Israel Rebuffs U.S., Refuses to Stop Spy Flights Over Iraq

In a sharp rebuff to Washington, Israel indicated Wednesday that it will continue spy flights over Iraq despite U.S. protests that the activity gets in the way of U.N. efforts to uncover Iraqi nuclear and missile programs.

Underlying the response was a tone of impatience with the Bush Administration, which is at odds with the Israeli government on a growing list of delicate matters. In addition, analysts say, Israel is unwilling to rely on U.S. pledges to erase the military threat from Iraq.

Washington objected to the flights after Iraq complained to the United Nations that four Israeli F-15 jets flew over western Iraq last Friday, entering from Syria and leaving through Saudi Arabia.

“I think that probably many in Israel were disappointed to see that the United States seemed to be adding its voice to this kind of protest,” Defense Minister Moshe Arens told a group of Jewish fund-raisers. He called the Iraqi protest a “record for hypocrisy,” coming as it did from a country that rained missiles on Israel during the Persian Gulf War.

“It must be clear,” Arens added, “that the government of Israel is obligated to do everything necessary to provide for the protection and defense of the State of Israel.

“Israel will continue to do what it has done in the past to exercise its legitimate right of self-defense,” he concluded.

On Tuesday, the U.S. ambassador to Israel delivered a stinging rebuke to Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and claimed that Israel’s overflights could endanger U.N. inspectors working to disarm Iraq’s nuclear, chemical and biological warfare arsenal.