Report: U.S. Budget Cuts to Hit Israel Military Aid
Share this Article
Twitter
Facebook
Digg
Stumble
PrintTags:
David's Sling Fiscal Cliff 2 Globes Israel Globes U.S. budget cuts Iron Dome defense system Israel missiles Israel U.S. aid pentagon cuts U.S.- Israel US-Israeli missile defense programs
IDF tank of the 401st Armored Brigade. Photo: wiki commons.
Upcoming U.S. budget cuts are likely to reduce military aid to Israel by over $700 million in the 2013 fiscal year, sources in Washington told Israel’s Globes.
The cut includes a $250 million reduction in current aid, which is due to total $3.15 billion, and the possible loss of all financial aid for joint US-Israeli missile defense programs, amounting to $479 million, for a total of $729 million in reduced aid. The best case scenario would see aid for anti-missile programs only reduced, rather than eliminated, with Israel “only” losing $300 million in aid.
According to Globes, military aid to Israel for the current fiscal year will be cut by $240-260 million, depending on how the sequester is calculated. However, there is growing concern that US aid this year for Israel’s anti-missile programs will not be reduced proportionately, but will be eliminated altogether. “So far as is known at this stage, the fate of the aid for missiles is not the fate of the current military aid,” a source told Globes. “We have to hope that that won’t be the final situation.”
Israel is supposed to receive $211 million in US aid this year to go towards more Iron Dome batteries alone, and $268 million for “current US-Israeli missile programs;” i.e. the Arrow anti-ballistic missile system, and the David’s Sling medium-range anti-missile interceptor. According to Globes, “If the aid packages for missile systems is eliminated, and the reduction in current military aid is added, Israel will lose almost $750 million in US military aid in the 2013 fiscal year. If the budget cut for the missile programs is proportional, Israel will lose just over $300 million in military aid.”
The upcoming budget cuts set to pound the US economy could reduce the Pentagon’s budget by $500 billion, spread over ten years. The sequester, also known as the fiscal cliff 2, is the result of the deadlock in negotiations between the White House and Congress to raise the US debt ceiling.
Israel’s friends in Congress are well aware of Israel’s distress, but their hands are tied, the sources told Globes. The sequester allows no exceptions. Moreover, under the current political reality, members of Congress cannot be seen to act on behalf of another country when the cuts are set to harm tens of millions of Americans.
10:34 am
Soros will make up the difference.
6:14 am
This is really good news. US aid has been primarily for the advantage of the US as Israel must spend over 90% of it on US goods. It is given with many many restrictions and strings attached. It is also designed to keep Israel DEPENDENT on the US and it manipulates Israel to buy more from the US and NOT develop her own industries to become self-reliant. The US fears that if Israel becomes self-reliant then she will sell her weapons systems; she will compete with US arms sales and will no doubt take lots of business away from the US. So this is really a blessing in disguise. It will make Israel far stronger.
3:48 am
Obama will surely know that every place that cut off its Jews has suffered decline. He’s a religious man, surely his paster for 20 years explained this to him? Or maybe the Imam in Indonesia made more impact on the child Barry?
10:41 pm
Wean yourself from USA aid. The monsters in DC want you all to die by the barrel of jihad.
9:22 pm
What else would you expect from Obama and Hagle! They are no friends of Israel. Forget giving the Medal of Distinction to Obama. He is a farce!!
7:31 pm
That’s not how the sequester is *supposed* to work, which is to impose equal cuts to the defense and non-defense discretionary budgets, and across-the-board cuts by an equal percentage to the hundreds of budgetary “buckets” within each of those two. There’s not supposed to be discretion allowing shifting the impact of said cuts to less favored from more favored buckets. So the suggestion that Israel will face a 20% cut in these allocations seems specious. But given the budgetary games they play (here) in Washington, who knows?
8:56 pm
How can we do with even one penny less of American aid Raymond. And they owe us, don’t they?
10:44 pm
Raymond in DC,
You are naive or else you are a shill.