US military aid to Israel to break records

The US will provide Israel a military aid package of $38 million over 10 years, on Wednesday. The arrangement marks the second time under Obama’s presidency that the US’ provision of military aid to Israel will break records.

The deal represents an increase in aid to $3.8 billion from the $3.1 billion per year that is currently in place under a deal due to expire in 2018. The Israeli government had previously sought $4.5 billion in earlier negotiations.

During his first term the Obama administration provided Israeli with a deal comprising $60 in military aid. All this despite the fact that the relationship between Obama and Israel’s right wing government, led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is recognised as one of the most fractious and hostile of any between the two governments.

The terms of the deal ensure that the Israeli government is not permitted to seek further funds from the US congress while it is in effect. Importantly, this deal also challenges the special terms previously granted to the Israeli government that allowed it to use US military aid to by equipment from its own domestic suppliers. From now on Israel will be forced to purchase materiel on the same terms as other recipients of US military aid.

The deal, officially a memorandum of understanding, will include money earmarked for missile defence for the first time. In various statements on the status of Israel and its occupation of the Palestinians Obama has sited missile defence as a prerequisite for negotiations.

According to a report by the Congressional Research Service in 2015:

Israel is the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. foreign assistance since World War II. To date, the United States has provided Israel $124.3 billion (current, or non-inflation-adjusted, dollars) in bilateral assistance. Almost all U.S. bilateral aid to Israel is in the form of military assistance, although in the past Israel also received significant economic assistance.

The report goes on to explain that:

Israel is the largest recipient of U.S. Foreign Military Financing. For [Fiscal Year] 2016, the President’s request for Israel would encompass approximately 53% of total requested FMF funding worldwide. Annual FMF grants to Israel represent 20% of the overall Israeli defense budget. Israel has the highest percentage in the world of defense expenditure as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (5.6%).

The US government is legally bound to ensure that Israel maintains a “qualitative military edge” in the Middle East. Israel has maintained a belligerent military occupation of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip since 1967. Its forces have enforced a debilitating siege on Gaza since 2007 while it systematically seizes Palestinian lands in the West Bank in order to build housing and communities for its own citizens, in contravention of both UN Security Council Resolutions and the fourth Geneva Convention.