2007年VOA标准英语-Israel Protests Planned Russian Missile Sale to

By Robert Berger
Jerusalem
02 March 2007

A Russian arms deal with Syria has drawn¹ a sharp protest from Israel. As Robert Berger reports from VOA's Jerusalem bureau, Israel is warning that the sale would strengthen radical² elements in the Middle East and destabilize the region.

Israel has harshly criticized a plan by Russia to sell advanced anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles to Syria. Israeli officials say those missiles will eventually wind up in the hands of the Islamic guerrilla group Hezbollah in Lebanon. Hezbollah fired over 4,000 rockets at Israel during the Lebanon War last year, and both Israel and the United States say the weapons were supplied by Syria and Iran.

Silvan Shalom (File)

Silvan Shalom is a former Israeli foreign minister from the opposition³ Likud party. He told Israel Radio that Russian President Vladimir Putin is playing a negative role in the Middle East.

"President Putin is playing with fire and it might burn a very big fire here in the region," he said. "And Israel cannot stand [for] it and cannot live with the idea that Syria will get such kind of a system."

Shalom says Russia is contributing to a dangerous arms race that could destabilize the region.

"What needs to be done is to reduce the number of weapons that we have in the region not to increase it," he said.

Borrowing a term from President Bush, Shalom described the Syria-Iran-Hezbollah alliance as an "axis⁴ of evil," which is being strengthened by Moscow.

"Unfortunately, President Putin is trying to revive the Soviet⁵ Empire by helping⁶ every enemy of the United States - let's say that every enemy of the U.S. is a friend of Russia, and a friend of the U.S. becomes, maybe, an enemy of Russia," added Shalom.

Relations between Israel and Russia have taken a turn for the worse since the Lebanon War when it became clear that Hezbollah was inflicting⁷ heavy casualties with anti-tank missiles made in Russia. The new missiles are said to be even more effective and able to pierce the armor of Israel's heavily-fortified Merkava tanks.

In addition, Israel is extremely concerned about Russian aid to Iran's nuclear program.

"What Russia needs to do is totally different," said Shalom. "It needs to help the United States to impose pressure and sanctions on Iran to stop its efforts to develop [a] nuclear bomb and in the same time to push the Syrians out of the hands of Iran and to move toward peace with Israel."

Israel's Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres warned that the Russian missile sale to Syria is pushing the region toward war.

1 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

2 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

3 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

4 axis   

n.轴，轴线，中心线；坐标轴，基准线

参考例句：

• The earth's axis is the line between the North and South Poles.地轴是南北极之间的线。
• The axis of a circle is its diameter.圆的轴线是其直径。

5 Soviet   

adj.苏联的，苏维埃的；n.苏维埃

参考例句：

• Zhukov was a marshal of the former Soviet Union.朱可夫是前苏联的一位元帅。
• Germany began to attack the Soviet Union in 1941.德国在1941年开始进攻苏联。

6 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

7 inflicting   

把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• He was charged with maliciously inflicting grievous bodily harm. 他被控蓄意严重伤害他人身体。
• It's impossible to do research without inflicting some pain on animals. 搞研究不让动物遭点罪是不可能的。