The book asserted that Israel exported an average of $600 million in
military equipment to South Africa between 1974 and 1993. The book, "The
Unspoken Alliance: Israel's Secret Relationship with Apartheid South
Africa," was said to have been based on documents from South Africa's
Defense Ministry, Foreign Ministry and the state-owned Armscor export
agency.
Author Sasha Polakow-Suransky, a senior researcher at the Council on
Foreign Relations in the United States, said the military trade between
Jerusalem and Pretoria exceeded $10 billion over 20 years. By 1979, he said,
South Africa became Israel's single largest defense client, accounting for
35 percent of its military exports.
In the 1970s, Polakow-Suransky said, South Africa supplied spare parts
for Israel's Mirage fighter-jet fleet. He said the defense and nuclear
agreements were drafted by then Israeli Defense Minister Shimon Peres and
his South African counterpart, P.W. Botha.
The book asserted that Israel and South Africa began biannual meetings in 1973. Over the next eight years, defense trade
increased 15-fold, with Israel selling Pretoria fighter-jets, main battle
tanks and long-range missiles.
At one point, Polakow-Suransky said, South Africa was interested in
purchasing Israel's Jericho intermediate-range missile, reportedly designed
to contain a nuclear warhead. The documents
asserted that Peres told the South Africans that Israel had developed three
types of Jericho missiles. Peres has denied that he offered nuclear-related
equipment to Pretoria.
"The South Africans were only interested in these Jericho missiles if
they contained a nuclear warhead," Polakow-Suransky said.
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