U.S. Opens First Military Base In Israel
U.S. and Israeli soldiers join together during biennial air defense exercises. Image by Israel Defense Forces
JERUSALEM (JTA) — The United States opened its first official military base on Israeli soil.
The base started operating Monday following a ceremony at the end of last week to inaugurate the facility that included Israeli and American military personnel. It will operate independently from within an Israeli military base in southern Israel that houses an air defense school, according to the Israel Defense Forces.
Several dozen American soldiers will be stationed at the base.
“For the first time the flag of the United States, our most important ally, will be raised in an IDF base,” Brigadier Gen. Zvika Haimovich, the IDF’s head of Air Defense, said in a statement. “This expresses more than anything the long-standing partnership and the strategic commitment between the countries and the armies.”
The opening of the base comes a week after a new Iron Dome anti-missile battery became operational.
“There is no coincidence between the two events,” Haimovich said. “They add another layer to the defense of the State of Israel against the high-trajectory threats that surround us from near and far.”
Planning for the U.S. base began two years ago.
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news. All donations are still being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000 until April 24.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
