US already sells weapons to the UAE
Although the US already ships a substantial amount of arms to the UAE the sales are often questioned by Congress which has even tried to block them on occasion because of the UAE partnering with the Saudis in Yemen where many claim there have been war crimes. In May, the U.S. State Department approved a possible sale of up to 4,569 used Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles to the UAE for $556 million. As of 2017, the United States exported approximately 499 million weapons to UAE, a decrease compared to the previous year.
With the Israel UAE deal US weapons sales my face less resistance
There may be less resistance to US weapons sales to the UAE especially if the Israeli lobby in the US goes to bat for such sales.
Controversial arms sales are often the priciest. Other countries such as Egypt which also has relations with Israel are able to get Israeli help with getting US weapons purchases approved.
A recent article notes: “In a National Public Radio interview on Friday, U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman said that “the more the Emirates become a friend of Israel, become a partner of Israel, become a regional ally of the United States, I think obviously that alters the threat assessment and could work out to the Emirates’ benefit” on future weapons sales.”
David Makovsky, director of the Project on Arab-Israel Relations at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy think tank, said to Reuters that the agreement was a win for the UAE and that the UAE will no doubt be eligible for weapons sales that it could not get before due to qualitative edge restrictions. These restrictions were for certain technologies that the US feared could be used against Israel.
