Growing American Military Aid to Israel

By Henry Srebrnik, [Summerside, PEI] Journal Pioneer

Although Israel has been the recipient of massive amounts of aid from Washington since 1967, until now there has been no permanent American military presence on Israeli soil.

That changed a few months ago, when the U.S. Army opened a base, flying the Stars and Stripes, inside an Israeli military post.

“Due to the close cooperation between us and the American forces in the field of air defence, as well as the extensive experience accumulated by the Aerial Defence Division, it was decided that the first permanent base of the American army would be established at the School of Air Defence," Brigadier General Zvika Haimovich, announced on Sept. 18.

The facility, located inside the Israeli Air Force’s Mashabim Air Base, west of the towns of Dimona and Yerucham, will be run by the U.S. military’s European Command. Several dozen American soldiers will be stationed there.

Haimovich emphasized that this step was not a direct response to any specific incident, but comes in light of the intelligence analysis of future dangers. “We have many enemies around us, near and far.”

Mohammed Abu Allan, a West Bank-based journalist who covers Israeli affairs, told the website Al-Monitor that the new base was established “in light of attempts by Hamas and Hezbollah to obtain high-precision rockets.”

It will allow Israel to intercept long-range missiles in its next potential war with them “and their main ally Iran.”

Israel's multi-tier missile defence system already includes the Arrow, designed to intercept long-range ballistic missiles in the stratosphere with an eye on Iran, and Iron Dome, which defends against short-range rockets from the Gaza Strip. David's Sling is meant to counter the type of medium-range missiles possessed by Iranian-backed Hezbollah militants.

Abu Allan noted that in a speech at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy on Sept. 8, former Israel Defence Forces Deputy Chief of Staff Yair Golan said Israel cannot handle Iran alone.

Abu Allan also indicated that the Iranian presence in Syria is one of the top security and political priorities of Israel, pointing out that the U.S. military post in Israel may also have to do with countering the increasing Russian military presence in Syria, where Russia has stationed   advanced S-300 and S-400 surface-to-air batteries.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration continues to challenge Iran over its advanced weapons programs, including development of ballistic missiles.

The new military base is an additional indicator of the importance of the cooperation between the Americans and the Israelis, which has also involved the completion of a deal signed in November 2016 to purchase 17 F-35 Joint Strike fighter jets.

These are poised to become a key tool to help Israel stop Iran and its proxies from creating a threatening military outpost in Syria. They will also play a leading role against Hezbollah’s heavily armed fortress in Lebanon.

“The F-35 is an intelligence-gathering machine in a league of its own. It is able to deploy a range of sensors to gather detailed information on events on the ground,” according to Yaakov Lappin, a research associate at the Begin-Sadat Centre for Strategic Studies in Ramat Gan, Israel.

It can fuse unprecedented quantities of intelligence automatically, then share it with other aircraft and with ground control stations.

After Donald Trump’s victory in the 2016 presidential election, “the U.S.-Israeli political relationship got more intimate and the launch of the first U.S. military base in Israel may be the perfect proof,” suggested Islam Moussa, an expert in military affairs at the Palestinian National Security Research Department of the PLO Planning Centre in Ramallah.

“But the timing of this announcement may also be interpreted in light of the Russian expansion in the region.”

Haimovich noted that Israel’s collaboration with the Americans on air defence will again be seen in February, when the two militaries launch the Juniper Cobra exercise.

The annual exercise tests the response of the two nations against the threat of a large-scale missile attack. Thousands of Israeli and American soldiers take part.

Also, while I was in Israel in November, eight air forces, including those of the U.S., Germany, India, and Poland, participated in the two-week Blue Flag drill,  the country’s largest aerial exercise ever.