A group of 41 Senators recently advocated for $500 million to be allocated to fully fund U.S.-Israel cooperative missile defense programs in the Defense Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year 2024.
The lawmakers have forwarded correspondence to Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Jon Tester (D-MT) and Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Susan Collins (D-ME) in support of the initiative.
“As you begin work on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Defense Appropriations bill, we write seeking $500 million for continued support for these programs in order to meet the United States’ and Israel’s national security needs,” the legislators wrote. “Joint U.S.-Israel collaboration on Israel’s multilayer missile defense system is instrumental to the defense of Israel. Since 1986, Congress and successive Administrations have demonstrated bipartisan support for joint U.S.-Israel missile defense collaboration.”
The U.S.-Israel partnership has helped build and maintain a multi-tiered Israeli missile defense system capable of countering a wide range of threats from state and non-state sources.
“The U.S.-Israeli cooperation has resulted in a system that can, and has, countered numerous missile threats from state and non-state adversaries in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, and elsewhere,” the legislators concluded. “This system provides Israel with the ability to protect lives at home and on the battlefield, keeping its citizens and soldiers out of harm’s way.”