This week, Israel successfully conducted a test of a new mobile missile-defense system designed to shield Israeli towns from small rockets launched from the Gaza Strip.
When the “Iron Dome” system is fully deployed in the next year, about half the cost — $205 million — will be borne by U.S. taxpayers under a plan advanced by the Obama administration and broadly supported in Congress.
While public attention has focused on the diplomatic disputes between Israel and the U.S. over settlement expansion, security and military ties between the two nations have grown closer during this administration.
Military relations were close during the Bush administration, but “in many ways, the cooperation has been extended and perhaps enhanced” during the Obama administration, a senior Israeli official said.
U.S. officials call the effort an investment to improve prospects for peace and to make Israel feel less vulnerable.
“A secure Israel is better able to make the tough decisions that will need to be made to make peace,” said Andrew Shapiro, assistant secretary of state for political-military affairs.
