Gunvant Govindjee’s sweeping generalised statement "from the latter half of the 1970s to well into the 1980s, apartheid SA was the largest recipient of Israeli weaponry" is presented without so much as a shred of evidence (Toll of Israeli arms trade, June 12). Allow me to put some aspects of the dreaded apartheid war machine into perspective. SA’s air force, as an example, was equipped with a varied fleet of aircraft, including VIP jets and helicopters, all manufactured by the US, Britain, France and Italy, covering the years that he refers to. The navy had outdated British warships and French-manufactured submarines. Israel at that time was never a manufacturer of warplanes, having satisfied its needs with supply from France (initially) and the US. One should also be aware of Russian involvement during those years, when tonnes of AK-47 automatic rifles were secreted into the country to assist the ANC’s war machine — the same weapons that feature so prominently in the destruction of...
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