Democratic Palestine : 5 (ص 26)
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- Democratic Palestine : 5 (ص 26)
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South America
Israeli arms exporters sell to every South American coun-
try except Brazil, which produces and exports its own arms.
The Israeli military attache in Buenos Aires coordinates the
activities of more than twenty Israeli arms merchants, one-third
of the entire overseas staff, who traffic in weapons in Latin
America.'*®? Davar estimated Israeli arms exports to South
America, mostly to Argentina and Peru, at $150 million in
1982.'°° However, in 1980, Argentina and El Salvador
accounted for 35 percent of $1.2 billion in Israeli arms exports,
or $420 million.'©° Ecuador’s twelve Kfirs cost $196 million and
the U.S. Government Accounting Office estimates a possible
$800 million in Latin American sales for Israeli aircraft alone. '®'
As in Malawi, Africa, the Israelis have helped set up milit-
ary youth movements like the Nahal in Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru,
El Salvador, Panama, and elsewhere. '®
Argentina
Argentina is Israel's second largest customer
worldwide, '* accounting for about 29 percent of Israeli sales in
the seventies;'® its air force bought fifty supersonic jet fighters
before 1982, making Argentina the single largest purchaser of
Israeli combat fighters. '®° During Argentina’s 1978 dispute with
Chile over the Beagle Channel, Israeli arms salesmen, sup-
posedly neutral, shuttled back and forth selling both sides as
much as they wanted in planes, boats, and missiles, such as
the Shafrir which was sold to both sides and contains compo-
nents made in the U.S. ' General Mordechai Mota Gur,
former head of the Israeli armed forces, told General Pinochet,
«the Chilean army is accustomed to victories and hungry for
more». Gur went on to Argentina where he sold $250 million in
the form of 26 Nesher fighter-bombers (Nesher is the Hebrew
word for «dagger»; the Nesher is a Mirage), four Dabur patrol °
boats, and 18 sea-to-sea Gabriel MK missiles and arranged for
delivery of $1.5 million in antiaircraft shells.'®” To satisfy their
neutrality, the Israelis sent the deputy defense minister to San-
tiago. Pinochet bought spare parts and service for his C-130
transport planes and 150 Shafrir infrared missiles. The U.S.
had refused to sell Chile the U.S. missiles after which the Shaf-
rir is designed. '®
Israel had done the same during the 1969 Honduras-El
Salvador soccer war.'®? During the Malvinas/Falklands War,
when the U.S. stopped its own shipments to Argentina, Israel
got into hot water by illegally shipping arms to Argentina via
New York.'”° The Israelis sold Argentina 32 rebuilt aircraft from
the Israeli air force, Gabriel and Shafrir missiles, and spare
parts for Argentinian Mirages and Skyhawks during the war.'”'
since the Malvinas/Falklands War,'” Israel has sold the
Argentinian junta 22 U.S.-made A-4 Skyhawks and has agreed
to ship 22 more Kfir fighters.‘
A CIA report, captured in the U.S. embassy in Teheran,
states that the Israeli secret service, the Mossad, has close
26
links with the Argentine army. The document asserts that Mos-
sad officers, based in Rio de Janeiro and responsible for oper-
ations in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay went to
Uruguay to «train the Argentinians. Based on these contacts,
the Israelis have recommended the development of joint
antiterrorist operations».'”* Israeli arms business with Argen-
tina sharply increased after the military seized power in 1976.
The anti-Semitic practices of Argentina’s military junta,
documented by the U.S. House of Representatives, the
Catholic church, and the American Jewish Committee, are
well-known. Jacobo Kovadloff, the AJC representative in
Argentina, was forced to flee the country because of threats to
his life. Yet Nazi war criminals like Edward Roschmann, the
«Butcher of Riga», get official protection.'”° In December 1982,
in Buenos Aires, Israeli Foreign Minister Itzhak Shamir expres-
sed concern to Argentina’s president and foreign minister
about one thousand Jewish-Argentinian disappeareds from
the the five-year reign of terror. Then, in the same meeting, he
went on to discuss further arms sales.'”®
Chile
In Chile Israeli arms are used to assasinate those who
resist the Pinochet regime. A special agency of the Israeli
ministry of defense, the Department of International Relations
and Cooperation, aids the Chilean junta in counterinsurgency.
Chile has also bought a radar system and two patrol boats.
Many such transactions are shrouded in secrecy. In 1982, the
Chilean popular resistance denounced the secret unloading of
a shipment of Israeli arms at the port of Talcahuano, near Con-
cepcion. In 1977 Chile bought 150 Shafrir missiles.'7” Then
chief of the Israeli Air Force, General David Ivri, visited Chile in
late 1982, presumably to induce them to buy aircraft.'”® In
January 1983 the general director for Latin American affairs of
the Israeli foreign ministry declared in Santiago that his country
will increase relations with Chile «in all ways». When asked
about the sale of arms, he stated, «It would be much nicer for
us to sell textile products. But we are forced to produce arms
for reasons of security and defense» .'7°
Another close ally of the Israelis is the Duvalier regime in
Haiti.'"®° Perhaps the most outrageous Israeli sales in South
America are those to Paraguay,unrepentant haven for Nazi
war criminals.'®' Richard Arens, the older brother of the Israeli
Defense Minister Moshe Arens, says he broke with his brother
when he was working to stop the extermination of indigenous
peoples in Paraguay. The elder Arens asked his brother to try
to stop Israeli arms sales to Paraguay. Moshe responded that
he wasn't interested. '®¢
Central America
In the seventies, Israel became «the major source of arms
for the conflicts in Central America», according to the Los
Angeles Times.'® Joav Karni, of the progovernment Yediot - هو جزء من
- Democratic Palestine : 5
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