Dear friend of EMET,
While we are still tethered to our homes, we at EMET have continued working on our important issues through phone and Zoom calls with our contacts on Capitol Hill. We would like to provide a short brief on a particular issue that we are advocating these days and ask that you contact your Senator and Representative to urge them to support this cause. We have provided below a suggested text and attached the letters as well.
Not Allowing the Sale of F-35s to Qatar
In 2008, Congress enacted legislation requiring that any proposed U.S. arms sale to a Middle East country, other than Israel, would not adversely affect Israel’s Qualitative Military Edge (QME) over other military threats to Israel.
According to the 2008 legislation, H.R.7177, QME is “the ability to counter and defeat any credible conventional military threat from any individual state or possible coalition of states or from non state actors, while sustaining minimal damages and casualties, through the use of superior military means, possessed in sufficient quantity, including weapons, command, control, communication, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities that in their technical characteristics are superior in capability to those of such other individual or possible coalition of states or non state actors.”
In early October of 2020, Qatar has submitted a formal request to the United States to buy the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II fighter-jet (F-35). The F-35 is a fifth-generation jet fighter, and is therefore considered to be one of the most advanced fighter-jets in the world. It is a supersonic and an all-weather stealth multirole combat aircraft, intended to perform both air superiority and strike missions.
Due to the advance characteristics of the F-35, Israel is against the sale of the F-35 to Qatar, as it has the potential of decreasing Israel’s QME. Qatar is home to the Muslim Brotherhood, and they have been funding extreme terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, ISIS, Al Qaeda, and Jubat al Nusra. They have developed an increasingly close relationship with Iran.
In addition to their terrorist engagements, they have also been using soft power against the United States, through the funding of American universities and the Qatar Foundation. According to Sam Westrop, of the Middle East Forum, “Qatar funds Salafis and the Muslim brotherhood. However, within America, you find the Qatari funded Muslim Brotherhood has linked arms with those who promote a very left-wing agendas, such as prison reform and gay rights. The American Muslim Brotherhood cannot be looked upon as merely representing Salafism. This is in an attempt to market themselves. Yet, they are funding the agendas that the Islamists want. We see Qatar funding groups like Western Muslim charities, such as CAIR and ISNA and Islamic Relief, with Islamist ties abroad to places like Hamas in Gaza.” Selling Qatar F-35s would impact Israel’s national security and jeopardize Israel’s QME.
We ask you, our dear supporters and friends of EMET, to contact the office of your Representative and Senators, and encourage them to oppose the sale of F-35s to Qatar. For your convenience, we have drafted a suggested email. We would also appreciate you circulating this among your friends.
Contact details of your Senator’s office can be found here, and of your Representative, by zip code, here. Should you have trouble finding the contact information, please feel free to reach out to Sarah Stern ([email protected]) or Benjamin Weil ([email protected]) and we will gladly provide you with the information. Please feel free to use your own language and to borrow from any of the facts outlined above.
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Dear <<insert name of the staffer>>,
I would like to encourage <<insert the title and name of the Senator/Representative>> to oppose the sale of F-35s to Qatar. Qatar has recently submitted an official request to purchase Lockheed Martin F-35 Lighting II fighter-jets from the United States. These fighter-jets have advanced capabilities and properties, making the F-35 one of the most advanced jets in the world. That is why we encourage your boss to oppose the sale of this jet to Qatar.
Qatar is home to the Muslim Brotherhood, and they have been funding extreme terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, ISIS, Al Qaeda, and Jubat al Nusra. They have developed an increasingly close relationship with Iran. They are even using soft power against the United States, through the massive funding of American universities which goes unreported and violates Section 117 of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as well as through the Qatar Foundation. We fear that by handing Qatar a fifth-generation fighter-jet, this would severely compromise Israel’s Qualitative Military (QME) Edge in the Middle East. It would also allow Qatar to reverse engineer the F-35 stealth properties and transfer that knowledge to American adversaries, such as Russia, Iran, Turkey, and others.
As you are aware, Congress, in the 2008 legislation H.R.7177, has codified the United States commitment to preserve Israel’s QME in the Middle East. We ask that your boss upholds this commitment by preventing the sale or transfer of F-35s to Qatar.
Many thanks,
<<insert your name>>
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Sarah Stern
Sarah N. Stern
Founder and President
Endowment for Middle East Truth
[email protected]
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Benjamin Weil
Director of the Project for Israel's National Security
Endowment for Middle East Truth
[email protected]
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INVEST IN THE TRUTH. INVEST IN EMET.
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FOLLOW THE ENDOWMENT FOR MIDDLE EAST TRUTH
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