This increase in aid comes as the Benjamin Netanyahu-led Israeli government, which took office in 2008, has vastly expanded the network of illegal settlements deep into the Palestinian territories in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
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The U.S. and Israel on Wednesday formally agreed to a massive new security agreement that will provide the Middle Eastern ally with $38 billion in military aid over the next decade.
The new deal will succeed the current $30 billion (over Rs 2.03 lakh crore) deal signed in 2007, which expires at the end of fiscal year 2018.
“Netanyahu and I are confident that the new MOU will make a significant contribution to Israel’s security in what remains a unsafe neighbourhood”, US President Barack Obama said in a statement, according to Reuters news agency.
Thomas Shannon, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, and Jacob Nagel, acting head of Israel’s National Security Council, signed the MOU.
The relationship between Mr Obama’s and Mr Netanyahu has been famously fraught for years, and ties between the countries worsened significantly when the U.S. and world powers struck a nuclear deal with Iran.
Some critics faulted details of the agreement, which they said will hurt Israel’s ability to ask for more assistance in emergencies or as security conditions change.
Israel is the largest recipient of American military aid in the world, and the MOU is the largest military aid package the USA has ever given.
At the signing ceremony, national security adviser Susan Rice said the deal is proof of the “unbreakable bond” between the United States and Israel. Lindsey Graham slammed the parts of the agreement preventing Israel from seeking even more money, telling USA Today: “Congress is not a party to this agreement nor is this agreement binding on future congresses”. “Everyone can see and feel the special relationship between our countries and our people”.
Netanyahu didn’t get everything he wanted in the military deal: He had to agree that Israel wouldn’t lobby Congress for additional missile defense funds, as well as allowing the phasing out of an agreement that had allowed Israel to prioritize its own defense industry when spending the aid money, rather than buying from American companies.
Administration officials said $33 billion will be spent for foreign military financing and $5 billion for missile defense, a commitment Rice called “unprecedented”.
The aid package falls short of Congress’ plan to give Israel $3.4 billion, plus $600 million for missile defense starting in 2017.
He said that both countries were confident that the new MoU would make a significant contribution to Israel’s security in what remained a unsafe neighbourhood. Tensions between Obama and Netanyahu over the US-Iran nuclear deal a year ago 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. Securing the deal ahead of the United States. presidential election in November also ensures that Mr Obama’s successor will not have to immerse him or herself in the issue during the first few months.
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Obama refused to sign the aid deal until Congress reduced its funding to level to the president’s proposed levels. Netanyahu had sought a deal totaling $45 billion over ten years.
