Share
Email
PrintObama praises Israel aid hike
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) welcomed a hike in defense assistance to Israel.
The Bush administration this week signed an agreement with Israel increasing its assistance from $2.4 billion a year to $3 billion a year over ten years. The assistance is part of a package that uses incentives to encourage multiple parties – the Palestinians, Egypt and Saudi Arabia as well as Israel – to move forward on Israeli-Palestinian peace.
Obama, a front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, said the assistance was necessary because Bush administration policies had endangered Israel. “The Administration’s failed policies in Iraq, in a war that never should have been authorized, have strengthened Iran and emboldened Hamas and Hezbollah,” he said in a statement Thursday. “That makes it more important than ever that the United States live up to its commitment to ensure Israel’s qualitative military edge in a dangerous region. For that reason, I support the agreement on military assistance reached today.”
Israeli leaders, who regard President Bush as a close friend, have questioned some aspects of the conduct of the Iraq war but worry that a U.S. withdrawal now would endanger Israel.
Click to login and write a letter to the editor or sign up for the Daily Briefing.
This article was made possible by the support of readers like you. Donate to JTA now.
Featured Content
Need to know? Get JTA's free e-newsletters!
- Sarkozy: Iran solution should be non-military
- Marines’ SS photo condemned by Jewish groups
- Grandson of Auschwitz survivor takes the ice for Germany
- Poll: Half of U.S. voters back strike on nuclear Iran
- German city of Wurzburg brings back its long-lost Jews
- Reform leader Rabbi Gunther Plaut dies
- D.C. Hebrew-language charter school accepted for review
- Op-Ed: Kick the reaction addiction on campus
