(Times of Israel) Lenny Ben-David - In the 1981 AWACS battle on Capitol Hill, a relatively small American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) challenged the Reagan administration and the Saudi lobby seeking the U.S. sale of Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) surveillance aircraft to Saudi Arabia. On Oct. 14, 1981, the House of Representatives with its Democratic majority voted overwhelmingly against the sale, 301-111. On Oct. 28, the Senate rejected a resolution to disapprove the AWACS sale in a dramatic 48-52 vote. Of the 50 senators who had originally cosponsored the resolution, Reagan arm-twisted eight first-term senators - seven of them Republicans - to switch and oppose the resolution. The sale went through. Just days after the AWACS vote, the State Department's congressional liaison met with AIPAC lobbyists to discuss cooperation on the annual foreign aid bill. Today as well, U.S.-Israel affinity, military and intelligence cooperation, and popular opinion in both countries guarantee that the current rocky relationship will right itself. The writer served as a senior Israeli diplomat in Washington.
2015-07-24 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive