The United States has signed a record $38bn deal to provide Israel with military assistance over a 10-year period – the largest such agreement ever by the U.S. with any country.
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As Israel’s national security advisor and a senior United States diplomat signed the 10-year deal there was no sign of the distrust that has soured relations between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The aid totals $3.8 billion a year – up from $3.1 billion the US gave Israel annually under the current 10-year deal that expires in 2018.
“Today, we’re making another unprecedented commitment to the security of Israel and the Israeli people”, National Security Adviser and ambassador Susan Rice said in a statement.
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.
The agreement signed today by U.S. states that Israel will be liable to spend the funds on Israeli Military products and eventually all of the money will be spent on American military industries.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Sunday also criticized Netanyahu’s recent video, arguing Israel was the one committing “ethnic cleansing”, and was under global isolation for its refusal to pursue peace with the Palestinians.
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We are in full favor of the enhanced aid package, created to keep Israel with the “qualitative military edge” in the region, as Washington has previously promised. “America’s commitment to Israel’s security is unshakeable”, US President Barack Obama said in a statement after the two countries signed the Memorandum of Understanding.
Even before this record package, Israel was already the biggest single recipient of USA military aid from the State Department’s foreign military financing budget, receiving itself more than half of the funds.
Israeli rights organization Peace Now said Wednesday that data released by the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics shows that since the start of the year Israel built 1,195 units in Jewish settlements across the West Bank.
The agreement was signed at the State Department by U.S. Undersecretary of State Thomas Shannon and by Jacob Nagel, acting head of Netanyahu’s national security council.
The agreement also eliminates Israel’s ability to spend a fraction of the funds on fuel for its military.
“For years, USA funding for missile defense has been subject to uncertainty of the annual appropriations process”, Rice says.
And, while Israel will now be able to buy more of the latest F-35 fighter jets and CV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor planes from American firms, it has lost a key source of support for its thriving defense industry. In total, the deal comes to $3.8 billion a year for Israel, according to The Washington Post.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has blasted the deal for shortchanging Israel and sidestepping Congress.
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And with new threats looming in Syria and Iran, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was reportedly looking for a more substantial boost in defense aid – something to the tune of $45 billion.
