Why the U.S.-Israel Military Aid Package Matters
Despite record levels of U.S. military assistance to Israel under the Obama administration, the state of U.S.-Israel relations has worsened, not strengthened, in recent years.
In an increasingly turbulent Middle East, the United States and Israel cannot afford to allow the foundations of their bilateral relationship to weaken. Both sides carry the responsibility to take proactive steps to restore trust at the highest political levels.
Chen Kane is director of the Middle East Nonproliferation Program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies in Washington, DC. W. Seth Carus and Nima Gerami are, respectively, Distinguished Research Fellow and Research Fellow at the National Defense University’s Center for the Study of Weapons of Mass Destruction. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of the National Defense University, the Defense Department, or the U.S. government.
Image: President Barack Obama talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office Monday, May 18, 2009. Flickr/The White House