U.S. to boost Israel with $38-bn defence package

Addressing the AJC Global Forum in June in Washington, President Obama’s National Security Advisor Susan Rice said the MOU would be “the single largest military assistance package – with any country – in American history”.

The White House signed a new Memorandum of Understanding with Israel on Wednesday that increases U.S. -Israel security aid from $3.1 billion a year to $3.3 billion annually, beginning in 2018.

Israel and the U.S. signed the terms of a new $38 billion aid package for Israel during a State Department ceremony on Wednesday. He added that “Israel does not take the military aid package for granted”, saying it “will enable Israel to better defend itself, by itself”.

The agreement was signed at the State Department by US Undersecretary of State Thomas Shannon and by Mr Jacob Nagel, acting head of Mr Netanyahu’s national security council.

FILE – An interceptor rocket is launched from an “Iron Dome” defense system in the southern Israeli city of Ashdod, July 11, 2014.

The Memorandum of Under-standing (MOU) was expected to be signed this week by top aides to the leaders (which is, contrary to some perceptions, not due to the personal challenges in the leaders’ relationship; past agreements have been signed in similar fashion). While this allowance benefitted Israeli business, it was different in kind than with other military aid packages the USA offers.

The new US-Israel agreement also includes, for the first time, $5bn funding for missile defence programmes. Lindsey Graham (R) of SC, chairman of the Senate appropriations subcommittee that manages the foreign affairs budget.

“The MOU is not binding on Congress”. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., who sits on the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee.

On that point, the Senate’s second most powerful Democrat agreed. “Congress has an independent duty to make a decision about the proper level of support for Israel or our other allies”.

“For years, U.S. funding for missile defense has been subject to uncertainty of the annual appropriations process”, Rice says.

But the U.S. president said a bolstered military was not enough to secure long-term stability for the Jewish state. But we see Graham’s posture as relatively useless grandstanding, especially as Israel itself understands the strong benefits that this package provides.

The historic MOU is unusual in many respects.

“I am prepared to support it”, he said.

FILE – Israeli soldiers sit in tanks near the in Israel-Lebanon border, northern Israel, Jan. 20, 2015. Netanyahu’s office confirmed in a brief statement that a deal had been reached, but offered no additional comment.

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton welcomed the new security assistance deal as sending a clear message to the region and the world that the U.S.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu and I are confident that the new MOU will make a significant contribution to Israel’s security in what remains a unsafe neighbourhood”, Obama said in a written statement.