US settles $52b military aid deal
The United States will give Israel US$38 billion (NZ$52.3b) in military aid over the next 10 years under an agreement signed yesterday – a substantial increase in funding that the White House says is its largest such package.
The deal, nearly a year in the making, was signed in Washington by the Israeli and American national security advisers. It represents a 23 per cent increase over the 10 years ending in 2018.
A portion of the money will be spent on the F-35, the nextgeneration fighter jet. Israel plans to buy up to 50 of the jets, which cost $110 million.
The package also includes $5b for missile defence programmes, many of which are produced jointly by Israeli and American companies.
Iron Dome, deployed in 2011, has largely neutralised the threat of short-range rockets fired from Gaza, and contractors are working on two other systems to target longer-range ballistic missiles. Iron Dome is a sophisticated system that destroys incoming rockets by sending high-speed missiles to intercept them.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, had asked for more money from Washington, wanting at least $45b over 10 years.
However, he settled for the lower figure, which he praised as ‘‘the single-largest pledge of assistance in US history’’.
‘‘You don’t start a negotiation by stating a lower number than you expect to get,’’ said Eran Lerman, a former Israeli deputy national security adviser. ‘‘It ended up right where I expected it to begin with.’’
In return for the increase, Israel has pledged not to seek any additional money from Congress over the next decade.
Washington has approved several billion dollars in supplemental funding since Barack Obama took office, above the previous $31b package, much of it for missile defence. That provision drew criticism in Washington, notably from the South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham, a senior Republican member of the armed services committee.
‘‘Congress has an independent duty to make a decision about the proper level of support for Israel or our other allies,’’ he said, adding that the measure would not ‘‘bind’’ politicians.
Previous deals allowed Israel to spend about a quarter of the money on domestically produced weapons, and another 13 per cent to buy fuel for military vehicles. The new deal demands that all of the money is spent with US defence contractors – a provision unpopular with the Israeli negotiators, who worried about its impact on their domestic industry.
The White House has described the extra funding as ‘‘compensation’’ for the nuclear deal reached last year between Iran and six world powers, in which Tehran curbed its nuclear programme in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.
Israel also worries about losing its ‘‘qualitative military edge’’ as Arab states bulk up their armies to counter Iran.