While this allowance benefitted Israeli business, it was different in kind than with other military aid packages the USA offers.
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“The agreement will help us continue to build our armed forces and to continue to improve our anti-missile defenses”.
In a statement on Tuesday, AIPAC commended President Obama and his administration “for forging this landmark agreement”.
Last week, the USA was incensed by a video Netanyahu released in which he equated criticism of settlement-building to support for “ethnic cleansing”.
“This doesn’t mean there are not disagreements from time to time, but these are disagreements within the family”, he said.
Even before this record package, Israel was already the biggest single recipient of U.S. military aid from the State Department’s foreign military financing budget, receiving itself more than half of the funds.
“As I have said repeatedly, America’s commitment to Israel’s security is unshakeable”. Tensions between Obama and Netanyahu over the US-Iran nuclear deal past year and US concerns about Israel’s treatment of Palestinians drew out the process, but ultimately Mr. Netanyahu apparently decided it would be best to make the arrangement official before Obama leaves office in January, rather than take chances with his successor.
No exact sum was disclosed by either side but officials familiar with the deal said it totals $3.8 billion a year – an increase on the $3.1 billion the USA. gave Israel annually under the previous 10-year deal.
According to the memorandum, Israel will receive almost $4 billion per year for the next decade.
“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.
The new agreement eliminates Israel’s ability to spend a fraction of the funds on fuel for its military.
“Congress is not a party to this agreement nor is this agreement binding on future congresses”, Sen.
The statement raised anew the possibility that Obama might make an effort after the November election to lay out terms of a possible peace agreement between Israelis and Palestinians, perhaps through a resolution at the United Nations Security Council. Israel is on continuous alert for possible attacks from the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah.
The MOU creates a fixed amount, not subject to renegotiation during the 10-year period.
The deal includes $33 billion in foreign military financing funds and a $5 billion commitment in missile defense assistance. All together, that entire package came to 34.4b over a decade.
“The safety and security of Israel is in the national security interests of the United States, which is why I applaud the new long-term security assistance Memorandum of Understanding agreed upon today”. Moreover, there are likely to be exceptions in the deal to allow for additional expenditures in the event of war or other crisis. Mr Netanyahu recorded the message an hour before the aid deal was signed in Washington, DC.
The Obama administration also wanted to appear not so opposed to Netanyahu’s policies and ward off Republican criticism of not being attentive enough to Israel’s security.
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The Israeli Premier had called for an increase in part because of the nuclear deal with Israel’s arch-foe Iran and the lifting of sanctions that went with it.
