Israel Refuses to Deepen US-Israel Cooperation in the Context of a Massive
Joint Training Exercise
With the crisis around the nuclear agreement with Iran in the background,
reports indicate that Israel refuses to deepen the cooperation with the USA
in the context of a massive defense exercise scheduled for early 2016
Amir Rapaport 6/08/2015
http://www.israeldefense.co.il/en/content/israel-refuses-deepen-us-israel-cooperation-context-massive-joint-training-exercise

The relations with the USA continue to be very tense: the editorial board of
Israel Defense has learnt that Israel declined far-reaching proposals for
Israeli-American defense cooperation in the context of a massive joint
training exercise, designated Juniper Cobra 16, scheduled for early 2016.
The exercise should include numerous cooperative activities, including the
employment of an Israeli missile defense system that is based, among other
things, on American capabilities.

The exercise was scheduled years ago, but over the last few weeks a paradox
has emerged: the Americans are willing to cooperate with Israel in the
context of the exercise in a manner unprecedented in previous exercises, but
the Israeli political echelon decided that IDF will not cooperate with the
American willingness. This has given rise to the absurd situation where the
Americans are willing to offer us more than we want to receive.

How will this affair end? Apparently, the Israeli defense establishment and
the political echelon will wait at least until the process of having the
nuclear agreement endorsed by the US Congress has been completed before they
put an end to this squabble.