29 June 2021

ISRAEL’S EXCEPTIONAL SECURITY PARTNERSHIP WITH WASHINGTON

Elias Yousif

Israel is the largest historical recipient of U.S. foreign assistance, totaling more than $146 billion since 1950, equivalent to $236 billion in 2018 dollars, the vast majority coming in the form of military aid. But in the wake of Israel’s recent o΍ensive in Gaza that killed over 243 Palestinians, including 63 children, and wrought untold physical damage on the densely populated enclave, advocates and lawmakers are raising questions about Israeli solider with riȵe. Source: Benjamin Rascoe via Unsplash the wisdom and risks of the current U.S. security partnership with Israel, including the ways in which the partnership contravenes traditional norms, regulations, and statutes governing U.S. arms sales and security sector assistance.

This brief summarizes the exceptional elements of the Israeli military partnership with Washington that pose unique challenges to oversight, accountability, and civilian protection. 

Memoranda of Understanding 

Since 1999, U.S. security assistance to Israel has been outlined in unique 10-year memoranda of understandings (MOU), agreements that commit the U.S. to billions in military aid years in advance.Though the funds must still be appropriated by Congress, language in the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act oɝcially made the U.S. commitment to the agreement binding. At the moment, Israel is in its third year of a memorandum signed in 2
2016 promising 33 billion in foreign military ȴnancing (FMF) and $5 billion in missile defense funding for FY 2019–2028. The agreement, while committing the Israeli government to 

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