US Iron Dome funding holdup feeds internal Israeli political dispute
Rivals of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett are using US delay in funding the Iron Dome defense system to present him as dangerously inexperienced.
The news arrived quickly on the evening of Sept. 21: Washington had removed funding for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system from the upcoming budget shortly before approving it. It was an embarrassment for President Joe Biden as well as the Israeli government. Biden had promised Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett the $1 billion at their meeting in the White House, less than a month earlier.
Biden has been having problems with the progressive end of his party, which tends to take a critical position on US aid to Israel. Now it has become a problem for the leaders of Israel’s new government as well.
The opposition, led by the Likud, took the news as proof of how weak and politically inexperienced the new government is and how little it understands American politics. Bennett and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid were accused of being political novices. The Likud said it would impede Israel’s ability to defend itself should another conflict erupt in Gaza.
It took a day before some reassuring news arrived from Washington. The Democratic party introduced a separate Iron Dome funding bill. This new bill is expected to win Republican support and pass with a large majority. The money would be sent to Israel in a matter of weeks.
