US Experts Forecast Military Aid Hikes for Israel
Jun. 17, 2013 - 06:00AM By BARBARA OPALL-ROME
http://www.defensenews.com/article/20130617/DEFREG04/306170028/US-Experts-Forecast-Military-Aid-Hikes-Israel

TEL AVIV — Despite sequestration and protracted fiscal constraints, Israel
can expect an additional decade of sustained and possibly increased levels
of security assistance once its current $30 billion, 10-year military aid
package expires in 2018, former US officials here said.

Recently launched negotiations to extend aid through 2027 should yield an
agreement that exceeds the $3.1 billion Israel now receives in annual
Foreign Military Financing (FMF) grant aid, said Stuart Eizenstat, a former
official who negotiated an earlier aid package on behalf of the
Administration of then-President Bill Clinton.

“Support for Israel in the United States is astonishing. There’s no other
foreign country favored in terms of assistance; and this support is
bipartisan, bicameral and largely protected by sequestration,” said
Eizenstat, whose last in a series of high-level government posts was deputy
Treasury secretary under Clinton.

When asked at a June 17 talk with Israeli business leaders if Washington
would be willing or even able to sustain current FMF levels to Israel,
Eizenstat replied, “I have no concerns that aid to Israel will be
diminished. The question is rather by how much will it increase.”

According to the former US official, now a partner in the Washington-based
Covington & Burling law firm, “It is in the interest of Congress and future
administrations to sustain or even enhance aid to Israel, particularly given
the turmoil in this region and all the threats and pressures on Israel.”

Howard Berman, a former chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee,
also said Washington can be expected to sustain and probably increase annual
military aid to Israel. The former democratic congressman from California
noted, however, that the resumption of long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian
peace negotiations would “improve the climate” for securing domestic support
for a new 10-year aid deal.

“From the inside of the [appropriations] process, I can tell you the special
and strong relationship with Israel is enduring ... It is not linked to any
particular issue,” Berman said.

Nevertheless, the 28-year congressional veteran of US-Israel strategic
cooperation said “forward movement” toward a two-state, Israel-Palestine
peace deal “would be very appreciated” in key constituencies.

In a visit here in March, President Barack Obama announced his support for a
new agreement to extend annual military aid through 2027.

“Our current agreement lasts through 2017, and we’ve directed our teams to
start working on extending it for the years beyond,” Obama told reporters at
a joint press conference in Jerusalem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu.

The current agreement, signed in 2007, elevated Israel’s annual grant aid
from $2.4 billion to $3.1 billion, and Israeli officials here expect the
follow-on package to provide incremental boosts to nearly $4 billion per
year.

In parallel, the two countries are discussing prospects for financing
billions of dollars in Pentagon-proposed weapons through US
government-backed bridge loans that would be repaid with FMF to come from
the future 10-year military aid package.