A special envoy of the Israeli prime minister said the United States should expand its arms aid to Israel in light of the increased threats posed by the unstable aftermath of the "Arab Spring" revolutions.
Zalman Shoval, a former Israeli ambassador to the United States and foreign policy advisor to Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud Party, said in an interview Friday that the instability in Egypt, Libya and Syria suggest that the U.S.-Israel security ties will be “probably more important than ever before.”
He said the United States should consider increasing its emergency inventory of military equipment in Israel, and step up joint military exercises with the Israel Defense Forces to demonstrate to neighboring governments the U.S. commitment to regional stability. Since 1990, the United States has stored military equipment in Israel for use by U.S. armed forces or by the IDF in an emergency.
Shoval said political instability and violence in the region and the advance of Islamist parties show that Americans were generally too optimistic about the uprisings.