Strategic Assessment

In late June 2006, the Ministry of Defense officially announced the opening of the defense export controls division that was established following the serious rift between Israel and the United States over defense exports to China. This signified the beginning of a new approach that Israel decided to adopt as part of compliance with the Wassenaar Arrangement conditions for supervising arms sales in the world, including control of dual use products. This new path was paved after a lengthy process of repair of Israeli-US relations, in which understandings were reached on the procedures to be followed in Israel for enhancing control of defense exports.