It’s satisfying to read reports like this one from the UK-based Times that show the Obama administration “humiliated” Benjamin Netanyahu when he came to the White House this past week. But other events that also transpired this week show that the “special relationship” between the United States and Israel remains very much intact.
While Netanyahu was in Washington, D.C., the Israeli and U.S. defense establishments got chummy by inking a multi-million dollar arms deal March 25.
Haaretz’s Amos Harel reports:
According to the deal, Israel will purchase three new Hercules C-130J airplanes. The deal for the three aircrafts, designed by Lockheed Martin, is worth roughly a quarter billion dollars. Each aircraft costs $70 million.
The aircrafts were manufactured specifically for Israeli needs, and include a large number of systems produced by Israel’s defense industry.
The deal will be covered by American foreign assistance funds. The Pentagon will issue a formal announcement on the matter on Thursday evening.
On the diplomatic front, at the 13th session of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council, the United States voted against all 5 of the resolutions that condemned Israel.
The resolutions, submitted by Pakistan and Sudan on behalf of, respectively, the Organization of Islamic Conference and the Arab Group at the council, called for, among other things: Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Golan Heights; the right of self-determination for the Palestinian people; a halt to construction and withdrawal of illegal settlements in occupied Palestine; reparations for Palestinians for losses and damages suffered during “Operation Cast Lead;” and the establishment of a committee of independent experts to monitor the investigations by Israel and the Palestinians into allegations of war crimes made by the Goldstone report.
All of the resolutions were adopted. Many European countries that sit on the council backed the resolution on settlements, but the United States was the only country to vote against it.
The resolution on the establishment of a group of independent experts to monitor the implementation of the Goldstone report’s recommendations comes almost two months after human rights groups said both Israel and the Palestinians failed to conduct independent and impartial investigations into alleged war crimes committed during the Gaza assault of 2008-2009.
