AIPAC Stays Silent On Trump’s Opposition To Israel Missile Defense Aid Boost
Image by Getty Images
When President Obama threatened to veto extra monies for Israel’s missile defense system, the AIPAC lobby spoke up and denounced the move as a threat to the Jewish state’s security. Now, with the Trump White House opposing the same funding, the powerful organization has been silent.
Last year, the Obama administration threatened to veto a defense appropriations bill if it included an extra $455 million for Israel’s missile defense programs, which include the Iron Dome system. Eventually, the White House dropped its threat and the funding got passed, but only after AIPAC spoke up and faulted the administration’s move.
This year, the Trump administration is opposing another $558 million in increased spending on the Jewish state’s missile defense programs, with no word from AIPAC.
An unnamed AIPAC official defended the discrepancy to Haaretz as sensible given different situations from one administration to the next – Trump has not threatened to veto additional funds appropriated by Congress.
“The situations are entirely different,” the official told the newspaper. “There has been no veto threat issued by the administration over this provision this year.”
Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter @DanielJSolomon
It’s our birthday and we’re still celebrating!
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news.
This week we celebrate 129 years of the Forward. We’re proud of our origins as a Yiddish print publication serving Jewish immigrants. And we’re just as proud of what we’ve become today: A trusted source of Jewish news and opinion, available digitally to anyone in the world without paywalls or subscriptions.
We’ve helped five generations of American Jews make sense of the news and the world around them — and we aren’t slowing down any time soon.
As a nonprofit newsroom, reader donations make it possible for us to do this work. Support independent, agenda-free Jewish journalism and our board will match your gift in honor of our birthday!
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
