The first time I sprinted to a bomb shelter, it was a stairwell in a rental-car agency in Tel Aviv, Israel. The siren blared as my then-Burning Man fling (now husband) and I were finalizing the paperwork. He grabbed my hand and shoved me into the stairwell along with several employees. Ten seconds later, there…
WASHINGTON (JTA) — President-elect Donald Trump said he would nominate as defense secretary Gen. James Mattis, a pick that has already stirred controversy among right-wing pro-Israel groups, with some lamenting the choice and others praising it. “We are going to appoint ‘Mad Dog’ Mattis as our secretary of defense,” Trump said Thursday at his first…
U.S. defense aid to Israel is likely to increase after 2017, sources on both sides said on Thursday, seeing a possible link to Washington’s efforts to assuage its ally’s fears over nuclear diplomacy with Iran. A current package worth $3 billion a year expires in 2017. A U.S. official, speaking to Reuters on condition of…
A new Israeli air defense system being developed in partnership with the United States has passed advanced tests, the Israeli Defense Ministry said on Wednesday, putting it on course for possible deployment by next year. Defense sources said tests for David’s Sling took place last week and on Tuesday, the last day before a deadline…
(JTA) — Ashton Carter has championed the sale to Israel of state-of-the-art combat aircraft, has aligned himself with Iran hawks and was observed becoming misty-eyed when serenaded by Israeli soldiers. Carter, 60, President Obama’s secretary of defense nominee, has been depicted in the media as the un-Chuck Hagel. He’s assertive and a bureaucratic in-fighter where…
Israel’s defense minister and the Anti-Defamation League lavished praise on U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on the day he announced his resignation. The tributes from Moshe Yaalon and the ADL on Monday were in sharp contrast with the intense scrutiny that Hagel received from pro-Israel groups when he was nominated for the post two years…
Israel will increase its 2015 defense budget by 6 billion shekels ($1.6 billion) or more than 10 percent to 57 billion shekels, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Wednesday. The 50-day Gaza conflict which ended last month has underpinned hefty budget demands by the Defense Ministry. With Israel also preparing for a possible confrontation…
Demands for billions of dollars of extra funding for Israel’s military have set the scene for a bruising political battle over the budget, as the country tries to balance the needs of a weakening economy with security threats from Gaza to Iran. The defense ministry is seeking nearly 70 billion shekels ($20 billion) in the…
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