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 US 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 US aid to buy military fuel.