US, Israel sign massive military aid deal; $38B, 10 years

The United States will give Israel $38 billion in military assistance over the next decade, the largest such aid package in USA history, under a landmark agreement signed on Wednesday. Securing the deal ahead of the USA presidential election in November also ensures that Obama’s successor won’t have to delve into the issue during his or her first few months.

The aid totals $3.8 billion a year – up from $3.1 billion the USA gave Israel annually under the current 10-year deal that expires in 2018.

Those include Israel’s promise not to seek additional funds from Congress beyond what will be guaranteed annually in the new package, and to phase out a special arrangement that has allowed Israel to spend part of its USA aid on its own defense industry instead of on American-made weapons, the officials said. Israel’s preference for spending some of the funds internally had been a major sticking point in the deal.

Almost 10 months of drawn-out aid negotiations have underscored continuing friction between U.S. President Barack Obama and Netanyahu over last year’s U.S. -led nuclear deal with Iran, Israel’s arch-foe.

Israel’s acting national security advisor Jacob Nagel and US Under Secretary of State Tom Shannon signed the deal at the State Department, bringing to an end months of wrangling over the details of the package.

US (United States) signed a planned security agreement with Jewish State, Israel. She also added that this agreement clarifies that U.S. will always be there for the state of Israel and its people for tomorrow and upcoming generations too.

Still, the agreement provides solid backing for the F-35 programme from Israel.

He said: “Israel has no better friend, no more reliable strategic ally, no more important partner than the United States of America”. “Everyone can see and feel the special relationship between our countries and our people”.

The deal includes, for the first time, money for missile defenc e programmes.

Officials say Israel has agreed not to lobby Congress for additional missile defence funds during the life of the new MOU, a pledge expected to be made in a side letter or annex to the agreement.

-Elimination of a longstanding provision that has allowed Israel to use about 13 percent of the US aid to buy military fuel. The payouts according to deal will begin in year 2019 and USA will fund $3.8 billion every year.

After months of negotiations, the unprecedented deal was signed at the State Department on Wednesday.

US President Barack Obama has not had the warmest of relations with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Washington in recent weeks stepped up its criticism of Israeli settlement building on occupied Palestinian land.

Mr Obama’s relationship with Mr Netanyahu has been tense for years, and ties between the countries worsened significantly when the USA and world powers struck the nuclear deal with Iran.