Growth of about 25%
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced a new $30 billion US defense package to Israel Sunday and voiced satisfaction over Washington’s plan to supply state-of-the-art weapons to Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states as a counterweight to Iranian influence. The aid boost to Israel has been widely seen as a US bid to help allay Israeli concerns over a package of arms sales, that could be worth some $20 billion over the next decade, which Washington is preparing for Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states.
“We understand the need of the United States to support the Arab moderate states and there is a need for a united front between the US and us regarding Iran,” Olmert told a weekly Cabinet meeting. The rare agreement reflects shared US and Israeli concern with the potential threat of an Iran with nuclear weapons.
He said he and US President George W. Bush, in talks at the White House last month, agreed Israel would receive $30 billion in military aid over the next decade, averaging $3 billion a year. Current US defense aid to Israel stands at $2.4 billion a year.”This is an increase of 25 percent for the military aid to Israel from the United States. I think this is a significant and important improvement of the defense aid to Israel,” Olmert later told reporters.
“Other than the increase in aid, we received an explicit and detailed commitment to guarantee Israel’s qualitative advantage over other Arab states,” said Olmert.
A senior Israeli government source said that under the defense package, the United States agreed to sell the Jewish state the new generation F-35 fighter jet, advanced bombs and laser-guided missiles.
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