Congress Pushes Massive Increase in US Funding for Israeli Anti-Missile System

Senators Claim Funding 'Critical to American Interests'

by Jason Ditz, December 13, 2012

Nothing makes a budget grow faster than trying to out “pro-Israel” each other. That’s the lesson of today’s story on how Congress continues to grow funding for Israel’s Iron Dome system at a time when the system’s effectiveness is in serious doubt.

The initial proposal from President Obama was $210 million in funding. To prove they are even more pro-Israel, the Senate made it $420 million, insisting it is “critical to American interests.”

Did the Senate win? Not so fast, as the House is now recommending $680 million. Senators are now pushing to at least match if not exceed the House’s funding.The money is in addition to the $3.1 billion in foreign military aid already planned to send to Israel.

The extremely expensive Iron Dome system was initially scrapped by the IDF as impractical, but was eventually fully funded by the US. Israel has talked up the possibility of exporting it to other nations, but experts say the claimed success rate is dramatically overstated and the system probably doesn’t work nearly as well as it is being hyped.

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