The Trump administration recently notified congress that it was moving forward with the sale of fifty F-35 fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for $10.4 billion, according to MiddleEastEye.net. Eliot Engel, Chair of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, along with other democratic house members has introduced The Middle East Advanced Technology Protection Act legislation to restrict the sell of F-35 fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates (UAE). according to gnaaffairs.gov.
Eliot said in a statement “The bill I’m introducing would lay out clear conditions governments would have to meet if they want to purchase the F-35 and other sensitive equipment.” according to MiddleEastEye.net report. Engel’s proposed legislation places stipulations on the sell of weapons to any middle eastern country. Before a middle eastern country can purchase certain arms from the US, it must sign a normalization agreement with Israel.
The legislation requires that any receipient country that purchases arms must preserve Israel’s military advantage in the region. The legislation requires weapons modifications to ensure that Israel is able to identify, locate, and track the arms. Countries would be barred from altering their weapons with any modifications. The house is also expected to pass the proposed bypartisan bill allowing the Department of Defense (DoD) to sell Massive Ordinance Penetrator (MOP) bunker buster bombs to Israel.
These bills come at a time when the Trump administration is whipping up military conflict in the middle east, especially against Iran thru its surrogate Israel. Engel said “The Trump Administration has made it clear that they’ll put lethal weaponry in just about anyone’s hands without regard to potential loss of life, so long as the cheque clears”. “So it’s up to Congress to consider the ramifications of allowing new partners to purchase the F-35 and other advanced systems”, reports gnaaffairs.gov.
