I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 8707 

To require certifications for transfers of certain United States defense articles 

and defense services, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

OCTOBER 30, 2020 

Mr. ENGEL (for himself, Mr. DEUTCH, Ms. SPANBERGER, Mr. MALINOWSKI, 

Mr. GOTTHEIMER, Mr. SCHNEIDER, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mrs. 

MURPHY of Florida, Mr. TRONE, Mr. SHERMAN, and Mr. CONNOLLY) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs 

A BILL 

To require certifications for transfers of certain United 

States defense articles and defense services, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Middle East Advanced 

5 Military Technology Protection Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 


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1 (1) In June 2017, the Assistant Secretary of 

2 State for Political-Military Affairs testified to Con3 gress, ‘‘Arms transfers are foreign policy. When we 

4 transfer a system or a capability to a foreign part5 ner, we are affecting regional—or foreign internal— 

6 balances of power; we are sending a signal of sup7 port; and we are establishing or sustaining relation8 ships that may last for generations and provide ben9 efits for an extended period of time.’’. 

10 (2) For more than 50 years, the United States 

11 has worked to ensure Israel’s qualitative military 

12 edge when considering the sale or export of defense 

13 articles and defense services to Israel or to others in 

14 the Middle East region. 

15 (3) Maintaining a substantial qualitative mili16 tary edge is critical to preserving Israel’s safety and 

17 security and has been a vital consideration in all 

18 previous sales of weapons to the region. 

19 (4) Congress codified United States support for 

20 Israel’s qualitative military edge as United States 

21 policy in 2008 in section 201 of Public Law 110– 

22 429 (22 U.S.C. 2776 note), which requires that any 

23 proposed U.S. arms sale to ‘‘any country in the Mid24 dle East other than Israel’’ must include a notifica25 tion to Congress with a ‘‘determination that the sale 


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1 or export of such would not adversely affect Israel’s 

2 qualitative military edge over military threats to 

3 Israel’’. 

4 (5) In 2016, the United States and Israel 

5 signed a 10-year Memorandum of Understanding, in 

6 which the United States committed that ‘‘the acqui7 sition of additional U.S.-produced capabilities and 

8 technology provide the best means to ensure Israel 

9 preserves its Qualitative Military Edge (QME)’’. 

10 (6) In 2015, Vice President Joe Biden an11 nounced United States intention to transfer the F– 

12 35 Joint Strike Fighter to Israel: ‘‘What you may 

13 not know is that next year, we will deliver to Israel 

14 the F–35 Joint Strike Fighter—our finest—making 

15 Israel the only country in the Middle East with a 

16 fifth-generation aircraft. No other.’’. 

17 (7) In 2016, Israel received its first shipment of 

18 F–35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft and on the occa19 sion, the Israeli Defense Forces stated, ‘‘As the Mid20 dle East grows more and more unstable, and as 

21 groups that threaten to destroy us race to stockpile 

22 weapons, we need to stay a step ahead of the game. 

23 The F–35 gives us the edge we need to take on 

24 groups and armies with even the most advanced 

25 technology.’’. 


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1 SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY. 

2 It shall be the policy of the United States that a pro3 posed sale or export of defense articles or defense services 

4 must be determined not to adversely affect Israel’s ability 

5 to counter and defeat any credible conventional military 

6 threat from any individual state or possible coalition of 

7 states or from non-state actors, while sustaining minimal 

8 damages and casualties, through the use of superior mili9 tary means possessed in sufficient quantity, including 

10 weapons, command, control, communication, intelligence, 

11 surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities that in their 

12 technical characteristics are superior in capability to those 

13 of such other individual state or possible coalition states 

14 or non-state actors, consistent with section 36(h) of the 

15 Arms Export Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2776(h)). 

16 SEC. 4. CERTIFICATION ON CRITERIA FOR TRANSFER OF 

17 COVERED DEFENSE ARTICLES AND DEFENSE 

18 SERVICES. 

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsections (c) and (d), 

20 and notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Presi21 dent may not transfer covered defense articles or defense 

22 services to any country in the Middle East other than 

23 Israel until at least 60 days after the date on which the 

24 President transmits to the appropriate congressional com25 mittees a certification described in subsection (b) with re26 spect to the proposed transfer. 


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1 (b) CERTIFICATION DESCRIBED.—A certification de2 scribed in this subsection is a certification in writing of 

3 the following: 

4 (1) The recipient country has signed an agree5 ment of peace or normalization with Israel. 

6 (2) The transfer of the covered defense articles 

7 or defense services includes a determination pursu8 ant to section 36(h) of the Arms Export Control Act 

9 (22 U.S.C. 2776(h)). 

10 (3) The transfer of the covered defense articles 

11 or defense services does not present a significant 

12 danger of compromising the critical military and 

13 technological military advantage such articles or 

14 services provide to the United States Armed Forces. 

15 (4) The transfer of the covered defense articles 

16 or defense services will not negatively affect Israel’s 

17 qualitative military edge. 

18 (5) The covered defense articles have been 

19 modified to ensure that Israel is able to identify, lo20 cate, and continually track such articles while in 

21 flight at a distance that is satisfactory to Israel, and 

22 that the recipient country will not alter such modi23 fications. 

24 (6) The recipient country has provided specific, 

25 reliable, and verifiable assurances to the United 


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1 States that it will protect the covered defense arti2 cles and defense services from theft or diversion of 

3 sensitive defense technology to any other country or 

4 non-state actor. 

5 (7) The recipient country has provided specific, 

6 reliable, and verifiable assurances to the United 

7 States that it will not use the covered defense arti8 cles or defense services to commit, or enable the 

9 commission of, a violation of international humani10 tarian law or internationally recognized human 

11 rights. 

12 (8) The recipient country has provided specific, 

13 reliable, and verifiable assurances to the United 

14 States that it will not make transfers of the covered 

15 defense articles or defense services to another coun16 try or non-state actor without specific authorization 

17 from the United States. 

18 (9) Except as provided in subsection (e), the re19 cipient country has provided specific, reliable, and 

20 verifiable assurances to the United States that it will 

21 employ the covered defense articles and defense serv22 ices when armed only after consultation with the 

23 United States relating to the mission, flight plan, 

24 and purpose of use of the articles and services. 


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1 (10) The President has established procedures 

2 to continually monitor and verify the compliance of 

3 the recipient country with the requirements de4 scribed in paragraphs (1) through (8). 

5 (c) EMERGENCY CIRCUMSTANCES.—If the President 

6 determines that an emergency exists which requires the 

7 proposed transfer of covered defense articles or defense 

8 services to any country in the Middle East other than 

9 Israel, the President shall provide the certification de10 scribed in subsection (a) with respect to the proposed 

11 transfer not later than 10 days before the proposed trans12 fer. 

13 (d) FAILURE TO PROVIDE CERTIFICATION.—If the 

14 President is unable to make the certification described in 

15 subsection (a) with respect to a proposed transfer of cov16 ered defense articles or defense services to any country 

17 in the Middle East other than Israel, the President may 

18 not transfer the articles or services to such country. 

19 (e) EXCEPTION.—The requirements of subsection 

20 (b)(9) shall not apply with respect to the use of the cov21 ered defense articles and defense services in the airspace 

22 of the recipient country. 

23 SEC. 5. ANNUAL CERTIFICATION. 

24 (a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than February 1 of each 

25 calendar year following a calendar year in which covered 


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1 defense articles or defense services have been transferred 

2 to any country in the Middle East other than Israel, the 

3 President shall provide a certification to the appropriate 

4 congressional committees that the country continues to 

5 comply with the requirements described in paragraphs (1) 

6 through (8) of section 4(b). 

7 (b) FAILURE TO PROVIDE CERTIFICATION.—If the 

8 President is unable to make the certification described in 

9 subsection (a) with respect to a calendar year, the Presi10 dent may not provide logistic support, maintenance, or 

11 supply replacement parts to the recipient country for the 

12 remainder of such calendar year. 

13 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

14 In this Act: 

15 (1) APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMIT16 TEES.—The term ‘‘appropriate congressional com17 mittees’’ means the Committee on Foreign Affairs of 

18 the House of Representatives and the Committee on 

19 Foreign Relations of the Senate. 

20 (2) COVERED DEFENSE ARTICLES AND DE21 FENSE SERVICES.—The term ‘‘covered defense arti22 cles and defense services’’ means— 

23 (A) the F–35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft 

24 and associated services; 


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1 (B) any electronic warfare aircraft and as2 sociated services; and 

3 (C) any armed unmanned aerial systems 

4 and associated services. 

5 (3) QUALITATIVE MILITARY EDGE.—The term 

6 ‘‘qualitative military edge’’ has the meaning given 

7 that term in section 36(h)(3) of the Arms Export 

8 Control Act (22 U.S.C. 2776(h)(3)). 

Æ 


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