Israel’s Aid Package Likely To Stay Around $3B
The United States will continue providing Israel with defence aid after a current package worth some $3 billion a year expires in 2017, and the grants are unlikely to wane despite Washington belt-tightening, two U.S. senators said on Thursday.
Kelly Ayotte and Joe Donnelly, who are members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, visited Israel to confer on security issues like missile defence, on which the allies have partnered.
The previous U.S. administration signed a 10-year deal with Israel in 2007 granting it $30 billion, most of which must be spent on American defence products.
Talks on a new package were already under way, said Ayotte, a New Hampshire Republican.
“Obviously the final negotiations have not been worked out but I do not expect that our commitment and work with Israel will diminish,” she told Reuters.
Politically popular U.S. aid to close ally Israel has held steady despite cuts to a wide range of other programmes, including reducing the size of the U.S. army to its lowest level since before World War Two and shrinking spending in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq.
Donnelly, a Democrat from Indiana, noted Israel’s rare stability in a turbulent Middle East.
“I think there is understanding among the people across our country about the value of the relationship with Israel, not only just personal and friendship-wise, but also the importance of having Israel as an ally in this region,” he said.
“And so I think that the people of our country feel that every dollar spent on this is worth it, is well spent.”
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
