by Philip Weiss on June 10, 2013
The House Armed Services Committee has voted to give Israel another half a billion dollars in military aid– on top of the $3.1 billion we already give Israel. It’s for missile interception systems.
“The $488 million for the joint U.S.-Israeli research and development of anti-missile projects proposed in the Defense Authorization bill is not technically considered ‘military aid’ to Israel, even though these ostensible ‘joint projects’ only benefit Israel,” explains Josh Ruebner of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation. “Instead, they are budgeted through the Pentagon, which means that this money is additional to the $3.1 billion in military aid to Israel requested by President Obama for the 2014 budget.”
From Haaretz:
The U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee … last week approved the defense authorization bill proposal submitted by its chairman, California Republican Howard McKeon. According to the wording of the proposal, the U.S. will allocate another $268 million to Israel in 2014 for the development of two interception systems…This is a larger investment than initially planned. The bill also states that a further $220 million will be allocated in 2014 to finance the purchase of extra batteries for the Iron Dome missile defense system. The proposal must now be approved by the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations. It will be submitted to the Senate at a later stage…Israel currently has five Iron Dome batteries. The plan will give Israel another five batteries by the end of next year.The U.S. also gives Israel $3.1 billion in military aid annually. U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel promised that this would not be reduced even while significant cuts are being made to the U.S. defense budget.