It would be the biggest pledge of U.S. military support made to any country – up from around $30 billion under the current military aid agreement, which expires at the end of 2018.
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A senior Israeli official confirmed that the deal would be for $38 billion over 10 years, up from the $3.1 billion per year the United States pays to its key ally.
The negotiations were conducted despite the acrimonious relationship between USA president Barack Obama and Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu, which reached a new low when Mr Netanyahu publicly campaigned against last year’s Iran nuclear deal and addressed a special session of Congress to outline what he perceived as the dangers the deal posed for Israel and the entire Middle East. Earlier this year, Netanyahu warned that if he couldn’t get a good deal with Obama he was ready to wait for the next president.
“There’s a phrase for that – it’s called ethnic cleansing”, Mr Netanyahu said.
The new deal will last from 2019 through 2028.
The deal is likely to be signed by lower-level officials, Reuters reported-heads of state do not normally attend signing ceremonies of such agreements.
Under the new memorandum, the White House has also imposed some concessions to Israel.
Israeli perceptions that sanctions relief provided as part of the nuclear deal would allow Tehran to wreak greater havoc in the region drove Jersusalem’s argument that the deal should be much larger than previous packages.
President Obama had sought to finalize the massive deal for over a year now, with the Israeli government repeatedly resisting accepting the offers, in hopes of bumping the amount up even further.
Nagel hailed the agreement as an indication of the “rock-solid alliance” between Israel and the United States. It’s the largest such agreement the USA has ever had with any country.
USA officials announced Wednesday that Israel would receive an unprecedented $38 billion over the span of a decade. Its total defense budget amounts to some $16 billion, excluding the U.S. aid. A 2015 report from Credit Suisse ranked the Israeli military the world’s 14th most powerful.
Netanyahu has also faced domestic criticism, with his political opponents accusing him of holding up negotiations while criticizing Obama’s Iran deal.
The new MOU, Aaron David Miller – a vice president at the Wilson Center think tank in Washington – said, “lays the predicate for the Obama administration that it is extremely attuned to Israel’s security needs and requirements”.
“I find it odd the MOU only allocates $500 million for missile defense starting in 2018 while Congress has recommended $600 million for missile defense this year”, he continued.
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As part of the new deal, Israel is to refrain from seeking additional aid from Congress for missile defense systems for the next decade, but Tel Aviv may request additional funding in case a new war breaks out, according to Haaretz.
