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Washington recommends extra $488 million in military aid to Israel

February 4, 2014 at 10:19 am

The US House of Representatives Armed Services Committee approved on Monday to grant Israel a $488 million increase in military aid. The additional amount is for the development of Israel’s rocket and missile interception systems.

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that a US Congress defence authorisation bill was approved last week, through which “the US will allocate another $268 million to Israel in 2014 for the development of two interception systems: the Arrow 3, which intercepts long-range missiles, and the Magic Wand, which intercepts medium-range missiles.”


The draft bill also provides for a further $220 million to be allocated in 2014 to finance the purchase of five new batteries for the Israeli Iron Dome missile defence system, in addition to the five batteries that Israel currently possesses.

Now that the bill has been approved by the House Armed Services Committee, it will be referred to the Appropriations Committee before being submitted to the US Senate.

Haaretz pointed out that the United States already gives Israel $3.1 billion in military aid every year.