Israel’s Ministry of Defense announced that it had secured an $8.7 billion military aid package from the United States on Thursday.
According to the ministry, $3.5 billion of the money is for “essential wartime procurement” and the remaining $5.2 billion is for air-defense systems, including Iron Dome and David’s Sling.
“This substantial investment will significantly strengthen critical systems, such as Iron Dome and David’s Sling while supporting the continued development of an advanced high-powered laser defense system currently in its later stages of development,” the ministry stated.
Maj. Gen. (Res.) Eyal Zamir, director general of the Israeli Ministry of Defense, led the negotiations in Washington on behalf of Yoav Gallant, the defense minister.
The ministry said that Zamir’s trip to Washington reflects “the ironclad commitment to Israel’s security, particularly in addressing regional security threats from Iran and Iranian-backed militias by ensuring Israel’s overall capabilities.”
Washington provides Israel with $3.8 billion in annual military aid under the terms of a 10-year memorandum of understanding that the two countries signed in 2016. In April, U.S. President Joe Biden signed into law a supplemental aid package that included $14.3 billion in direct military aid to Israel on top of the annual aid.
A U.S. Department of State spokesperson told JNS that the funding announced Thursday was derived from April’s supplemental foreign aid bill.
“This $8.7 billion comes from the $14-plus billion emergency supplemental Congress approved in April 2024, with $3.5 billion being initially announced in August 2024 and the remaining $5.2 billion being announced today,” wrote David Milstein, who advised Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign and worked for David Friedman, then U.S. ambassador to Israel.
“It has been months,” Milstein wrote. “Why did the Biden-Harris administration take so long to transfer the money to Israel during this emergency?”
