ISRAELI PM DUE IN US TO MAKE AMENDS WITH OBAMA
Tel Aviv, 27 Muharram 1436/9 November 2015 (MINA) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due in Washington to seek more military aid and mend seemingly broken ties with US President Barack Obama.
Netanyahu is expected to meet Obama on Monday in a bid to lay down the groundwork for US military aid to Israel over the next decade.
“I believe that this meeting is important in order to clarify the continuation of American aid to Israel in the coming decade,” Netanyahu said Sunday. reported, Monday (9/11).
“It will be another step toward realizing an understanding in this direction,” he added.
Israel is seeking a large increase in annual military assistance from the United States and has held preliminary talks with the US government on a 10-year package – from 2018 to 2028 – that would provide up to $50 billion.
Under the current agreement that was signed in 2007 and is set to expire in 2017, Israel receives over $3 billion a year in military aid from the United States. That deal was negotiated during the George W. Bush administration.
The figure is separate from the annual US funding of nearly $500 million which is spent on Israel’s missile programs in recent years. It is also on top of US warfare equipment held in Israel, which is valued at $1.2 billion.
The Palestinian conflict
Netanyahu said he will discuss a variety of other topics with Obama including “possible progress with the Palestinians, or at least stabilizing the situation with them.”
His agenda includes a meeting with the general assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America on Tuesday.
On Thursday, the Union for Reform Judaism, the largest Jewish group in North America, slammed Israel for its policies toward Palestinians and its intolerance “of not just of Arab citizens of Israel, but also of non-Orthodox Jews and Ethiopian Jews.”
Tensions have been running high since August when the Israeli regime imposed restrictions on the entry of some Palestinians into the al-Aqsa Mosque in East al-Quds (Jerusalem)–the third holiest site in Islam.
According to Palestinian media, nearly 80 Palestinians have lost their lives at the hands of Israeli forces since the beginning of October.
Palestinians are demanding an end to the increasing violent raids by Israeli settlers, including arson attacks on Palestinian properties.
The Iran nuclear deal
Although Netanyahu finally decided to keep silent on the matter, this is the first time he is meeting with Obama since Congress approved the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) that Iran and the P5+1 group of nations reached in July.
The Israeli premier is looking to rebuild relations with Obama that sank to a new low over his bitter lobbying effort against the Iran agreement.
Netanyahu is also slated to speak at the liberal Center for American Progress (CAP) on Tuesday, hoping to end the lingering rancor between Israel and the White House and congressional Democrats.
The Israeli embassy along with American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) pressured CAP to give him a stage, according to the Huffington Post.
Netanyahu will then make an appearance at the conservative American Enterprise Institute (AEI).
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Harry Reid will also be meeting with Netanyahu, their offices said.
During a previous visit to Washington, Netanyahu gave a controversial speech to Congress about the threat of a nuclear deal with Iran, which White House slammed as a breach of diplomatic protocol.
Vice President Joe Biden and 56 congressional Democrats did not attend the speech. (T/P002/R03)
Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)