9-14-2016 Obama’s $38B aid package to Israel comes with caveats: It’s generous, but on his terms - Ron Kampeas JTA

http://www.jta.org/2016/09/14/news-opinion/politics/obamas-38b-aid-package-to-israel-comes-with-caveats-its-generous-but-on-his-terms?utm_source=Newsletter+subscribers&utm_campaign=116ff0d944-Daily_Briefing_9_15_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_2dce5bc6f8-116ff0d944-25383237


President Barack Obama's near parting gift to Israel, a guarantee of $38 billion in defense assistance over a decade, distills into a single document what he's been saying throughout eight fraught years: I have your back, but on my terms.  The agreement signed Wednesday in the State Department's Treaty Room here increases assistance for Israel over the prior Memorandum of Understanding signed in 2007 under the George W. Bush administration and guaranteeing Israel $31 billion over 10 years.  But it also substantially shrinks the role Congress plays in a critical forum shaping U.S.-Israel relations, defense assistance, and in so doing diminishes the influence of the mainstream pro-Israel community, a sector that at times has been an irritant to Obama.  Wrapped into the $38 billion memorandum is $5 billion in missile defense funding, with clauses placing tough restrictions on Israel's ability to ask for supplements from Congress…


Posted by Judith Ferster, AIME member

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