Planning or Posturing: Netanyahu Suggests Waiting for Obama Successor to Negotiate US Aid

Mideast observers are positing whether Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s suggestion to his cabinet on Sunday that his government might hold off negotiating the next military aid deal with the United States until President Obama’s replacement is in office is posturing for the current negotiators or a gamble that whoever becomes the next president will be more sympathetic to Israel’s needs than Obama. At stake is renewal of the allies’ 10-year deal worth billions of dollars. Despite the frequent media attention paid to friction between the two incumbent leaders, administration officials in Washington are reportedly warning Netanyahu that whoever comes next will not share President Obama’s commitment to the Jewish state. In 2018, when the current arrangement through which Israel receives annually about $3 billion in military aid, most of which is spent in the United States, ends, Netanyahu wants an increase to about $5 billion per year – a figure most believe is unrealistic given the US economic issues – but would be happy with $4 billion. But media is reporting that $3.7 billion would be the best Israel can do. And based on the current negotiations for extending American support and participation in the joint missile shield development, dollar amounts will be lower than Israeli expectations and will end altogether in the not-too-distant future.