A Friend in Need: Netanyahu Seeks More Military Aid From US

According to media reports, Israel seeks to secure a decade-long aid package worth a total of $50 billion.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu heads to the United States to meet with President Obama and to discuss the military aid package for the next decade.

Under the current deal which is set to expire in 2017, Israel receives over $3 billion worth of military aid from the US.

"I believe that this meeting is important in order to clarify the continuation of American aid to Israel in the coming decade,” Netanyahu said before the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, according to the Israel Hayom newspaper. “It will be another step toward realizing an understanding in this direction,” he added.

According to media reports, Israel seeks to secure a decade-long aid package worth a total of $50 billion, and Israeli officials have already provided Washington with the list of armaments they hope to obtain per this program. The list includes a squadron of F-15 tactical fighter aircraft, V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, military helicopters, a new tanker aircraft, precision-guided munitions and means to develop new missile defense systems, Ediot Ahranot newspaper reports.

The two leaders will also discuss the implementation of the Iran nuclear deal, the ongoing Syrian civil war and Israel’s relations with Palestine.

On Friday, a White House official said a new US-Israeli Memorandum of Understanding on a military aid package was unlikely to be finalized during Netanyahu’s visit, as the United States has introduced severe budget cuts on many programs.