Opinion
Editorials are posted and archived on JNonline.us .
Editorial
Disarm Saudi Sale
p
resident Bush is about to ask
Congress to approve a $20 billion
arms sale to Saudi Arabia and Arab
neighbors in the Gulf Cooperation Council
like the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar,
Bahrain and Oman in hopes of countering
the growing Iranian, Syrian and terror-
ist threats. The package could include the
controversial sale of a highly sophisticated
technology to Riyadh: Joint Direct Attack
Munitions. JDAMs convert unguided con-
ventional bombs into munitions with preci-
sion targeting capabilities.
We applaud the 188 members of the U.S.
House of Representatives who have joined
in a bipartisan letter to protest, in particu-
lar, the administration's plan to sell JDAMs
to the Saudis without concrete assurance
that such weapons won't be used against
American or allied forces, including Israel.
The Nov. 20 letter, authored by Reps.
Mark Kirk, R-Ill., and Christopher Carney,
D-Penn., comes none too soon. We don't
believe such assurance is possible given
the powder keg nature of the Middle East.
Michigan representatives who signed the
letter are Reps. Dave Camp, Peter Hoekstra,
Joe Knollenberg, Sander Levin, Timothy
McCotter, Candace Miller, Mike Rogers,
Bart Stupak, Fred Upton and Timothy
Walberg. Noticeable by their absence are
local representatives John Conyers, John
Dingell and Carolyn Kilpatrick.
Notably, Michigan has one of the high-
est numbers of signatories. The letter has
the support of the American Israel Public
Affairs Committee — America's pro-Israel
lobbying group. The Pentagon retains the
power to block arms sales but rarely does so,
according to Reuters.
In enemy hands, JDAM technology could
significantly harm U.S. forces in the Middle
East and, as the letter states, "undercut
Israel's qualitative military edge'
The letter underscores that Saudi Arabia
remains in a formal state of war with Israel,
the foremost democracy in the region. Saudi
groups continue to export Wahabi extremist
ideology — an anti-American, anti-West
ideology.
So it's not far-fetched to demand that
Saudi Arabia must demonstrate it wouldn't
use JDAMs against Israel.
The letter correctly affirms that any sale
of JDAM technology to Saudi Arabia some-
how must come with guarantees satisfac-
tory to Congress and Israel and subject to
congressional oversight — a tall order.
Reuters reported the following incisive
assessment from Kenneth Katzman, a
Middle East expert at the nonpartisan
Congressional Research Service:
"What the Israelis are worried about is
some Islamist Saudi pilot might peel off and
try to fire a smart weapon at a key Israeli
target. They're also worried about a poten-
tial change of government in Saudi Arabia
to a hard-line Islamist regime that might
deliberately and purposely try to use that
weapon against Israel"
Have we learned nothing from Iran?
Without nuclear capability, Iran might
be more bark than bite. A nuclear Iran
with ballistic missile capability threatens
America, Europe, Israel, Turkey and other
cultures aligned with the West.
Like the Kirk/Carney letter argues, a more
stable, secure Gulf region will advance the
interests of America and its allies. Helping
arm any enemy of Israel, no matter how
friendly they might seem to America, is ask-
ing for trouble.
The pending arms sale should not be
made without quantifiable safeguards. Let
your congressional representative know how
you feel. House members can be reached
through the Capitol switchboard at
(202) 225-3121. II
Forever Chelm by Michael Gilbert
THERE k
GO THE
'
HATS
THERE:
GO THE
St-i0E'S
ti
Reality Check
Academic Atrocities
D
ana Barnett has a name for Israeli
academics who disparage Zionism
and publish books and articles in
sympathy with the Palestinians. The name
is traitor.
"That's a harsh word',' she says. "But
what else do you call an Israeli who goes to
Passer Arafat's compound to 'protect' him
while suicide bombers are striking our cit-
ies daily? What else do you call an Israeli
who gets a teaching job in Britain and then
helps to organize a boycott of Israeli aca-
demics?
And the worst part is they are doing
it out of the most selfish reasons. Have
their activities improved the lives of the
Palestinians? No. But these academics go on
to good jobs and acclaim from the part of
the world community that hates Israel. It's
their chance to be a big shot, instead of an
unknown, ordinary guy"
Barnett, a native Israeli, came through
Detroit last month to talk about an orga-
nization called Israel Academic Monitor
A22
December 6 a 2007
(IAM). She describes it as an
attempt to shed light on what
these professors are up to and
what they are saying.
She was on her way to Ann
Arbor to monitor a speech by one
of them, Neve Gordon. He teaches
at Ben-Gurion University, but is
a visiting professor in Middle
Eastern studies this year at the
University of Michigan.
"Unfortunately, the average
Israeli has no idea',' says Barnett,
"because the professors usually publish
in English, not in Hebrew. And the ones
who are the superstars — Ilan Pappe and
Gordon — are just the tip of the iceberg.
We know that 358 of them signed a petition
urging Israelis to disobey orders to serve
with the army in the 'occupied territories."'
Gordon, for his part, says the organiza-
tion "would be a tasteless joke if the times
were not right for this sort of witch hunt"
He ascribed it to nationalist and sectarian
"frenzy"
According to the think tank
affiliated with IAM, the Ariel
Center for Policy Research,
about 6 percent of the faculty
in Israel's universities are
dedicated to the anti-Zionist
cause. But in the humanities
and social sciences, they esti-
mate the number to be around
25 percent. A booklet pub-
lished by the center calls them
"Our Inner Scourge."
"They tell us we are McCarthyites, try-
ing to suppress academic freedom:' says
Barnett. "Just the opposite. We are trying to
make sure the other side gets heard so stu-
dents can make up their minds.
"We don't want to shut them up, although
an Arab academic who said the same
things about his country would be silenced
pretty quickly. We just want people to
understand what is going on.
"Others tell us that all we are doing is
making these people more famous by giv-
ing them attention. But we can't ignore
them any longer. We can't keep living in
denial that this is happening and this is
what our students are hearing."
The IAM's strategy is to reach contribu-
tors to Israeli universities. In fact, on its
Web site — Israel-Academia-Monitor.com
— the first thing you'll see on the home
page is, Are you a donor to Israel's universi-
ties?"'
Barnett is a former member of the peace
movement. But during the second Intifada
(Palestinian uprising), in 2002, she realized
the philosophy she believed in had been
"hijacked by those who support terrorists."
The IAM was formed four years later.
"I think we are starting to make a differ-
ence," she says. "More academics are being
recruited to our organization and they are
beginning to speak out in support of what
we're doing."
George Cantor's e-mail address is
gcantor614c aoLcom.