In light of the recent ongoings in the Israel-Palestine region, this came as quite a shock to read this morning. Yes, I understand that the US has tepid relations with Israel, and that this is a common trade treaty between them. But to conduct this exercise when there has been so much recent criticism leveled at Israeli Military actions is just plain daft because:

a) It's this kind of idiotic PR that provides fodder for terrorists in accusing Americans as the oppressors and ally's of the Zionist state (if you read the complete article they recently provided similar arms to surrounding Gulf States).

b) Nobody every really believes that the US every wants to push for regional stability, when it appears that they are arming everyone in the region for the next apocalypse.

c) It gives the Iranians even further reason to develop a nuclear arsenal to maintain her security in the threat of attack.

Now, I know the arms trade is quite lucrative and this is going to happen regardless of these reasons, still, one could have been a little more coy and perhaps have waited a year for everything to cool off regarding Israeli foreign relations. This wasn't the sharpest political/economic/international relations move.

...complete article here

Olmert isn't the current PM, Netanyahu is. This article is from three years ago:
Last Updated: Thursday, 16 August 2007, 10:26 GMT 11:26 UK

Darn.... I thought it was something to do with the World Cup game against England.

So it was three years ago? Were the dire predictions correct?