While Israeli lawmakers are expressing anger over reports the NSA spied against former senior Israeli ministers, including Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak, America is furious with Israel.

Last week, senior Defense Ministry official Meir Sheetrit announced he was stepping down after America learned that high-tech classified technology sold to Israel was in turn sold by Israel to China. This represents a gross violation of Israeli assurances to the US that demands American approval ahead of passing US technology to a third country.

The daily Maariv explains that officials in the Defense Ministry explained the weaponry in question was sold to a European concern but America is not buying the middleman line. America fears the technology was sold to the European company, which passed it to China from where it was leaked to Iran.

The Americans turned to Israel a month ago to determine if the technology did make its way to China, resulting in Sheetrit’s announced early retirement as he accepted responsibility for the deal. Sheetrit was in the USA this weekend where he personally faced US officials and apologized for approving the deal, which apparently pertains to a miniature cooling system used in missile guidance systems.

This is not the first Israeli violation in which US technology has been sold to China. Some 15 years ago Israel sold a Falcon spy plane to China, leading to a diplomatic crisis between Jerusalem and Washington. As the US pressure on Jerusalem mounted Israel was compelled to back out of the deal and make a $300 million compensatory payment.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)