Military aidU.S. to increase annual military aid package to Israel from $3 billion to nearly $4 billion

The U.S. defense aid to Israel will likely increase after 2017 from the current $3 billion a year to between $3.5 and $4 billion a year, according to both American and Israeli sources. Both side conceded that the increase is related to the emerging nuclear deal between the P5+1 and Iran – and to the fact that Sunni states in the region, such as Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States, will themselves see a major quantitative and qualitative increases in U.S. military aid to them.

U.S. sources told the Guardian that the United States and Israel are in an advanced stage of negotiating the new military aid package, and that the additions to the current being discussed would bring annual payouts to $3.6 billion to $3.7 billion on average.

An Israeli official, saying the final post-2017 package would be between $3.5 billion and $4 billion, added: “[The United States is] trying to douse the fires after our flare-up about the Iran deal.”

Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, confirmed that the deal to increase U.S. military aid to Israel is almost done, but said he would keep campaigning against Iran.

“There is no trade-off requiring I agree to this [nuclear] deal with Iran. The deal is bad and we will continue to oppose it,” Netanyahu said.

In Washington, though, the National Security Council (NSC) spokesman, Alistair Baskey, denied that negotiations on an increase defense aid package were being held. “These reports are wholly inaccurate.”

He added: “While we anticipate discussions in the coming period between the U.S. and Israeli governments about how long-term security cooperation between the two countries can be further strengthened, no such detailed discussions at a senior level have occurred recently,” Baskey said.

The Guardian notes that the George W. Bush administration signed a 10-year deal with Israel in 2007, giving Israel $30 billion, most of which must be spent in the United States on American-manufactured military equipment. The Obama administration has added hundreds of millions dollars on top of the $3 billion annual package to support missile defense systems being developed in Israel – and, last summer, earmarked additional $250 million to rush Iron Dome munitions to Israel during the Israel-Hamas war.

Analysts note that the substantial increase in the military aid package to Israel is the direct result of the negotiations with Iran. Only last year, the administration, in an effort to accommodate congressionally mandated cuts in the defense budget, informed Israel that the only changes to the package would be adjustment for inflation.

What complicates the U.S. calculations is the fact that the military gear the United States is planning to give Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States to assuage their own worries about Iran, will erode Israel’s “qualitative edge” over the armed forces in the region. The qualitative edge has been the corner-stone of Israel’s military strategy, and successive U.S. administrations have committed themselves to the preservation of this edge either by denying Arab countries certain advanced items – or compensating Israel in the event such items were sold the countries in the region.

When asked whether the expected increase in military aid grants to Israel was linked to U.S. recent dealings with Iran and the Gulf Arab states, the U.S. official said: “Could be.”