Israel is gearing up for talks with the US on a new decade-long pledge for Washington to provide military aid to Israel. The deal would include additional American security assistance for Israel.
According to Gil Pinchas, a financial adviser to the Israeli military, talks to establish a new Memorandum of Understanding between Washington and Tel Aviv will kick off in the coming weeks. The current MOU grants Israel $3.8 billion in annual US military aid and is set to expire in 2028.
The MOU is structured as $3.3 billion in financial support that Pinchas dubbed “free money.” Under the deal, the US also sends Israel $500 million every year for the Iron Dome air defense system.
Netanyahu has previously stated that Israel wants to decrease the amount of direct financial support it receives from the US. But, Pinchas explained, that will not result in Washington providing less military support to Tel Aviv.
“The partnership is more important than just the net financial issue in this context . . . there are a lot of things that are equal to money,” he told The Financial Times. “The view of this needs to be wider.”
Pinchas said that Israel could receive more US support for joint projects such as the Iron Dome. He added that the US military deployments to the Middle East are worth “many billions more” than direct financial support.
The US has provided Israel with hundreds of billions of dollars in military assistance since the state’s creation in 1948. The financial support has allowed Israel to provide its citizens with expansive welfare programs and wage wars across the Middle East. Israel is currently in the process of significantly decreasing its military budget.
