by Boaz Bismuth, Shlomo Cesana and Israel Hayom Staff
Sen. Lindsey Graham: Unacceptable that Congress won't have say over amount of aid to Israel.
U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham
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Photo credit: EPA  |
Israel and the United States are on the verge
of signing a landmark military aid deal, which, once in effect in 2018,
will span the next decade. The aid package will reportedly be increased
from $3.1 billion per year to $3.8 billion, but the sum will be final
and Israel will commit to refraining from asking Congress for additional
funds.
Israeli officials welcomed the increased
American aid, but some of Israel's friends on Capitol Hill still want a
larger package and are struggling to accept the idea, insisted upon by
the administration, that over the next decade Congress will be unable to
increase U.S. defense aid to Israel.
"The threats in the region are great. The
region is deteriorating -- for example the situation in Sinai and the
Iranian threat -- so it is unacceptable that Congress won't have a say
regarding the amount of American financial aid to Israel," Republican
U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham told Israel Hayom.
"I believe the majority of Congress members
will take umbrage at the idea that for the next decade they won't have
input on the amount of aid transferred to Israel," added Graham, one of
Israel's staunchest allies on Capitol Hill.
Graham, meanwhile, told The Washington Post
that the White House has refused to sign off on the aid deal until the
Senate Appropriations Committee's Subcommittee on State, Foreign
Operations and Related Programs, which oversees the foreign affairs
budget and is chaired by Graham, shelves a bill to give Israel $3.4
billion in 2017, higher than the $3.1 billion agreed upon by the White
House.
The senator from South Carolina told the paper
that he discussed the issue with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
during a phone conversation last month, and that Netanyahu delivered the
message to that effect from the administration.
"The Israeli prime minister told me the
administration is refusing to sign the MOU [memorandum of understanding]
until I agree to change my appropriation markup back to $3.1 billion,"
Graham told The Washington Post. "I said, 'Tell the administration to go
F themselves.'"
As a reminder, one month ago Netanyahu
announced he would accept the American terms for the new aid package in
principle. Under the terms of the current aid package, about 26% of
American funds can be converted to shekels and spent on purchases from
the Israeli defense industry. But the U.S. has tried to remove this
provision and require Israel to buy only U.S.-made arms. As a
compromise, the provision will likely be phased out over a period of
five years.
On Monday, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan
Shapiro called the emerging 10-year deal the "United States' biggest aid
package to any other country in history."
Declining to get into specifics, officials in
the prime minister's bureau said, "Israel and the United States are
working together to sign the [military aid] deal as soon as possible."
Shapiro and Israeli officials, meanwhile, declined to
comment on the possibility of a meeting next week between U.S. President
Barack Obama and Netanyahu, who will be in the U.S. to address the
United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Boaz Bismuth, Shlomo Cesana and Israel Hayom Staff
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=36381
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