In a statement on Tuesday, AIPAC commended President Obama and his administration “for forging this landmark agreement”.
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According to these reports, Ban said the “decades-long policy that has settled more than 500,000 Israelis in Palestinian territory is diametrically opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state”. Also, the money must be used to buy USA -made weapons instead of spending it to further develop its own defense industry.
As I said before, they pay lip service to worldwide law, they pay lip service to the rule of law; but once the question of Israel is trampling over global law and the principal of human rights, they simply turn a blind eye to it.
I think this can be seen as a gesture of a solidarity with the Israel lobby in the United States, because the Democratic administration and the Republican administration basically when it comes to military aid to Israel it’s usually the same old song over and over again.
Mr Netanyahu considered delaying concluding negotiations over the military aid deal until a new administration was formed, but officials in Washington made clear that under such a scenario Israel would not be offered such generous terms.
The agreement covers the period from 2019 to 2028 and will see Israel receive $3.3 billion per year in foreign military financing – up from $3.1 billion now – and $500,000 in funding annually for missile defense. “They have no effect whatsoever on the great friendship between Israel and the U.S.”.
The deal includes, for the first time, money for missile defenc e programmes.
Under the agreement, Israel’s ability to spend part of the funds on Israeli military products will be gradually phased out, eventually requiring all of the funds to be spend on American military industries.
It was noted that an MOU is not a formal treaty, and is not binding on Congress, which was not party to the negotiations and was not privy to details of the agreement.
The pact was signed by U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon, Jr. and Israel’s Acting National Security Adviser Jacob Nagel. U.S. security advisor Susan Rice, who was present at the singing of the memorandum of understanding at the State Department in Washington DC, said the country has “unshakable commitment” to Israel’s security. Israel’s record aid package will give Washington something to point at in order to reassure Israel that the United States still has its best interests at heart.
The MOU creates a fixed amount, not subject to renegotiation during the 10-year period.
The US has been giving $3.1 billion in military aid to Israel annually under the existing Memorandum of Understanding between Washington and Tel Aviv that will expire in 2018. “(Netanyahu’s) investments in the settlements do not only come on the expense of the Negev, the Galilee and the rest of Israel but also lead towards a one-state reality”.
US Senator Tim Kaine, Hillary Clinton’s vice presidential candidate, also released a statement expressing his support for the deal, a statement which was emblematic of the bipartisan support to which Nagal referred.
In Israel, opposition politicians seized on the moment to criticize Netanyahu for not obtaining a better deal than he did.
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In thanking Obama Wednesday for the aid package, Netanyahu called the disagreement over the Iran deal “disputes you have between family”, an expression both the Americans and Israelis are fond of using to refer to the very public spat.
