LegiStorm

Summary:

This report provides an overview of U.S. foreign assistance to Israel. It includes a review of past aid programs, data on annual assistance, and analysis of current issues. For general information on Israel, see CRS Report RL33476, Israel: Background and U.S. Relations, by Jim Zanotti. Israel is the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. foreign assistance since World War II. To date, the United States has provided Israel $127.4 billion (current, or non-inflation-adjusted, dollars) in bilateral assistance. Almost all U.S. bilateral aid to Israel is in the form of military assistance, although in the past Israel also received significant economic assistance. At a signing ceremony at the State Department on September 14, 2016, representatives of the U.S. and Israeli governments signed a new ten-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on military aid covering FY2019 to FY2028. Under the terms of the MOU, the United States pledges to provide $38 billion in military aid ($33 billion in FMF grants plus $5 billion in missile defense appropriations) to Israel. This new MOU will replace the current $30 billion 10-year agreement, which runs through FY2018. The terms of the 2019-2028 MOU differ from previous U.S.-Israel aid agreements. For example, under the terms of the new MOU, Israel’s ability to convert 26.3% of annual Foreign Military Financing grants from dollars to shekels for use in Israel will remain until FY2024, but will then be gradually phased out, ending entirely in FY2028. Israel also will no longer be permitted to use a portion of its FMF to purchase fuel from the United States. In addition, under the terms of the new MOU, the Administration pledges to request $500 million in annual combined funding for joint U.S.-Israeli missile defense programs such as Iron Dome, Arrow II and Arrow III, and David’s Sling. Previous MOUs did not include missile defense funding. Finally, as part of the new MOU, it has been reported that Israel pledged to reimburse the U.S. government if Israel receives more congressional assistance for FMF or missile defense in the last years of the current MOU (2017-2018). Israel also may have pledged not to request that Congress appropriate regular or supplemental military aid to Israel above the agreed upon annual amounts in the 2019-2028 MOU except in emergency circumstances, such as a regional war. In response, many Members of Congress have reiterated that funds pledged by the executive branch in any MOU are always subject to Congressional approval and that Congress may appropriate funds as it sees fit. H.R. 5912, the House version of the FY2017 Department of State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Appropriations bill, would provide Israel with $3.1 billion in FMF. The Senate version, S. 3117, would provide $3.4 billion in FMF to Israel, an increase of $300 million above what is outlined in the current MOU. As part of the terms of the new MOU, Israel has pledged to return to the United States treasury any FMF appropriated by Congress above agreed upon levels for FY2017 and FY2018, which is $3.1 billion per year. House (H.R. 5293) and Senate (S. 3000) FY2017 Department of Defense Appropriations bills would provide funding for Israel-based missile defense systems beyond the Administration's budget request. Both H.R. 5293 and S. 3000 include $42 million for U.S. - Israel anti-tunneling cooperation. In December 2016, Congress passed other legislation to assist and cooperate with Israel. P.L. 114- 304, the United States-Israel Advanced Research Partnership Act of 2016, authorizes the expansion of an existing joint research-and- development program at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to include cybersecurity technologies. P.L. 114-322, the Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation Act, calls for further U.S. cooperation with Israel in desalination and the development of new water technologies. U.S. Foreign