Did Obama Send More Money To Israel Than Trump?
U.S. Finalizes Deal to Requite State of israel $38 Billion in Military Assistance
JERUSALEM — The United States has finalized a $38 billion package of military aid for Israel over the next 10 years, the largest of its kind ever, and the two allies program to sign the agreement on Wednesday, American and Israeli officials said.
The State Section scheduled a ceremony to formally denote the pact, which will be signed by Jacob Nagel, the acting national security adviser to Prime number Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, and Thomas A. Shannon Jr., the nether secretary of state for political affairs. Susan Due east. Rice, President Obama'south national security adviser who handled negotiations, plans to be on hand.
The package represents a major commitment to Israel'south security in the waning months of Mr. Obama's presidency after years of fractious relations with Mr. Netanyahu over problems like the Islamic republic of iran nuclear agreement. Mr. Netanyahu agreed to several concessions to cement the deal rather than gamble on winning better terms from the side by side president.
The package will provide an average of $3.viii billion a year over the next decade to State of israel, already the largest recipient of American aid, including financing for missile defense force systems that defend against rockets fired by groups like Hezbollah and Hamas. Nether a previous 10-year agreement that expires in 2018, the United states of america provides almost $3 billion a year, merely lately Congress has added upwardly to $500 meg a year for missile defence force.
"The Us has invested significantly in many of State of israel's virtually effective defenses against terrorist threats," Daniel B. Shapiro, the American ambassador to Israel, said in a spoken communication this week. He cited the Iron Dome antimissile system and the delivery by the end of this year of the showtime F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
Looking alee to the next decade, Mr. Netanyahu initially sought as much every bit $45 billion, but Mr. Obama refused to get that high. Coin for missile defense is included in the parcel, and the ii sides agreed not to seek boosted funds from Congress over the next decade unless both agree, such equally in example of a war.
The new bargain will too stage out a special provision that immune Israel to utilize nearly a quarter of the coin to buy Israeli arms, an exception once intended to strengthen the small-scale land'south defense manufacture. Now, with Israel a robust arms exporter competing with American firms, information technology will have to use the American money to buy American military systems, only as other aid recipients are required to exercise.
"The most important thing most this is the strategic message," said Ilan Goldenberg, the director of the Middle East Security Program at the Center for a New American Security. "The fact that Obama and Netanyahu are able to get this done fifty-fifty when they don't concord on a lot of things and they don't accept a very good personal relationship is a very strong signal that this is a vital alliance and each side recognizes information technology transcends politics and personalities."
Dennis Ross, a former Middle East adviser to Mr. Obama and other presidents, noted that the understanding follows one negotiated by George W. Bush. "If nothing else, it shows the basic American arroyo to Israel is, in fact, bipartisan," said Mr. Ross, author of "Doomed to Succeed," a history of Israeli-American relations.
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U.South. and Israel Sign Military Assistance Deal
Susan E. Rice, President Obama's national security adviser, said the 10-year, $38 billion armed services aid bundle to State of israel was the single largest pledge of military help to any country in American history.
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Just the completion of the deal after nearly a year of discussions comes against the groundwork of continuing friction between the two nations' leaders. Just in recent days, the Obama assistants publicly chastised the prime minister for a provocative video in which he accused Palestinian leaders of favoring "ethnic cleansing" by demanding a Jew-gratis Palestinian state through opposing Israeli settlements in the West Depository financial institution. Palestinians said he twisted reality.
The aid parcel hardly signals the end of such tension. Mr. Obama'south foreign policy team is debating whether he should make a final attempt after the Nov election to lay out terms of a possible peace agreement betwixt Israelis and Palestinians. Such a move could come in a presidential speech or potentially, though less probable, a resolution at the United Nations Security Council.
The idea would be to intermission out of what American officials consider the trap of waiting for one or both of the parties to stride frontwards. While Mr. Obama's argument would hardly settle the issue, some directorate fence it might break the logjam or at least lay downwards a marker. Other advisers doubt it would be worth Mr. Obama's political capital in the lame-duck period later on the election and worry information technology would be unwelcome if Hillary Clinton wins.
Mr. Netanyahu strongly opposes such an American move, especially if it were fabricated at the United Nations. His camp has expressed business concern that once the assist agreement was finalized, Mr. Obama might experience emboldened to go ahead over Mr. Netanyahu's objections because the president could fence he had already addressed Israel'south security needs.
As a issue, the finalization of the aid package may non go out either side feeling peculiarly satisfied. "My take is, given the context, nobody feels like throwing a large political party," said Aaron David Miller, a longtime Middle East peace negotiator now at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
Critics of State of israel's policy toward the Palestinians said the United States was finer subsidizing operations information technology regularly criticized.
"We are helping the Israelis sustain the costs of the occupation nosotros claim is unsustainable," said Yousef Munayyer, the executive manager of the U.Southward. Entrada to End the Israeli Occupation, a grouping advocating Palestinian rights.
"The whole policy is outdated," he added. "It goes back to an era when there were major Arab-Israeli wars and when Israel was in a very different identify economically. Those atmospheric condition no longer be, even though the occupation does, and it is high time we address our complicity in it."
Mr. Obama, even so, promised to bolster Israeli security last twelvemonth when he sealed an international understanding with Islamic republic of iran intended to adjourn its nuclear program. Mr. Netanyahu vociferously opposed that deal, describing information technology every bit a naïve capitulation to Tehran that will ultimately free it from international sanctions without finer restraining its hostile ambitions.
Negotiations on a security package since then take progressed fitfully, but White House officials insisted the aid would underscore unparalleled American back up for Israeli defenses. "Through discussion and deed, this administration has washed more for Israel'due south security than any other in U.S. history," Ms. Rice told Congress over the summer in a letter too signed by the upkeep managing director, Shaun Donovan.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/14/world/middleeast/israel-benjamin-netanyahu-military-aid.html
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