Israel's Friends & Israel's Interests

The Jerusalem Post reports that Egypt has become the biggest arms buyer in the Middle East. (Worth reading the full article)

The report issued last week in Washington said Egypt recorded $6.5 billion worth of weapons purchases from 2001 to 2004. Israel bought $4.4b. during the same period and Saudi Arabia recorded $3.8b.

For Egypt, which receives $1.3b, in annual US military grants, most of its weapons were purchased from the United States ($5.6b.). Most of this has been for military platforms and weapons, including advanced attack helicopters and fast missile vessels. The United States has sold some weapons to Egypt of superior quality than it has sold to Israel, such as the Harpoon II missiles.

Based on this information, 2 questions must be asked:

1) Egypt has a signed peace agreement with the State of Israel. Additionally, Egypt has no natural enemies that threaten her borders. As such, what reason could Egypt have for amassing such a tremendous arsenal of weapons?

Could it be for the eventual use against the Jewish State of Israel? (Egypt has been involved in every war against Israel since its inception, and is a sponsor of Arab terrorism and anti-Semitic and anti-Israel incitement against the Jewish State).

2) If the US is truly committed to maintaining Israel's military and strategic edge in the Middle East, why would it allow Egypt (and other Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - 2 countries who are still in a state of war with Israel) to stockpile such an enormous arsenal of US military hardware where the logical use of the weapons will be against the interests of the State of Israel?

It seems that the US arms policy is being driven by a desire for both oil and profits, which is coming at the expense of Israel's security.

It would be wise for Israel to follow the words of former President of France Charles De Gaulle:

Countries don’t have friends, they have interests.

It's time that Israel started looking out for her own interests, because it is clear that if she doesn't, no one else will.

Cross Posted at Israpundit

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