President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet early next week to begin work on a new 10-year agreement outlining Washington’s military aid and assistance to Tel Aviv, administration officials said.
The existing one doesn’t expire until late 2017, but talks about renewing it faltered when Israel objected to the U.S.-led nuclear deal Iran struck with six world powers, White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Thursday. The administration sees Netanyahu’s visit to Washington next week as an opportunity to restart the process.
“[W]hat we’re hoping that we can do is to lay the groundwork to renew those talks and get those going again,” Earnest said. Obama “said that the early consideration of the next memorandum of understanding would be an indication of the depth of not just this administration’s, but this country’s commitment to Israel’s national security.”
Administration officials downplayed the fallout from the disagreement over Iran on Netanyahu’s and Obama’s relationship. They said Netanyahu’s very public and vocal criticism of the deal doesn’t change the unique relationship the two countries share.
Netanyahu “is entitled to his opinion,” Ben Rhodes, deputy national security advisor, said on Thursday. Furthermore, it’s “OK to disagree with friends,” he said. The two leaders can have different views but that doesn’t lessen Obama’s commitment to Israeli security, he said.
“I think we’ve made quite clear that the personal relationship between the two men is both respectful and professional, but also almost completely immaterial to the importance of the relationship between our two countries,” Earnest said. “That is far more important that any sort of interpersonal dynamics.”
Despite the “rather obvious and significant public disagreements between the two leaders,” they have demonstrated “their ability to work together,” he said.
Obama is dedicated to helping Tel Aviv, Earnest said.
“And I think that Prime Minister Netanyahu has observed the same thing,” Earnest said. “He noted … that the amount of security cooperation between the United States and Israel under the leadership of President Obama had been unprecedented. And the president is determined to continue to meet that standard.”
Administration officials wouldn’t speculate about dollar amounts under the new memo, but reports indicate it could represent as much as a 50 percent increase in aid.
Rhodes said the two leaders will discuss additional missile defense options beyond the Iron Dome system Israel deployed in 2011 with U.S. help. It intercepts short-range rockets and artillery shells, and Israel aims to increase both its range and versatility.
“Israeli lives have been saved by deployment of the Iron Dome” system, Rhodes said.
Also on the agenda next week is the bloody civil war in Syria and Iran’s involvement there, Iran, and the “two-state” solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
On the last point, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro said a realistic assessment of what can be achieved on the peace front during Obama’s remaining months in office is necessary.
Absent Netanyahu’s willingness to engage in new peace talks that include Palestine achieving statehood, the White House has to ask him what can be done to ease Israeli-Palestinian conflicts now, Shapiro said.
