By Zeina Azzam
Soon after the deal was approved, the United States started to unveil its plans to offer additional military equipment for Israel, promising that Israel would continue to keep its qualitative military edge in the region. Some even characterized the new defense aid package for Israel as a “windfall.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter hosted Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon for two days at the end of October, for talks aimed at “advancing their countries’ defense relationship.” Carter pledged to continue support for Israel’s Iron Dome (which intercepts short-range rockets), David’s Sling (which intercepts medium- and long-range missiles, developed by an Israeli defense contractor and Raytheon), and Arrow air defense systems (another anti-ballistic missile system, in collaboration with Boeing). Washington will also make available to Tel Aviv seven F-35A stealth fighters (with more on the way) — as a result of a manufacturing deal with Lockheed Martin and Pratt and Whitney — which would make Israel the only U.S. ally in the Middle East possessing these formidable Joint Strike Fighter planes. Carter noted in his remarks at the Pentagon that the “Israeli air force will start receiving the aircraft next year and will be the only force in the region to be armed with a fifth-generation fighter.”
To read this article, please click here.
This article originally appeared in The Huffington Post.
Zeina Azzam is Executive Director of the Palestine Center.
The views in this brief are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Jerusalem Fund.
