U.S. bill would provide 680 million more for Israeli defense

The extra money would be for financing the Iron Dome missile defense system against rocket attacks on Israel The U.S. has already spent 205 million for the system. Now the Republicans are pressing to pass a bill that would add another 680 million.

This year alone the Obama budget pledges 3.1 billion in funds towards Israeli security. This is part of a 30 billion ten year U.S. pledge The Iron Dome funding is on top of this!

Israel itself had decided to defund the Iron Dome system. The missiles used to knock down the incoming missiles are far more expensive than the incoming missiles and the system is not cost-effective it was decided. However, now the U.S. is footing the bill Israel is pressing to expand the system. The system is not designed as protection against long range missiles such as Iran might use.

The Pentagon is a cheer leader for the system praising its effectiveness during recent attacks..Yet some Israeli officials were critical of the performance which is why they claim much more is needed. Although quite cheap most of the rockets coming from Gaza are practically useless but once in a while they do cause some damage or deaths.

Obviously the deficit is not a big issue for the Republicans when it comes to funding Israeli military projects. We will see what the Democratic response will be in this election year. For more see this article.

Israel asks U.S. for 700 million more in military aid

The request for the 700 million is above and beyond U.S. funding already allocated for the Iron Dome and Magic Wand missile defense systems.

The Iron Dome system is designed to intercept short range missiles mostly from the Gaza Strip. The Israelis had originally decided to defund the system as not being cost effective. The incoming missiles cost a few hundred dollars each but the anti-missile system interceptors 50 thousand each. See this article.

Once the U.S. approved funding the system became viable and was declared a great success against recent rocket attacks from Gaza. Actually reports indicate the results were mixed and not a great success as claimed. The Israelis want to have more batteries in the system.

Some analysts think that the 700 million might be used to bribe Israel to put off an attack on Iran. This seems a stretch. Israel does not need to put off an attack on Iran to get military funding. All they need to do is put the U.S. Israel lobby to work. In fact they probably do not even need to do that. When Israel asks for military funding the U.S. reacts like the proverbial Pavlovian dog, an automatic conditioned reflex.. For more see this article.