The planned U.S. budget for the coming year, which was announcedby President Barack Obama on Wednesday, maintains and even increases the American defense aid to Israel, Channel 10 News reported.
According to the numbers published, the United States will provide Israel with $3.4 billion in defense aid, a record number, according to Channel 10.
The budget proposal submitted to Congress also includes a request for the addition of approximately $220 million to finance the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system, a request that was not included in last year’s budget proposal, but was added later on.
Israel expressed concern last month over the possibility of a cut in the U.S. defense aid, after another crisis erupted between Democrats and Republicans regarding the debt crisis.
During his visit to Israel several weeks ago, Obama made clear that despite a budget crunch in Washington there would be no interruption to funding of Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system.
Obama also said during the visit that Israel and the United States were opening talkson extending U.S. military aid to the Jewish state beyond 2017.
“As part of our long-term commitment to Israel’s security, the prime minister and I agreed to begin discussions on extending military assistance to Israel,” Obama told reporters.
“Our current agreement lasts through 2017, and we’ve directed our teams to startworking on extending it for the years beyond,” he added.
Obama’s comments followed ones by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, who said during a meeting with former Defense Minister Ehud Barak last month that the U.S. would continue to assist in the development of defensive systems in Israel, including Iron Dome, the Arrow, and David’s Sling, despite the budget cuts that the Pentagon is going to be forced into making due to the budget sequestration process.
@ Laura:
The bashers would complain or find propaganda to bash, demonize and vilify Israel even if Israel did not receive a penny of mutually beneficial aid from the US.
The bashers should look at the aid given to Egypt and other Islamic countries and terror entities, it adds up to a lot more than what’s given to Israel and, instead of the US receiving terror for their investment, their investment in Israel produces technological marvels and improvements in a range of military and civilian scientific and medical applications which benefit the world.
This is my concern as well.
@ yamit82:
If America declines and China and Russia (and Iran) fill the void, that can’t be a good thing. I too think that America does too much meddling in the affairs of the Middle East. However, imagine the consequences of Communist and Islamist influences dominating the region. That would not be a great scenario for Israel, would it?
America will one day soon have to pay back the debt and so self-sufficiency in energy is the only conceivable way that the US can begin to address that enormous burden if they want to avoid a long-term depression and decline. Some say that it is already too late. Oil producers will no longer dominate markets with new North American and Israeli supplies coming on stream.
The social impact of lower living standards and poverty for many millions more in the USA will force the US to retreat from the world stage. If the retarded mutants in North Korea or Iran were to test US military resolve and find it lacking, this will open up a whole new set of alliances and world power relationships. The USA will no longer be a world power in the same way they have been since WWII.
The Arab Gulf region risks be taken over, some nations by the Muslim Brotherhood types as Yamit says, and I guess other nations by Iran. It would be in the Gulf states best interest were they to openly declare peace with Israel and a mutual defense pact with other Gulf states (and Israel) today before they are subjected to the Syria or Libya treatment. They also still have the suasion and economic might to solve the little destabilizing Palestinian issue plaguing Israel that they can address merely by opening their doors to refugees and amending their immigration laws.
Canadian Otter Said:
The Best thing the USA could do is to butt out of the ME and return to her own hemisphere. If as has been predicted America will be self sufficient in oil in the next five years or so, most of the autocratic regimes in the area are daily more convinced that America will reduce her military and political footprint in the region and they will be more or less on their own.
America will not only have their backs they might not have the ability to aid them either. There will be a lot of shifting alliances in the region during next few years. H (ROTTEN) Clinton said back in Jan2013, “that the United States should consider re-shifting its focus away from the Middle East and toward the Far East.” The administration declared it would support Japan in its dispute with China.
The Gulf States are in an actual state of panic. The United Arab Emirates uncovered two Muslim Brotherhood terror cells that were planning a takeover of the oil-rich State. The emirates blamed the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood for orchestrating the plot. The Persian Gulf states suspect that Egypt, instead of focusing on reforming its economy, will try and overtake the Gulf’s finances in order to climb out of the financial abyss. With Obama sticking to the pro-Brotherhood Political Islam policy, the UAE is left to wonder how to defend itself against this newly formed alliance. Zahi Khalfan, Dubai security chief, has already suggested that the Gulf would create an alternative alliance with Russia and China.
Not a good thing. It means Israeli dependency and insecurity. Israel should expand its own military industry and become as self-sufficient as possible. This US aid can also be used by Israel-bashers as a tool to inspire resentment among Americans in financial distress.
If the US government really wants to help Israel, the best thing it could do would be to stop funding the PA and the training and arming of the PA Nazi militia. They should also withdraw from the Partition Talks mediation business while encouraging the Quartet to do the same. Let Israel and the PA reach their own arrangement.