Israel Matzav

House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee adds more money for anti-missile defense

The US House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee has doubled President Obama's request for $200 million for Israel's Iron Dome missile defense program. The added funds will go mostly for the Arrow 3 anti-missile system, although some of them will also go for the David's sling medium range anti-missile defense.

US House appropriators have pushed funding for Israeli missile defense programs to its highest level ever, with $422.7 million now slated for 2011.

Last week, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense added $95.7m. to the original White House funding request for the long-range Arrow programs and medium-range David’s Sling, according to sources close to the panel. The lion’s share – $108.8m. – will go to the Arrow 3 system, which the US signed off on after some initial hesitation.

In addition, the monies include $205m. pledged this spring by US President Barack Obama to the short-range Iron Dome project.

The package is more than twice as much as last year’s total, and adds up to nearly $1 billion in aid to joint US-Israel missile defense programs in the past four years.

“Chairman [Norm] Dicks, myself and all the members of the Defense Subcommittee understand how important it is to be at the cutting edge of anti-missile technology, both to safeguard our own citizens and troops, but also those citizens and troops of our allies and friends such as the people of the Jewish state of Israel,” Rep. Steve Rothman (D-New Jersey) told The Jerusalem Post on Friday.

...

“It would be political suicide for the Senate to come in with a lower number,” said one source close to the issue of his expectation that the Senate will agree to the totals set by the House last week. “There’s virtually zero chance that these [projects] don’t get funded at these levels.”

You can bet that a lot of anti-Semites in Washington are going to make a fuss about so much money going to Israel in a bad economy. But anyone who thinks that missile defense today isn't a necessity - and that the US won't get back every penny it invests in Israeli research to develop them - is fooling themselves.

Remember when everyone thought Ronald Reagan was crazy because he wanted an anti-missile defense program called Star Wars? Reagan looks like a visionary today.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:54 PM