Is Ilhan Omar More Loyal To The US Than Trump?

Following the smear campaign pursued against US congresswoman Ilhan Omar for questioning the influence of Israeli Lobby groups over US foreign policy and now the Islamophobic attacks upon her, it’s important to contextualize why and how pro-Israel Lobby groups can/have caused damage to the United States.

Former US President Jimmy Carter once said that the US “have a special relationship with Israel”, a sentiment echoed by US Presidents ever since, but how close is this special relationship and to what extent can it go on unchallenged when US national security interests are put at risk?

An important, yet rarely touched on subject, is the selling of US weapons technology, by Israel, to China. In both the 1980’s and 1990’s, this issue was touched on extensively in US press, however this topic had dropped out of public view beginning in the early 2000’s.

To lay out some context before going further into this issue, the United States of America has strictly forbidden US and US allied nations companies from selling advanced offensive weapons systems, such as fire control radars and aerofoil design secrets, to China since 1989. The reasoning behind prohibiting the sale of such technology, according to the United States, is security related.

China, in the eyes of many analysts, poses a potential military threat to the United States. The US is also obligated to protect Taiwan, in the event of possible hostilities.

Regardless of whether you agree with it or not, it is completely against the interests of the United States for its own weapons technology to end up in the hands of China. That is why it is a big issue if Israel is to pass that weapons technology on, as they have been accused of doing.

As part of the Israel-US alliance, Israel have been entitled to gifts and exemptions that no other ally has received. Not only does the US sell Israel advanced military technology, it even subsidizes most of the purchases.

In addition to this, Israel often reverse engineers the weapons technology it receives from the United States and is exempt from having to pay for much of the licensing regularly required to do so.

After reverse engineering US advanced weapons technology, which is again often paid for by the US, Israel has been confirmed to have sold this technology to China. This is evidently something that an ally should not be able to get away with doing.

In September of 2018, US President, Donald Trump decided to invoke his power under Section 231 of the CAATSA act, and sanction China for its purchase of weapons technology from Russia. But if these such measures are taken and Israel is still selling to China, what is the point in the US behaving like this? If anything, it only aggravates the Chinese un-necessarily.

Today, we have little confirmed knowledge on exactly what weapons technology the Israelis are selling to China, however we can confirm what they did sell in the past.

For example, in the 1980’s, Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) developed a 4th generation fighter jet, named the ‘Lavi’. The Lavi’s design was a virtual copy of Lockhead Martin’s F-16, the advanced avionics and fire control radar, as well as the engine were all borrowed products of US industry, the fighter jets most identifiable feature was its canard wings (which is not from the F-16).

The ‘Lavi’ project eventually failed and the warplane was scrapped, however the technology was not wasted. Israel sold that technology to China, which then came out with its own 4th generation fighter jet, the J-10, a fighter jet so similar to the Israeli ‘Lavi’ that it even included the distinct canard wings.

China managed to get its hand on other technologies, such as Israel’s ELM 20-20 radar and Israel’s Python 3 air to air missile, which originated in the United States.

On October 12, 1993, the NYT reported written statements from the, at the time, Director of Central Intelligence, R. James Woolsey, who explained that Israel had sold advanced military technology to China. The CIA also claimed that China had been acquiring advanced military technology from Israel, for over a decade, on air to air missiles, tanks and fighter jets.

In 1997 US Naval intelligence stated that Israel was selling US technologies to China, referring to the sale of technology from the Lavi project. David Larry, former general director for Israel’s ministry of defense, also admitted in an interview with the associated press that Israel had sold “some technology on aircraft to china” and that some weapons manufacturers may not have “clean hands”.

Without going into much further detail on the topic, this sort of questionable activity on behalf of Israel demonstrates why dissident voices, such as that of Ilhan Omar and others, are essential for healthy relationships between allied nations.

If you don’t question the power and activity of Lobby groups as well as foreign allies, those Lobby groups and allies will have a free pass to take advantage of your country. The reason why Israel is able to get away with its violations of international law and act in a way which endangers its allies interests, is because they face no consequence for doing so.

Now, saying this, why is it that Mr. America first, Donald Trump, hasn’t questioned this one way relationship and has attacked Ilhan Omar who has indeed taken a stand for her country?

Could it in fact be, that Ilhan Omar is more loyal to the United States than President Trump?

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Author Robert Inlakesh is a special contributor to 21WIRE and European correspondent for Press TV. He has reported from on the ground in occupied Palestine. See more of his work here. 

READ MORE PALESTINE NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Palestine Files

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