Once again Israel's military industry finds itself in hot water with America over arms sales to China.
In the latest flap, the U.S. is demanding that Israel not send back to China some Israeli-made Harpy assault drones which were brought here for upgrading. The drones in question are already Chinese property.
(Reuters reported in 2002 that Israel is second only to Russia in providing arms to China. I don't know how Israel ranks today.)
Last week there were reports the U.S. was demanding Israel fire a senior Defense Ministry official. Both sides denied the reports, but there's something clearly amiss in U.S.-Israel relations when it comes to selling arms to the Chinese.
In January 2003, Israel froze all weapons exports to China due to U.S. pressure.
One would think Israel and the U.S. could find some mechanism to ensure disagreements over arms sales to China don't repeat themselves, but such flaps seem to have become an annual event in recent years.
In a related story, The Jerusalem Post reports that Israeli drones are being used along the U.S.-Mexio border to help detect drug smugglers and illegal aliens.
