Israeli companies providing & maintaining equipment for US military in Iraq

NOTE: These military contracts with Israel are costing Americans jobs…like the Bush junta cares.

JERUSALEM (AP) — An Israeli state-owned corporation has won a contract to supply the U.S. Marine Corps with state-of the-art armored vehicles for use in Iraq, the latest in a long line of Israeli defense sales for use in the war.

Amit Tzimer, spokesman for weapons maker Rafael, said Sunday that, in
partnership with U.S. manufacturer PVI, Rafael has signed up to
deliver 60 of its new Golan vehicles at a total price of $37 million.

Delivery will be made to the Marines in the United States in May, he said.

Rafael’s sales catalog describes the Golan as a multipurpose vehicle,
capable of withstanding armor-piercing machine-gun rounds, rocket fire
and bomb blasts. It can carry up to 10 troops up to 360 miles on a
tank of gas and can be outfitted as a fighting vehicle, mobile command
post or ambulance.

Tzimer said that the initial deal was part of the first phase of a
U.S. program to procure a total of 40,000 armored vehicles, and Rafael
hoped for more orders in the future.

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He said the firm previously supplied armor for the Bradley fighting
vehicle.

A Pentagon survey released earlier this year said that hundreds of
U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan have experienced shortages of key
protective equipment including armored vehicles.

Tel Aviv-based defense analyst Zeev Schiff said Rafael was only one of
several Israeli companies that had long been providing and maintaining
equipment for American forces in Iraq.

“Israel prefers to keep a low profile, but it’s been doing that for
years, not just for the (U.S.) Army but for the Navy, too,” he said.

The Israeli Defense Ministry declined to comment on the sales of
Israeli equipment destined for use in Iraq. The U.S. Defense
Department did not respond to requests for a comment.

Robin Hughes, a Mideast military analyst at London-based Jane’s
Defense Information Group, said the issue of Israeli equipment in
service in Iraq was a sensitive one, and both suppliers and customers
generally preferred to avoid publicity.

“There are systems that are deployed, and I wouldn’t just say U.S.
vehicles, maybe other coalition vehicles. I think that if you were to
look carefully, you might spot other Israeli stuff,” he said, without
elaborating.

Israeli media have reported that Israeli businessmen are active within
Iraq itself, and last month the Israeli National Security Council
issued a cryptic travel warning, citing the danger to Israelis
traveling there and reminding them that such visits are a criminal
offense under Israeli law.

Israeli citizens are forbidden by law to visit Iraq, Syria, Lebanon,
Saudi Arabia or Yemen, all of which are technically at war with the
Jewish state. Egypt and Jordan are the only Arab states to have signed
peace treaties with Israel.