100%. we have seen time and again weapons sold by the mighty powers that end up in the wrong hands. saudi arabia is also a terrorist supporting country. a country who has israel's destruction as a top priority. most arabs tell the usa and europe one thing and another to their arab street. no one can ever trust an arab. israel knows this only too well. they are cunning, liars and completely work, behave and think in entirely foreign ways than the rest of the world. they are shifty and do not respect agreements nor do they stick to principles that are reasonable and humane. israel is right to be concerned with this saudi/us arms deal because most likely, they israelis will be the ones suffering if that were to happen. i can see saudi arabia only too happy to "lend" some of this arsenal to the "good people" in lebanon (hizbullah), syria, and egypt.

All countries, including the US, EU (old and new Europe), Russia, China and Israel need to stop exporting weapons. They also need to figure out a way to disable all weapons on the other side of the fence. Don't light a match in Iraq.

The Sallafi/Wahhabi terror network runs Saudi Arabia. The Sallafis, which are the extremist branch of the Wahhab are a heartbeat away from the government of Saudi Arabia. The US is as usual delusional about its alliance with them. The days for the Ibn Saud gang are numbered, and while the US has effectively rejected any prospects of democracy there for sake of political convenience, the alternatives are not so good.

I'd guarantee you that Israel would have beaten the crap out of them by now. Hezbollah is a Shieh resistance movement with an impressive history of defeating the incompetent and corrupt Israeli army. The Wahhabi/Sallafis in S. Arabia hate Hezbollah's guts. Get a clue. By the way, in expressing your opinions about the Arabs you sound exactly like the Islamist describing the Jews. Why did you go to the same school as the Islamist?

The Saudis' are already no friend of Israel - technically at war with them...for what good reason , eludes me. Yes, Israel should not have to worry about the possibility of having to defend itself from these weapons ... that probably include some 'Israeli Smarts' inside in any case. The Americans didn't want Israel to supply weapons to China. So, the US should also respect likewise.

People who make money through arms never give up without a fight. They will always come up with a good excuse to sell their weapons somewhere.

America is in a tight spot. Aside from the obvious economic advantage of selling 10billiion dollars worth of weapons, if they don't sell, the likelihood is that the Saudis will begin to fall away from its alliance with America and buy the weapons from the Russians or French. There are no good choices for America. But I ask you Americans, is this the kind of ally America needs? The kind that works to bring oil prices down to five times its cost 5 years ago, but not down to its previous cost? Imagine how much wealthier the rest of the world would be if oil were cheaper. Instead of fueling Iranian political colonialism, it'd be lifting everybody's boat. No doubt the Suadi tepidness to its alliance with America is one of the reasons that Bush wants America to be more independant from foreign oil, but still the Gulf region has a massive influence on the world oil market and that will always affect the US indirectly. The US then is looking for ways to buy time. This is one way, but it's at the expense of its ally, Israel. It'd be better if the US would recognize that Suadia is a lost cause and move on to cement stronger ties with other Gulf States. This is nothing new, though. It's always been a bad idea to sell weapons to Saudia (AWACS, F15's), and the US still made these sales. Especially now, after Saudia has stationed F15's sold by America closer to Israel in contravention to terms agreed to upon their sale, after 9/11 which was perpetrated by Saudis mostly, after they have supported terrorist organizations, the answer should be that they should look elsewhere than Suadia for loyal allies. Already there are reports (Debkafile) that the Saudis are looking to cut loose from the US alliance and form a common defense pact with Iran. The reason for this is as Persian CAT alluded to - there are two major families within Saudia with different ideas on how to deal with foreigners and foreign policy, and one of them has a decidedly anti-American bent, and they are in the ascendancy after the death of the previous king. Seems to me if the US can demand that Israelis not sell weapons to China because of American interests, also we can demand from them not to sell to Saudis. They won't listen, though. What they'll offer is better technology to Israel to close the gap, so they can sell more weapons and make more money, and then all the Israel haters will just say, "see? all you do is suck money from us".

Maybe if we stopped behaving the way we do, stopped isolating ourselves, stopped rejecting all overtured on the part of the Gulf states and others, stopped looking for any excuse to not talk to anyone... - then maybe, just maybe, this situation could be solved and we'd have nothing to fear from them arming themselves. Arab countries are, understandably, modernizing their weaponry. Many of them have expressed a desire and intent to acquire nuclear technology for energy purposes. This is unstoppable and perfectly logial to happen. Are we going to turn even more inward and look only to America (whose influence and power are on an irreversible wane) or are we going to constructively engage with the people who are our neighbors? Our home and future are in the Middle East, not the United States. Get real, people.

America and the West should not and must not sell arms to the dark forces of the world. This will only enable them to continue their path of belligerence, aggressions and Jihadism against Israel and other countries around the world.

What is next tomorrow whole Asia , Israel is getting so paranio they may run away from the region. Reality Check, World

Take your pinky glasses off for a moment Michael. All of your comments and suggestions would be just great - if Israel's detractors were genuine in their efforts towards peace. They clearly are not. Their suggestions of what Israel must and not do - in order to comply with a situation in which they would grant normal relations - don't exist and will never exist as they continually shift the goal posts, raise the bar against Israel. Its a game. The crux of recent 'proposals' is the right of return. Nobody in Israel is ever going to agree to that - unless conquered. I certainly understand that you have good intentions - but the methods and suggestions you enlist are simply not workable and if ever accepted would spell the demise of the country - which surprise! surprise! is exactly what the arabs want. The USA cant supply Israel's enemies and expect that it will be accepted, as one day , even with 'better technology' the country still may have to defend itself from such weapons unnecessarily at great risk. The arabs will never accept a Jewish state in the ME. They wont even accept Jews without preconditions. They have said that time and time again and their words backed continually by their actions. When will you get THAT through your thick skull? Your appeasement, ignorance of that would, if you were ever in control - cost you your life and your country's at the hands of the arabs.

Israel is not asking the US to refuse all millitary sales only a few spesific weapons like precision guided weapons which would signifcantly turn the balance of power against Israel especialy as it has no territorial depth. the US could cancel the whole $5-$10 billion contract ( which Israel is not asking it to do ) and it would still do no damage to the US economy, it wouldnt cause mass job losses .. or anything like that. The companies that make these weapons are giants, individual companies like Northrop Grunman have more money than many countries ... they can afford to loose contracts now and again. The US has recently preasured Israel into allowing the US a virtual veto over all Israeli millitary and technology exports and in the past they have done real damage to Israel economicly by preasuring Israel into canceling contracts. Israel had a multi billion deal with China to sell them the Israeli phalcon early warning system ( Israels homemade version of AWACS no US technology used ) the US then preasured Israel into canceling the sale the money had to be returned to China along with about $500 million in compensation ( paid by Israel not the US even though the contract was cancled under US preasure ). This not only cost Israel alot ( to the US the loss of a contract like that & $500 million compensation is nothing to Israel it makes a big difference ) the result was not just 1 canceled contract but damage of trade relations with China in general which were growing because China cant do deals now with Israel and be certain that the US wont veto the sale at the last minute. Another time Israel was one of the final bidders to supply South Korea with an early warning system the main comeptition was AWACS .. the US government used its innfluence to delay Israel and that was just long enough to push South Korea into choosing AWACS. India also wanted to buy the arrow missle defense system from Israel .. Israel sold them the radar part of it but then the US vetoed the sale of the rest of the system and they are now trying to get India to buy patriot. Considering all of this is it unreasonble for Israel to ask the US that they limit the sale of weapons to the arabs and refuse to sell certain weapons not cancel whole contracts? The whabis allready have plenty of weapons these precision guided weapons are not crucial to the continued existance of their country if they got into a fight. The Gulf States also make alot of promises to the US when it comes to use of millitary equipoment or recognising Israel and then they just break those promises and the US does very little to enforce it. The Gulf is also a very unstable place right now and the less hi-tec US weapons around the better.

Interesting how Israel had no problems selling US technology to China and now they are crying wolf. But, I will agree that the weapons should not be sold to Saudi Arabia, not because Izzy will lose it's so-called "QME", but because Iran poses no threat to Saudi Arabia. The threat is fabricated. Additionally, I think Saudi Arabia poses a larger threat to the greater ME then does Iran. Iran and Israel have a rich history together if you put aside the last 20 some-odd years. If only they could work together and "bridge the gap" if ya know what I mean. Unfortunately, with the mindset and management in Israel and Iran, that will not happen but someday the relationship will reemerge for the greater benefit of the world.

Maybe if Switzerland stopped making pretend it was neutral and admitted it was into everything simply for the money, the World would take the opinion of its citizens more seriously. All countries are modernizing their weaponry. Many of them have expressed a desire and intent to acquire nuclear technology for energy purposes. This is unstoppable and perfectly logical to happen. Especially since the Arabs have promised to use switzerland as a conduit for payments and exchanges - for a hefty fee of course. Switzerland's home and future is in the Middle East, not the United States. That's where the IslamoFascists (today's Nazis) have promised to rebuild our economy the way the Odessa gang of the Nazis did in the 30s and 40s. Get real, people. The Swiss are about money, and we don't care who commits the genocide as long as we get paid!

Iran and Israel have no land or territorial disputes. The problems that exist between them seem unsolvable at the surface but there are some possibilities. Israel is not an independent country and it has to follow orders from the US. So the "enmity" will last as long as the US-Iran relations are the way they are. The reverse is true also. Israel gets REAL nervous whenever there's a possibility of of raproachment between the US and Iran because Israel feels it will be left out in the cold if these two resume diplomatic relations. Then there are the war paties in all three countries whose jobs, salaries and power depends on the existing of the status quo. The only solution is to defeat the war parties in all THREE countries. That means the eradications of Islamis, Zionism and the Christian Coalition. Only then the sun will shine on our peoples. Don't you agree?

This sale is none of Israel's business and represents needed revenue for US Arms makers and must be allowed to proceed. Saudi Arabia is a strategic partner, a long time friend of the United States and far more important to the US than Israel will ever be. Pushing the Saudis away will only push them towards the Russians who will be more than happy to sell them what ever they want. Israel should work on makng peace for a change as that will make them far more secure than any precieved QME, which from what we saw in Lebanon is nearly non-existant anyway.

that is why war is justified by some to fund the 'miliary-industrial-think tank-congressional' complex. EISENHOWER IS right, a B-1 bomber = to 10 well equipped hospitals, 1 destroyer = 25 well equipped schools, & the list goes on & on! by the way label the purchase of weapons = defend freedom.