As ’Israel’ Cuts Military Budget, US Senators Question Aid

Local Editor

The debate over the size of the "Israeli" military budget has reached the US Senate too.
In a committee session held at the beginning of June, senators raised for the first time the question of whether the United States needs to continue granting such a large amount of military aid to the Zionist entity.

The United States gives "Israel" $3.1 billion in military aid a year, which is used for buying American-produced military equipment.

In addition, the United States provides special military aid for specific purposes. During the years of the Obama administration the United States has given Tel Aviv almost $1 billion to develop weapons systems to intercept rockets and missiles, including the Iron Dome, David's Sling and Arrow projects.

During the recent session, the issue of allocating an additional $175 million for further development of the Iron Dome interception system was discussed, but the sum has yet to be approved. A number of senators commented on the debate in "Israel" over the military budget and the "Israeli" War Ministry's claims that its budget has been cut.

Recently the "Israel" Military Forces and the War Ministry demanded additional funding of some 2 billion shekels through the end of this year, and the cabinet is supposed to make a decision about it at the end of this month.

With this debate in the background, and given the "Israeli" army claims that it has run out of money for ongoing expenses, the army ordered a halt to all Air Force training flights at the beginning of the month and cut back significantly on training for the ground forces.

The American military budget has also faced large cutbacks recently and is now 3.8 percent of the country's GDP. It seems the senators' questions and comments reflect their being somewhat uncomfortable with the large amounts of aid "Israel continues to receive at a time when the troubles of the American economy require cuts in the budget.
 
Source: Haaretz, Edited by website team