Wednesday, August 13, 2008 Free Headline Alerts
TEL AVIV — Israeli security firms have been shut out of the Olympic Games in China and in the process lost lucrative contracts, industry sources said.
U.S. pressure blocked the Israeli Defense Ministry from granting export licenses for security equipment and training to Beijing to protect the Olympic Village, they said.
The sources said without U.S. pressure China would have ordered up to $1 billion in security equipment and expertise from Israel. China was said to have budgeted $4 billion for protection of the games.
"It was a major opportunity wasted, but that's what happens when your security and military policy depends on the United States," an industry source said.
[On Aug. 13, Israel's Haaretz daily reported that the United States rejected an Israeli request for advanced military systems that would facilitate an attack on Iran. Haaretz did not identify the U.S. systems.]
In 2006, Israel agreed to a U.S. veto on military and security exports to China and other countries regarded as adversaries of the United States. The sources said the Bush administration insisted that the U.S. veto also apply to Israeli security expertise to Beijing.
Israeli defense and security companies began negotiations to protect the Olympic Games in China as early as 2004. At the time, officials and industry sources said Beijing was interested in awarding contracts to Israeli companies to serve as consultants or suppliers to Chinese authorities.
In the end, the sources said, Israeli companies were either shut out of the Chinese market or forced to operate through third countries. A key casualty was Israel's Athena Human & Technology Integrated Solutions, a major security subcontractor in the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004.
The only direct Israeli security contractor in China was identified as International Security and Defense Systems, which helped provide security to the Olympics in 1992, 2000 and 2004. ISDS director Leo Gleser said his company had encountered both Chinese and U.S. resistance in efforts to secure a contract for the current Olympic Games.
In 2007, Gleser told the Israeli daily Haaretz, his company served as a consultant to Chinese security firms. Later, ISDS trained police and security teams in Beijing and Shanghai.
In March 2008, China was rocked by several insurgency attacks, including a suicide bombing attempt. At that point, Gleser said, Beijing hired ISDS to provide data on Islamic insurgency threats and propose protective measures. ISDS has retained several leading Israeli analysts on Al Qaida and related groups.
"The Chinese fear, among other things, that protest groups might try to take advantage of the worldwide attention to carry out a non-violent but provocative act to disgrace the Chinese organizers," Gleser said.