U.S., Israel sign $38 billion military aid package

U.S. President Barack Obama meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval office of the White House in Washington November 9, 2015. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque


WASHINGTON The terms of a new $38 billion aid package for Israel were confirmed in a White House statement obtained by Reuters ahead of a State Department ceremony on Wednesday to sign the new 10-year pact.


The package constitutes the most ever given to any country and was reported by Reuters earlier. The details, contained in an official “factsheet” on the package, include:


-$500 million a year for Israeli missile defense funding, the first time this has been formally built into the aid pact.


-A phasing-out of a special arrangement that for decades has allowed Israel to use a quarter of the U.S. aid on its own defense industry instead of American-made weapons.


-Elimination of a longstanding provision that has allowed Israel to use a portion of the U.S. aid to buy military fuel.


(Reporting by Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Susan Heavey)

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