The $38 billion deal, scheduled to be signed
this week in a ceremony at the State Department in Washington, replaces the
previous $30 billion MOU that expires in 2018.
With the new aid package Israel will receive
$3.8 billion annually — up from $3 billion — starting in 2019 and through 2028.
Unlike with the current MOU, Israel has pledged
not to seek additional add-on military funding from Congress for the next
decade, except in time of war.
The agreement also limits Israel’s current ability
to spend part of the funds on its own arms industry — a key area of dispute
during talks. Washington wanted Israel to spend a larger amount of the money on
American-made products, creating more jobs in the US, while Israel wanted to
feed its own “hungry tigers”. Currently, Israel can spend 26.3% of US military
aid buying from its own domestic defense companies.
Earlier
reports said that Israel had asked for a separate, $400 million deal for
missile defense spending — which could have raised the total amount to more
than $4 billion annually. The US said no. “There was no higher figure ever
discussed,” the former Israeli national security adviser Yaakov Amidror said
Tuesday, describing the deal as “the best possible” accord.
So why do I consider this to be such a BIG
deal? Mainly because:
1. As mentioned above – it’s the largest
bilateral military aid package granted by one country to another in history.
2. It comes at a time when the US economy is
a hot and contentious election issue, and when the US is cutting painfully into
its own defense spending on development, procurement and maintenance.
3. It shows that the mutually beneficial
relations between the US and Israel on issues of security, regional stability,
trust and co-reliance are as strong as ever.
4. It shows other Mideast and World players
that the US is fully and unequivocally committed to the security and safety of
Israel…not just in word.
5. Its updated clauses on expanding existing
agreements on military pre-positioning in Israel reaffirms General Alexander
Haig’s famous observation that: “Israel is the largest American aircraft
carrier in the world that cannot be sunk, does not carry even one American
soldier, and is located in a critical region for American national security.”
As the Times of Israel pointed out in an
article on Sunday: “The aid package is seen in Israel as key to helping it
maintain its qualitative military edge over potential threats in the region,
including from an emboldened Iran flush with cash after many nuclear-related
sanctions were ended over the past year in a deal signed with world powers.”
So despite arguments by frustrated
politicians or wannabe analysts that Israel could have negotiated a better deal
“if only…”, I think that this is a good deal that will benefit both Israel and
The US in the decade to come.
Kudos to the American and Israeli leaders
that waded through disagreements, personality issues, political pressure and
economic restrictions to reach this (to paraphrase Joe Biden) “#!!!!$%” Big
Deal.”
