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Israel lawmakers hope Trump could ease made-in-USA rules for military aid

Israeli lawmakers urged the government on Monday to reopen talks with the United States on a defense aid deal signed in 2016 in the hope that President Donald Trump might ease a requirement that American aid money be spent on US equipment.

 

Under the deal signed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then US President Barack Obama, the United States would provide Israel with $38 billion in military assistance over 10 years, the largest such aid package in US history.

 

However, one component of the deal was to phase out a special arrangement that had allowed Israel to use 26.3 percent of the US aid on its own defense industry instead of on American-made weapons. All the aid will now have to be spent on US equipment by 2026.

 

Israeli lawmakers suggested that this requirement could be renegotiated now that Obama has been succeeded by Trump, who has broken with other past US policies by moving the US embassy to Jerusalem last week.

 


פרסום ראשון: 05.21.18, 18:54