84 Friday, February 14, 1986 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS CAPITOL REPORT WOLF BLITZER AIPAC Asks The United States To Share Its Missile Savvy With Israel THIS SPACE CONTRIBUTED Br THE PUBL.SHC WELL DRESSED & WELL READ IN IN= =MI 11111•=1MIUM WEI= MI= To: The Jewish News 20300 Civic Center Dr., Suite 240 Southfield, Mi. 48076-4138 I Please send a year's gift subscription to: NAME ADDRESS CITY OCCASION . FROM: STATE ZIP 1 year - $21 — 2 years - $39 — Out of State - $23 — Foreign - $35 Enclosed $ I 1 hilmmooloommoolowelmommossmonsonemasmaisamil The major pro-Israeli lobby- ing organization in Washing- ton has called on the U.S. to develop an effective defense against conventional ground- to-ground missiles which it could then share with Israel. "Israel's enemies are now be- ing armed by the Soviet Union with a new generation of high- ly lethal surface-to-surface missiles, more accurate and more deadly than any previ- ously available weapons," said Thomas Dine, Executive Director of the American Israel Public Affairs Commit- tee (AIPAC). "Unfortunately, there are no comparable defen- sive systems available today that Israel could obtain to pro- tect its vulnerable cities from bombardment." Dine was testifying on Jan. 30 in open-door session before the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic and Theater Nuclear Forces. The panel had convened to ex- amine possible new defenses against tactical ballistic missiles. Dine said this was a subject "of particular interest to those concerned" about the supply of such missiles by the Soviet Union to "its client states in the Middle East." "These missiles threaten American security interests and the security of our only reliable, consistent and demo- cratic ally in that part of the world," he said. The hearing came as the Reagan Administration has ac- tively continued to push its controversial Strategic De- fense Initiative (SDI) program, better known as "Star Wars." Israel has been invited to par- ticipate in the initial research and development stage of the SDI project. Israeli officials, in accepting the U.S. invitation, have been anxious to learn if some of the new missile defense technolo- gies proposed in the SDI pro- gram might have a spillover benefit in conventional war- fare. Thus, there are clear benefits for Israel in eventual- ly receiving these state-of-the- art technologies. During the hearing, Dine submitted a detailed paper on the threat these new ground- to-ground missiles, especially the Soviet-made SS-21s recent- ly deployed in Syria, pose for the deployed of Israel. The pape was written by W. Seth AIPAC's senior mili- tary alyst. en fired from Syria," Caru said, "the SS-21 can reach{ targets throughout nor- thern Israel, including one of Israel's main air bases, Ramat David. If deployed in Jordan, however, all of Israel wuld be brought within range,", An accompanying map showed the clear vulnerability of virtually all of Israel's ma- jor air bases which were iden- tified as Ovda, near Eilat; Ramon, Hatzerim, and Neva- tim in the Negev; Tel Nof and Hatzor near the coastal plane; and Ramat David and Mahan- ayim in the north. "If there is a danger of an Arab attack," Carus said, "Israel will be forced to strike first, because it will not be able to take the risks of waiting and absorbing an Arab attack. Al- though such a strategy will make the Middle East a more dangerous place, the absence of a viable defense against tac- tical ballistic missiles will leave Israel with no alternative." The paper suggested that "tactical ballistic missiles directed against (Israeli) cities could easily result in 5,000 dead and wounded Israeli civilians in a future Arab- Israeli war." Thus, Carus called for a new defense against such missiles. "Although the Israeli military could take steps to develop defenses on its own," he said, "the development of such sys- tems is too great a challenge to be handled by one small country. "Clearly, any progress made in the United States to develop answers to the dangers posed by tactical ballistic missiles could have a fundamental af- fect on Israel's future security. And, it should be stressed, the benefits resulting from the development of such a system would be shared by other American allies who also find that they must deal with the growing threat of tactical ballistic missiles." Meanwhile, Israel received some bad military-related news the other day — porten- ding possibly even worse news down the road. Because of the Gramm-Rud- man budget cuts, Israel Air- craft Industries (IAI) is now in danger of losing a proposed $10.12 million contract to sell mineplows to the U.S. Marine Corps. The mineplows, which are at- tached to the front of M-60 and other tanks, clear away mines. IAI officials were informed that the contract was now en- dangered because of the most recent federal budget cuts forc- ed on the Marine Corps by the GrammRudman law. The law is designed to reduce the massive federal budget deficit. The Israeli company had been negotiating the deal with the Marines for nearly three years. U.S. officials said all the arrangement% had been virtu- ally completed until the Gramm-Rudman law forced a U.S. and Israeli officials pointed out that the Marine Corps, like the other branches of the U.S. armed services, were currently in the process of sharply cutting back on pro- curement in a host of areas. They strongly denied that the tentative decision to cancel the mineplow deal reflected any political irritation with Israel. IAI officials had hoped that this initial sale to the Marine Corps would encourage other foreign nations to purchase the mineplows, which have been shown to be very effective. In recent weeks, IAI, in a joint venture with Tadiran, had announced the sale of a new generation of pilotless reconnaissance aircraft — known as remotely piloted vehicles (RPVs) — to the U.S. Navy. In addition, the U.S. Navy is expected to lease another 12 Kfir fighters for use during training exercises. A first batch of 12 Kfirs, based at the Oceana Air Naval Station in Virginia, already has been leas- ed by the Navy to simulate Soviet-made MiG-21s. This proposed second shipment would be based in Arizona. NEWS Israel Reports Good News For Economy Jerusalem (JTA) — The infla- tion rate was zero in the last two weeks of January and the estimate of about L5 percent for the full month would be the smallest rise of the consumer price index in eight years. That and other good economic news released last Monday by the Central Bureau of Statistics has put Finance Minister Yitzhak Modai in a strong position for his upcoming contract nego- tiatins with Histadrut. Modai said that with inflation virtually non-existent, there is no need to abandon the wage/ price freeze which he credited for ending the spiral of devaluation and price hikes. Modai urged the trade union federation not to de- mand wage increases but rather maintain the present situation in which consumer buying power is guaranteed. The success of the economic austerity program is threatened, however, by the Cabinet's de- cision to increase the defense budget by $37 million. Modai warned that if this trend con- tinues, it would undo what has been accomplished so far in set- #1,i1 ,e,conglpy, cig14.