Philip Habib, to Jerusalem to press for a ceasefire in Lebanon. If the raids end, and Habib is not rebuffed by Begin-as he has been in recent shuttle diplomacy trips to Arab capitals-Israel presumably will get its F-16s. If extensive Israeli raids continue, Reagan may have to freeze deliveries of the fighters until things settle down...
Whether or not Begin had deliberately intended to embarrass the Administration, Reagan and his advisers were clearly not prepared for the Beirut raid. Israeli officials predictably objected when the U.S. delayed delivery of the F-16s* following the attack on the Iraqi reactor. Yet Begin and his Cabinet apparently assumed that the delay was only symbolic and saw no need to pay attention to U.S. concerns about Israeli military actions. They were more interested in demonstrating that there were no strings attached to their use of the F-16s. Indeed, late last week Israel condemned as "unfair" the latest delay...