“The agreement will help us continue building our armed forces, improve our missile defense systems”, he added.
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Obama’s aides wanted a new deal before his presidency ends, seeing it as an important part of his legacy.
The opportunity of the deal was supported also by the USA military. He said Netanyahu’s statement was disturbing. The United States and Israel have always had a special relationship. “It demonstrates America’s strong and unwavering commitment to Israel”. In another apparent concession, Israel has agreed not to ask US Congress to approve more funds than are included in the deal unless a new war breaks out.
The $38-billion deal come into effect after the current $30 billion MoU signed in 2007 expires in 2018 and will cover U.S. fiscal years 2019 to 2028.
They noted that the new deal would phase out a special arrangement that had allowed Israel to spend part of its USA aid on its own defence industry instead of on American-made weapons.
Critics have repeatedly slammed Washington over failing to use leverage from the massive military aid to force Israel to halt settlement construction, which successive USA administrations have labeled illegal.
According to chief negotiator Yaakov Nagel, Israel’s acting National Security Adviser Yaakov Nagel, Israel will receive 3,1 billion US dollars’ worth of foreign military financing next fiscal year, followed by 3,3 billion USA dollars in the next years, plus $500 million USA dollars a year dedicated to improving Israel’s missile defense system.
Securing the deal ahead of the United States presidential election in November also ensures that Mr Obama’s successor will not have to delve into the issue during his or her first few months.
Greenberg noted in his statement that “tens of thousands of American jobs will be created by Israel’s purchases from the United States using all of the funds provided under the MOU”.
The negotiations for the landmark military package announced on Wednesday took almost 10 months to complete.
The MOU creates a fixed amount, not subject to renegotiation during the 10-year period. Israel’s desire to use American aid as a stimulus for its own arms-makers was a long-running conflict in negotiations, according to Reuters.
The package, however, comes with strings attached.
Under the terms of the deal, Israel pledged not to seek additional funding from Congress for the next decade.
Israel considers a nuclear-armed Iran to be an existential threat and disagreed sharply with Mr Obama’s contention that the deal actually made Israel safer by limiting Iran’s nuclear program.
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“When it became clear that the Americans were going to sign an agreement with the Iranians, we could have pursued a different policy and gotten a better agreement”, he said.
