US-Israel relations

The United States of America is Israel’s largest benefactor since its inception.

The US has provided Israel with unequivocal support and remains Israel’s largest benefactor since its inception. Most US assistance is military, in addition to large sums of economic assistance.

The assistance has transfomed Israel’s armed forces into one of the most sophisticated in the world, giving it a signficant edge over neighbouring countries.

Al Jazeera breaks down diplomatic ties between the two countries and US military assistance to Tel Aviv.

All the US presidents who have visited Israel [Al Jazeera]

The US aids Israel financially through ten-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs).

The agreements are not legally binding and nor do they have to go through the senate.

The terms of the 2019-2028 MOU differ from previous US-Israel aid agreements.

• After 2024, Israel cannot convert 26.3% of the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) dollars to shekels

• Israel cannot use a portion of its FMF to purchase fuel from the US.

• Under the terms of the new agreement, the Obama administration pledged to request $500m in annual combined funding for joint US-Israeli missile defence programmes such as Iron Dome, Arrow II and Arrow III, and David’s Sling.

Previous MOUs did not include missile defence funding.

US-ISRAEL military spending from congress and MOUs [Al Jazeera]

US-ISRAEL weapons production [Al Jazeera]

Source: Al Jazeera