Shells and weapons for 8 billion dollars: Biden’s parting gift to Israel

The Biden administration has informed Congress of its intention to approve an $8 billion military aid package to Israel. This is reported today (Saturday) by the Reuters news agency. A package of such scope would require the approval of the House of Representatives and the Senate. According to the Axios website, the package will include air-to-ground weapons and artillery shells.

The move, which appears to be the final action of the Biden administration in the “Iron Swords” war, is being carried out after the US invested no less than 17.9 billion dollars in military aid to Israel in the first year of the war. According to the “Costs of War” report published by the Watson Institute at Brown University. This is an amount worth to about 3.8% of the Israeli GDP. The defense budget for 2025 is 117 billion shekels (about 30.9 billion dollars), which is 6.5% of the GDP and 20% of the state budget. Thus, in the bottom line, the scope of military aid from the USA is equal to about 57.9% of the defense expenditures. And this, when we do not count within this framework the additional 4.86 billion dollars that were invested in the increased activity of the USA in the region, such as, for example, air defense assistance to Israel.

The principle of Israel’s qualitative military advantage is anchored in the basis of American policy. In a study by the Watson Institute, it is noted that all of Israel’s 334 combat aircraft are made in the USA, F-15, F-16, and F-35, which is a key means of Israel’s qualitative advantage. In addition, the Air Force operates more than 40 combat helicopters Apache models, also American-made. In the current war, Washington supplied Israel with, among other things, more than 4 million kg of jet fuel. About 57,000 155 mm shells, 3,000 Hellfire missiles, 1,800 bunker busters, 200 stray munitions and about 20,000 guns.

Thus, according to Watson’s research, American aid from 1959 to this year, adjusted for inflation, amounts to approximately 251.2 billion dollars. 155 mm shells, as reflected in the new aid package, bunker penetrators and stray weapons are very important measures, but an unusual event even in the current war was the American decision, while Harris was the vice president, to place in Israel the THAAD air defense systems, which helped intercept some of the rocket launches Sea of ​​Yemen.

Military procurement funding of $3.3 billion annually

Significant American aid began with the Yom Kippur War, after which grants were added – until 1984, the grant system took over the full amount of aid instead of loans. The significance was already great in the Israel of the 1980s, because in 1985 American aid represented about 10% of the Israeli GDP. The significant change of moving to memorandums of understanding, which forms the basis of American aid today, began in 1999.

The advantage of being anchored in memorandums of understanding that are not law, and consequently do not require congressional approval. The current memorandum, which was launched in 2019 and will end in 2028, includes military procurement financing (FMF) in the amount of 3.3 billion dollars annually. To which was added half a billion dollars for the development of joint projects in the field of air defense. A problematic issue in the current memorandum of understanding is the conversion clause (OSP): the ability to use certain aid from the annual grant for conversion into shekels and use in the local defense industry. The memorandum of understanding that entered into force in 2019 states that Israel was allowed to convert 815 million dollars (24.6% of the FMF). At the same time, a model was established in which the scope of conversions is reduced in pulses starting in 2023, including a sharp one next year, until it reaches zero in 2028 – with the goal that the entire amount will be invested back into American industry.