US pledges record $38bn military aid to Israel over next 10 years

The military deal which will be signed in Washington on Wednesday includes an estimated $5bn for missile defence. Under the previous deal, the US provided Israel with $30bn over a 10-year period, although the actual funds delivered over that time period were about $35bn as Israel sought additional funds from the US Congress. Congress had previously funded Israel’s missile defence spending.

Under the new deal, Israel would not be able to solicit extra money from Capitol Hill. In other conditions placed on the new memorandum of understanding, Israel would no longer be allowed to spend over a quarter of the military aid on home-produced weaponry, and would instead be required the full amount on US arms. Nor would it be able to spend any of the aid on fuel for its armed forces.

Disagreements over these limitations delayed completion of the new deal, which has been under negotiation for 10 months.

Talks were also prolonged when the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, suspended discussions in protest at a nuclear deal the US and other major powers agreed with Iran last July.

Netanyahu had asked for a total of $45bn, and floated the idea of waiting to seal the agreement until a new president was in office, but in the end opted to make a deal with the Obama administration that was anxious to secure its legacy and combat accusations that its foreign policy had been detrimental to Israel.