Defense minister said hammering out final details of 10-year memorandum of understanding in DC
WASHINGTON — The multibillion-dollar defense aid package being negotiated between Israel and the US is very close to completion, a senior Israeli official in Washington said Monday morning after a series of meetings at the Pentagon.
According to the unnamed official, Israel wants to complete the 10-year, multibillion-dollar defense aid deal as soon as possible. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that although an announcement would not be forthcoming in the next few days, the remaining gaps between the two countries’ positions could be overcome.
The US and Israel started negotiating a renewal of the 10-year defense package last summer, shortly after the completion of the Iranian nuclear deal.
The memorandum of understanding, as the aid package is formally known, is one of the underpinnings of the US-Israel relationship, and is likely to encompass some $5 billion in defense assistance during the next 10-year period.
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman traveled to Washington this week to work out some of the remaining issues in the defense aid negotiations, and to attend the unveiling of the F-35 stealth fighter jet.
He sat down with US counterpart Ashton Carter Monday, with his spokesperson describing the meeting as taking place in a “good and friendly atmosphere.”
The statement did not mention the aid package, but instead said the defense chiefs discussed “global terror, developments in various arenas in the Middle East, and a series of issues related to relations between the two countries.”
The unnamed official emphasized the cordiality of relations with the Pentagon, including in recent talks, arguing that unlike at the State Department, talks with the Pentagon focus on areas in which the two countries share common ground and perspectives.
Israel, he said, is eager to conclude talks as soon as possible, but still has key points that it must see honored. He denied claims that the Israeli government is slow-walking talks or that any sense of urgency is tied to the upcoming US presidential elections.
Instead, he argued, Israel feels a sense of urgency to complete the talks in order to be able to conduct long-term planning and budgeting. Certainty, he said, was of critical importance to Israel in assessing its defense spending.
Earlier in the day, Israeli treasury chief Moshe Kahlon called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to quickly sign the deal, calling it a good package.
The official discounted claims that there had been any attempt to link the agreement, which is slated to outline military aid to Israel for the next decade, to ongoing efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through any sort of an internationally brokered agreement.
The official noted that Pentagon officials spent little time discussing the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, focusing instead on issues upon which, he said, the two countries shared more common ground.
In addition to stressing that common ground would be achieved on the aid package, the official also expressed confidence that the current conflict over increased missile defense budgets for Israel in the coming fiscal year would also be resolved.
In recent weeks, the administration and the House of Representatives have been nearing a showdown over Congress’s defense authorization and appropriations for the coming year.
The White House sharply criticized the House’s appropriation of additional aid to missile defense programs, listing it among over a dozen reasons that it opposed the defense spending legislation that the House passed last week.
The Pentagon reported Monday that during their bilateral meeting, Liberman and Carter “reaffirmed the strength of the US-Israeli defense relationship and the United States’ unwavering commitment to Israel’s security.”
According to the Department of Defense, the two also discussed regional security challenges in the Middle East and areas of mutual defense cooperation.
Lieberman is expected to also travel to Fort Worth, Texas for the roll-out ceremony of the first Israeli F-35 aircraft coming off the production line. Israel will be the first foreign partner to receive the F-35, which US officials stressed will play a key role in maintaining Israel’s qualitative military edge in the Middle East.
As reported by The Times of Israel