DND Report
The perceivable failure of Israeli Iron Dome to intercept Iranian attacks has started a debate among European as well as American security circles, and at the core of this discussion is the utilization of US annual Military Aid to Israel since 1949. Voices are being raised to know what the fate of an Audit that was initiated in October 2024 to review the subject.
Israel is now openly demanding that the US jump into its war with Iran, and it is failing to counter Iranian military hardware. The question under discussion in military and academic spheres is why Israel cannot defend itself even after receiving the biggest US Military Aid and having the most sophisticated military hardware, intelligence networking, and AI support? The total Military Aid Israel got from the United States since 1948 goes on over $320 billion, showing an exceptional rise since Israel had conflict with Hamas.
The data available (1949 – 2024) from the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is interesting to review. Founded in 1921, CFR is working as an independent think tank, educator, and publisher, and it generates policy-relevant ideas, data, and analysis relevant to Foreign Affairs and International Relations.
In a paper of CFR titled “U.S. Aid to Israel in Four Charts,” written by Jonathan Masters and Will Merrow, it has been confirmed that Israel is the largest recipient of US Military Aid, and Washington has been facing criticism for releasing military aid to Israel due to its involvement in human rights abuses. The Leahy Law says that the US cannot provide security assistance to foreign governments or groups that commit gross human rights violations. Some legal scholars and other critics allege that Washington has not applied the Leahy Law to Israel as it has with other Middle Eastern (ME) countries. Moreover, military hardware received through Military Aid from the US cannot be used on the civilian population and must only be used according to agreed-upon terms and conditions. The Gaza scene suggests otherwise, where the main target had been the civilian population, and a genocide kind of operation is still underway. It is pertinent to mention that former US President Ronald Reagan banned transfers of cluster munitions to Israel for several years in the 1980s after it determined that Israel had used them on civilian targets during its invasion of Lebanon.
According to US laws, Israel has agreed to use U.S. weapons only in self-defense; therefore, every attack Israel has made in every country, including Iran, is portrayed by Israel as an act of self-defense. That may be a reason that all heads of state of NATO countries always say that Israel is not attacking rather responding in self-defense. The pretext of self-defense has been used by Israel since the Sabra and Shatila camps bombing, and Western media played a pivotal role in establishing that all acts of Israel are in its self-defense.
The volume of US Military Aid to Israel
Israel has been the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. foreign aid since 1949, and it has received around $310 billion in economic and military assistance, which includes $80 billion in economic aid and the rest in Military Aid. Moreover, Washington has agreed to provide Israel with $3.8 billion per year through 2028.
US Military Aid after Israeli attack on Gaza
The United States has enacted legislation providing at least $12.5 billion in direct military aid to Israel, which includes $3.8 billion from a bill in March 2024 and $8.7 billion from a supplemental appropriations act in April 2024. Israel received $17.9 billion in U.S. military aid during this period, a figure that additionally accounts for the cost to the U.S. Defense Department of replenishing the stock of weapons provided to Israel. Additionally, $500 million a year is available to Israelis for joint U.S.-Israeli missile defense programs. The Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and Arrow II were solely developed by Israel, but the US has been a production partner since 2014 in these projects. For instance, the U.S. military contractor Raytheon manufactures Tamir interceptor missiles for Israel’s Iron Dome.
Qualitative Military Edge Project
Qualitative Military Edge (QME) has been a conceptual backbone of U.S. military aid to Israel for maintaining Israel’s ability “to defeat any credible conventional military threat from any individual state or possible coalition of states or from non-state actors, while sustaining minimal damage and casualties.”
Under the 2008 law, the United States must ensure that any weapons it provides to other countries in the Middle East do not compromise Israel’s QME and has also ensured that Israel is the first in the region to receive access to the most sophisticated U.S. military weapons and platforms, such as the F-35 stealth fighter, of which Israel has fifty. QME also confirms that military hardware sold to other Middle Eastern countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE, and Egypt, would be of inferior quality to weapons being provided by the US to Israel. The 2008 law indicates that no country in the ME will have as advanced weaponry as Israel.
In the backdrop of the data presented above, experts are justified in demanding the audit of US Military Aid to Tel Aviv, as Israel is failing to counter Iranian attacks.
