Mitch Perry
After visiting with Israel Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this month, Pinellas County Congressman and GOP Senate candidate David Jolly announced his support for increasing financial support to Israel.
Now he’s teamed up with North Florida Democrat Gwen Graham to pen a letter to President Obama, calling on him to increase current levels of funding for Israeli defense from $3.1 billion to $5 billion annually. The current Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the U.S. and Israel expires in 2018.
“If Israel were ever to fail – a prospect we must never allow to happen – it would mean that the U.S. would likely face a state-backed terror regime in the Middle East strong enough to control an entire global region, with weapons sufficient enough to threaten our homeland, and with leadership maniacal enough to do it,” the letter reads.
Over 50 other members of Congress have signed on to the Jolly/Graham missive.
“As a result of the recently signed Iranian nuclear agreement, up to $150 billion in economic relief will now be provided to an Iranian regime that continues to fund terror attacks against Israel and a regime that is on the record as wishing to destroy the United States. Surely now is the time to provide additional support to our greatest security partner in the Middle East, Israel,” Jolly said. “If Israel were unable to adequately defend itself from these threats, our own security would be endangered. Our two nations share the same national security interests in the Middle East,” continued Jolly, who recently returned from the Middle East where he met privately with Netanyahu and other heads of state to discuss national security and intelligence matters.
“Our security, as well as the region’s stability, is directly linked to Israel’s ability to defend itself. With the Iran agreement and the threat of ISIS, it’s more important than ever to show we support our closest ally in the Middle East,” said Graham, who successfully passed legislation to create a joint U.S.-Israel anti-tunnel defense system.
The issue was a topic of discussion when Netanyahu visited Obama at the White House last November. “It will be expiring in a couple of years, but we want to get a head start on that to make sure that both the United States and Israel can plan effectively for our defense needs going forward,” Obama said at the time.
The $5 billion per year figure includes not only the annual defense aid, but also the separate American investment in the development of missile interceptor systems like the Iron Dome and the Arrow III missile system.
Among the 50 other members of Congress to sign on to the letter includes Florida Representatives Alan Grayson, Jeff Miller, Gus Bilirakis, Dennis Ross, and Rich Nugent. All but Grayson are Republicans.
