Posted on 04/26/16
| News Source: Times of Israel
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should accept the military package being offered by the US administration and not “take a risky gamble” by waiting for the next president to make a better offer, a former head of Israel’s military intelligence said Tuesday.
Maj. Gen. (ret.) Amos Yadlin told Army Radio that while it may not be as much as Israel wants, the deal on the table would still be the largest ever given by the US to a foreign country, and includes significant and unprecedented freedom to use some of the money as Israel pleases.
“We would have wanted more, we think that the strategic threats against Israel warrant a larger package, but I think that it is the right thing to sign for 10 years on the amount that this administration is offering, with the options that Congress will add additional funds, as it has done in the past,” Yadlin said.
As a large majority of senators push to increase foreign aid to Israel, a White House official indicated Monday that the Obama administration was ready to offer Israel the largest military aid package offered to any country over the course of US history.
US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu walk away after a news conference at the Prime Minister’s Residence in Jerusalem, March 20, 2013 (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Due to expire in 2018, the current aid package stands at $3 billion annually, and, according to reports, Israel wants to up the amount to $5 billion annually. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has hinted he may wait to negotiate with Obama’s successor to try and secure a better deal.
Yadlin, who formerly served as Israel’s military attache to Washington, said waiting for the next president could risk the entire deal.
“[Donald] Trump, who is on his way to becoming the Republican nominee, has already announced that he would limit US foreign aid, and even mentioned Israel by name,” he said.
Last month the Republican front-runner said that Israel would be included in his proposal that recipient countries of US foreign aid be made to pay back American funding.
According to Yadlin, who currently works as director of the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), last summer there was “genuine goodwill” from US administration to address Israel’s security concerns, but a souring of relations since then has limited Israel’s ability to make the case for further increases.
“Closing the gaps should have been done last summer,” Yadlin asserted. “But at this moment there is a lack of trust between the two administrations, there is bad blood, and therefore the chance of persuading them of our strategic concerns is very small.”
In November, Israel was said to have completed its “shopping list” of desired American military materiel, which reportedly included a request for V-22 Ospreys, planes believed capable of reaching Iran.
A Tamir missile fired from the Iron Dome missile defense battery during a trial in the United States in April, 2016. (Rafael Advanced Defense Systems)
Israel also reportedly sought the V-22s from the US in 2012 when contemplating a strike on Iran’s Fordo enrichment facility, but later decided not to purchase due to budgetary restraints.
Under a separate budgetary hierarchy, the US administration is understood to be well-disposed to ensure funding for Israel’s missile defense systems — maintaining and improving the Iron Dome (short-range missile interceptor) and the Arrow (long range) systems, and deploying David’s Sling (medium range), to ensure Israel can counter threats from neighboring Gaza, south Lebanon and Syria, as well as from an Iran that is relentlessly developing its ballistic missile systems.
The US has either jointly developed or financed all three of the programs
Judah Ari Gross and Raphael Ahren contributed to this report.