Issue: Aid to Israel
Legislation Aid to Israel
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Background:
Israel is America’s closest ally in the Middle East. To help Israel maintain a strong military so that it can meet the serious threats described below, the United States provides it with security assistance as part of the overall foreign aid bill and the defense appropriations bill. That support is longstanding, bipartisan, rooted in shared values and interests, and mutually beneficial. Over three-quarters of that vital security aid is spent in the United States.
In 2016, the Obama Administration and the Israeli government negotiated a new ten-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). Under that agreement, codified overwhelmingly by Congress in 2020, the Unites States pledges $38 billion over 10 years, or $3.8 billion annually. $5 billion of this $38 billion, or $500 million annually, goes toward joint missile development. Congress must, however, approve the annual amount each year; the funding for FY ’23 (the one that will begin October 1, 2022) will be considered in the coming months. There is bipartisan agreement that this aid is needed to allow Israel to keep pace with the threats it faces daily, and to preserve its position as a stable, democratic island in a chaotic sea.
Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East and our country’s closest ally in that crucial region. The assistance the Unites States provides furthers our interests without putting American troops at risk, and Israeli technology and intelligence has been critical to furthering American interests and saving the lives of American troops.
What we are requesting of Congress
Will you support a robust Fiscal Year 2023 aid package to Israel which includes $3.3 billion in U.S. military assistance to Israel and $500 million in cooperative missile defense funding, as called for in the most recent Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)?
Articles and Further Reading on the Issue
