US Congress ties bows on gifts to Israel

Josh Ruebner Power Suits 27 November 2020

Several Israeli soldiers holding guns stand in a row

A Senate bill will set the Obama administration’s pledge of $3.8 billion in weapons per year to Israel as a floor rather than a ceiling.

Ahmad Al-Bazz ActiveStills

Before it recesses for the year, the US Congress is finalizing the text of a must-pass bill, the National Defense Authorization Act, which includes a slew of significant pro-Israel measures.

The NDAA establishes Pentagon funding levels and sets out many Department of Defense and foreign policy priorities.

Last week, the Senate passed its version of the mammoth bill, totaling nearly 1,800 pages. The House, having passed its own version in July, rejected the Senate language.

With the House and Senate unable to agree, the bill has gone to conference to reconcile differences between the two versions.

During these backroom conferences, legislators hammer out an agreed-upon version of the bill before it is sent back to both the House and Senate for a final pro forma vote.

Flow of weapons to Israel

Most notably, the Senate version of the bill contains the provisions of the United States-Israel Security Assistance Authorization Act of 2020, originally a separate bill which was tacked onto the NDAA in July.

This bill would codify into law the Obama administration’s pledge of $3.8 billion per year in weapons to Israel. Additionally, it would set this level of assistance to Israel as a floor, not as a ceiling.

The bill promises Israel “not less than” $3.3 billion per year in weapons grants in addition to $500 million in missile defense projects.

This bill would enable Congress to appropriate weapons to Israel at a level beyond that envisioned by the Obama administration’s munificent 2016 memorandum of understanding.

The bill also contains a long wish list of other provisions for Israel, including most crucially a five-year extension of Pentagon authorization to stockpile weapons in the country. This stockpile can be accessed by Israel in an emergency to quickly augment US weapons already in its arsenal.

At the same time that the Senate tacked on this bill to the NDAA, it also refused to consider an amendment written by Chris Van Hollen, a Democratic senator from Maryland. Supported by 12 other senators, the amendment would prohibit US weapons for or training to Israeli forces in Palestinian territory illegally annexed under the Trump administration’s “peace” plan.

In addition to the perennial authorization of $500 million in joint US-Israel missile defense programs, the Senate version of the NDAA also includes a new provision to establish a US-Israel Operations-Technology Working Group.

That group would work “to identify and expeditiously field capabilities that the military forces of both countries need to deter and defeat respective adversaries.” It is designed to further enmesh joint US and Israeli weapons research and development, funding and deployment.

Expedited munitions

The Senate version also calls for the Pentagon to “expedite deliveries of precision-guided munitions to Israel.”

Although the House version of the bill does not contain these significant new provisions for Israel, there is strong reason to believe that the final version of the NDAA that will be sent to the president will look more like the bloated Senate version.

That is because the speaker of the house, Nancy Pelosi, appointed three conferees with impeccable pro-Israel credentials to iron out the differences with the Senate on provisions under the jurisdiction of the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Those conferees are Eliot Engel, New York Democratic representative; Brad Sherman, California Democratic representative; and Michael McCaul, a Republican representative from Texas.

Engel is the outgoing chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee whose primary loss to newcomer Jamaal Bowman was a substantial blow to the Israel lobby.

Sherman is a longtime hawkish Israel supporter who is seeking to replace Engel as the chair of the committee. In recent months, he has been slightly moderating his positions to appeal to the more progressive elements in the Democratic caucus. For example, he opposes the use of US tax dollars to implement Israeli annexation.

McCaul is the highest-ranking Republican on the committee and is one of the leaders in Congress seeking to undermine the campaign for Palestinian freedom, justice and equality through boycott, divestment and sanctions campaigns against Israel.

These conferees’ support for the extra pro-Israel provisions in the Senate version of the NDAA is almost assured, as the House already passed a bill similar to the US-Israel Security Assistance Authorization Act last year.

That legislation was even more extreme than the Senate bill, allowing a loophole in the Arms Export Control Act to enable Israel to receive unlimited amounts of weapons, free of usage constraints, in an emergency declared by the president.

It is likely that the House will accede to the Senate version of the NDAA when it comes to Israel.

By doing so, Congress will deliver one final “unprecedented bonanza for Israel,” in the words of veteran Capitol Hill analyst Lara Friedman, as the culmination of an unmatched partiality in US policy during the Trump era.

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Frank Dallas replied on

Such is the way the US taxpayer funds Israeli terrorism. The murder of a nuclear scientist is passed off, as always in the distorted Zionist worldview, as an act of defence. The Iranians are trying to make a nuclear bomb. The bastards! What kind of bastards want a nuclear bomb? Only crazy people, only mad regimes would want such a weapon. What should be done with lunatic regimes which want nuclear weapons? Nuke them ! Of course, Israeli nukes are virtuous. US nukes are virtuous. UK nukes are virtuous. After all, the only use of nukes was occasioned by the absolute necessity of showing civilians in Hiroshima and Ngasaki just what the US was capable of. Why do the Iranians want nukes? To destroy Israel of course. All Muslims want to destroy Israel. All Gentiles want to destroy Israel. In fact, Mossad has recently discovered that goldfish are trying to destroy Israel. Those crazy goldfish want their own nuclear weapon. We have nuclear weapons because we are good people. That's why we colonised India; that's why we invaded Vietnam; that's why we brought down Allende; that's why we funded the Contras; that's why we colonised Ireland; that's why we imposed dictators in Central and Latin America; that's why nearly a million Arabs were ethnically cleansed from Palestine; that's why Vanunu was imprisoned; that's why the West Bank is occupied. Oh, what good people we are. We have never done anything wrong in our lives. We are virtue personified. That's why we have to kill those bad Iranian scientists who have learned so much from Oppenheimer. They are bad, they are crazy, they are terrorists, they don't believe in democracy. While we have Trump and Netanyahu. Good, virtuous, sane men by any lights. Thus, beautiful US democracy hands money to demented murderers who hate the idea of a renewed agreement with the Iranians. Nukes? Dismantle 'em. All of 'em. Starting with ours. We began this stupid game, we must stop it. Peace to all, including Iranians.

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Darkwing replied on

$3.8 billion, that money could house all the homeless in the US of A

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Jim Hyder replied on

The Zionists in US CONGRESS Needs out. Never since the NATO was meet Israel gets away with murder.
Palestine schools bombed, blow homes away with families in time again and nothing is done.
. When will start begin stopping these atrocities instead of playing kiss kiss with these killings??

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Gabrielle Dell replied on

understand all what i have read above, and know that Iran {and some of their beloved heroes} has been judged wrongly and treated badly by US - Powers that Be - as have Palestinians and Arabs; yet truly and sadly so have individual Jewish People, most of whom are good people - as are most people of all Heritages good people - and they, as have mainly Moslem Arab people suffered terribly in ongoing wars conflict situations before and since foundation of Israel Nation in 1967; though i am not fan of Israeli Government over long time who have treated Palestinians, Jordanians, those in Gaza Strip and other Occupied Terroritories terribly, they have also treated their own Israeli citizens terribly, young Jewish People are forced by law of their Land to join Army or Airforce or another Force even if they would rather have peace with all; and so many individual Jewish People are suffering destitution, sadness, homelessness and thrown away by their own government that does not care for them and oppressive laws on them aswell as on the Moslem People in the Occupied Terroritories, it will require truly miracles for this to go right, wish no more assassinations - terrorism against any good individuals in Moslem or Jewish places, wish to God no more terrorism and wish Palestinians have their lands in peace, for those who have had homes bulldozed, more new homes with wi-fi links, water, electricity and freedom and for all Israeli people who are homeless and unemployed will get all resources they need, economic problems but government should care enough, when new government comes in Israel hope it will be good and wise one, wish comfort and healing of broken hearts for all souls of goodwill, whether Jewish or Christian or Moslem or another.

Josh Ruebner

Josh Ruebner's picture

Josh Ruebner is adjunct professor at Georgetown University, managing director of American Muslims for Palestine and author of Israel: Democracy or Apartheid State? and Shattered Hopes: Obama’s Failure to Broker Israeli-Palestinian Peace. The views expressed here are solely those of the writer and are not on behalf of any organization.