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American Senator Lindsey Graham and a Zionist official said Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz would travel to Washington, DC, Thursday (3/6/2021) to request the assistance.
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America is an ally of the Zionists and has continued to express its support for the Jewish state, including in the bloody 11-day war with the Hamas group in Gaza, Palestine, last month.
Graham hoped the US administration would approve the request soon after the 11-day escalation, in which Israeli officials said Iron Dome intercepted 90 percent of the more than 3,000 rockets and missiles fired from Gaza.
According to the Zionist military, the Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad groups fired more than 4,300 rockets and missiles. But who crossed into the Jewish state more than 3,000. The Iron Dome system was breached in the last battle, during which several rockets and missiles from Gaza hit several houses and a number of cars and left several people dead in Israel.
“There will be a $1 billion request coming to the Pentagon this week from the secretary of defense [Israel] for replenish Iron Dome and a few other things, to improve the system,” Graham told reporters during a visit to Jerusalem last Tuesday.
Two children were among 12 people killed in Israel by rockets and missiles fired by Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad from Gaza during 11 days of fighting last month.
The request for funding comes amid growing criticism of American arms sales to Israel, as well as the mostly unconditional $3.8 billion in aid Washington provides Tel Aviv every year.
Progressive legislators in the US House and Senate are currently seeking to block a $735 million arms deal with Israel, which the White House approved shortly before fighting began on May 10, 2021.
Nevertheless, support for Israel remains strong among the majority of US legislators, and attempts to block it all are doomed to failure.
Graham noted that support extends across political party lines in America.
“There has been a huge commotion over recent engagements between Hamas and the State of Israel in the United States, but I’m here to tell you that there is broad and deep support for Israel among the Democrats,” said Graham, who is a Republican politician, as quoted Al Jazeera.
Graham, who is a senior Republican politician on the Senate Appropriations Committee, met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Benny Gantz during his trip to Israel. His committee oversees American aid spending, including military aid to foreigners.
Meanwhile, Israel’s Defense Ministry said Gantz would meet US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Thursday to discuss issues including Iran and military aid.
U.S. President Joe Biden previously said he would replenish Iron Dome, which helps Israel fend off most of the more than 4,300 rockets Israel says it fired from Gaza during the conflict.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also reiterated American support for Israel during a trip to the Middle East last week, which was meant to support the Israel-Hamas truce reached on May 21, 2021.
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