World

A New Bill May Boost US Military Aid to Israel to More Than $3.8 Bln – Reports

The document was clinched in the wake of a memorandum of understanding on security assistance between Washington and Tel Aviv in 2016.
Sputnik

US senators have passed a bill which is paving the way for military aid to Israel that may exceed 3.8 billion dollars, according to the Minnesota-based website Mint Press News.

The proposed United States-Israel Security Assistance Authorization Act of 2018 would provide Israel with 3.3 billion dollars in military aid along with over 500 million dollars for missile defense in the next twelve months.

READ MORE: Israel Acts as US Proxy in Syria With Strikes on Iranian Infrastructure – Report

The document also envisages an additional one billion dollars for US weapons stockpiles in Israel.

If approved by the House of Representatives next week and signed into law by President Donald Trump, the bill will represent the "single largest military aid package in American history", Mint Press News reported.

The bill was clinched as the result of the 2016 US-Israel memorandum of understanding on security assistance, which stipulated Washington allocating 3.8 billion dollars for Israel on an annual basis over the next ten years, a number that would amount to 23,000 dollars per year for every family in Israel.

READ MORE: US Ambassador Reportedly Told State Dept to Ease Scrutiny of Israel

Netanyahu: Iran Wants Nuclear Arsenal to Destroy Israel
Haaretz cited the American Israel Public Affairs Committee as saying in a statement that the United States-Israel Security Assistance Authorization Act of 2018 "seeks to ensure that Israel has the means to defend itself, by itself, against growing and emerging threats — including Iran's presence close to Israel's northern border."

The past several years have seen the US boost its military aid to Israel, in what was followed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying in 2017 that "we do not have a greater friend than President Trump" and the opening of a new US embassy in Jerusalem.

Discuss