U.S. Senators Johnny Isakson and David Perdue, members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, are urging the Obama Administration to support a long-term agreement with Israel to ensure the nation's strongest ally in the Middle East has the resources necessary to defend itself.
In a letter sent to President Obama, Senators Isakson and Perdue emphasized the need to extend the current agreement between the United States and Israel, called a “Memorandum of Understanding,” that expires in 2018. The senators pointed to “Israel’s dramatically rising defense challenges” as the most pressing reason why time is of the essence.
The bipartisan letter, which was led by U.S. Senators Chris Coons (D-DE) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and signed by a total of 83 senators, reads, “We stand ready to support a substantially enhanced new long-term agreement to help provide Israel the resources it requires to defend itself and preserve its qualitative military edge.”
The letter points to the ever-present threats to Israel posed by Iran, the disorder in Syria and radical Islamic terrorist groups including Hezbollah, al-Qaeda, the Islamic State and the Levant, known as ISIL, and other militant Islamist groups.
“In addition to these immediate threats… given the extraordinary levels of weapons pouring into the Middle East, Israel could quickly find itself on the wrong end of the regional military balance,” the senators continued in their letter. “This problem is compounded by the mounting cost of the new aircraft and other weapons systems that Israel must acquire to keep pace with its neighbors. Moreover, Israel must prepare for the likelihood that Iran will resume its quest for nuclear weapons.”
The full text of the letter is available here.