At-Home with Gila Svirsky

Jerusalem
21 February 2001

Subject: Stop weapons sales to Israel!

Cc:     “Colin Powell” <secretary@state.gov>,

“Dick Cheney” <Vice.President@whitehouse.gov>,

“President George W. Bush” <president@whitehouse.gov>

Friends,

URGENT: We need your help right now to prevent the sale of 9 Apache attack helicopters to Israel.

However you feel about the situation in the Middle East, one thing is clear:
We do not need more weapons.

I am not opposed to foreign aid; on the contrary, I think the United States should share its wealth with peoples throughout the world. What it should not be doing, however, is exporting more instruments of war.

Apache attack helicopters were used by the Israeli government to assassinate Palestinians, to shell Gaza city, Ramallah, Bir Zeit, and other locations.

Please, please, please:
The last thing that we in Israel and Palestine need is more ways to kill each other.

E-mail:
President Bush  <president@whitehouse.gov>
Vice-president Cheney  <Vice.President@whitehouse.gov>
Secretary of State Powell  <secretary@state.gov>
and your local Congresspeople.

Keep the letter simple and clear – one sentence will do. All they do is count how many in favor, how many opposed. To be sure they get your point, make it early and also in the subject, such as “Stop weapons sales to Israel.”

For more details, read below.

Thanks,
Gila Svirsky
Jerusalem, Israel

PS Even if we don't stop them this time, they'll think twice about doing it next time.

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From The Jerusalem Post, February 21, 2001
US to sell Israel nine Apache Longbow attack helicopters for $500m.
By Arieh O'Sullivan

TEL AVIV (February 21) - Israel has signed a deal with the US Department of Defense to purchase nine AH-64D Apache Longbow attack helicopters manufactured by Boeing, it was announced yesterday.

The governments of both countries must approve the deal, since the IAF [Israeli Air Force] will be paying for the $500 million deal with US military grant money.

“Once government-to-government negotiations are completed through a foreign military sales agreement, the US Army will contract with Boeing for the Israeli aircraft and equipment,” the Boeing statement said.

The air force had originally wanted to upgrade a dozen of the Apache helicopters already in its fleet. But when OC Air Force Maj.-Gen. Dan Halutz was appointed last year, he reviewed the program and decided it was a better deal to use the money to purchase eight of the advanced Longbows.

The announcement raised that number to nine, but neither Boeing nor the IAF would comment on the additional helicopter. News of the deal came a week after Washington reportedly complained to Israel over the use of Apache helicopters in a missile attack in the Gaza Strip which killed a Hizbullah operative.

The IAF says it still maintains the option to upgrade 12 Apache helicopters to Longbow level. The Apache Longbow is an advanced, multi-mission attack helicopter and features fully integrated avionics and weapons plus a state-of-the-art modem that transmits real-time, secure, digitized battlefield information to air and ground forces.

The Apache Longbow is the world’s only fourth-generation attack helicopter and the only combat helicopter in service with the ability to rapidly detect, classify, prioritize, and engage stationary or moving enemy targets at standoff ranges in nearly all weather conditions.

The total value of the program – including aircraft, ordnance, spares, training, and support – is expected to approach $500 million, Boeing said. Original costs for eight new Longbows were estimated at $440m.

The first Apache Longbow is expected to be delivered in 2004, air force sources said, with the rest following over the next year. They are expected to be armed with AGM-114K and Hellfire missiles.