US to add $173 million for Israel missile defense

A defense funding bill for fiscal year 2014 proposed Monday by members of the US House and Senate Armed Services Committees would increase American missile defense spending by some $358 million (NIS 1.25 billion), bringing the total to $9.5 billion (NIS 33.2 billion).

The measure also raises spending on missile defense systems developed between the US and Israel by $173 million (NIS 604 million), Reuters reported.Source: The Times of Israel

US Shutdown Suspends Military Aid to Israel

The Obama administration’s $3.2 billion annual military aid has been suspended due to the U.S. government shutdown over the debt ceiling. The sum for 2104 was to be transferred to Israel on October 1, but this is not the first time budget crises in the United States have delayed aid to Israel. 

Read more at: http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/us-shutdown-suspends-military-aid-to-israel/2013/10/06/

Jews very unhappy also because this means no funding for their beloved "Holocaust Museum":

Yet another federally-funded casualty of the government shutdown, now in its second day? The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, a Washington, D.C. institution.

“The Museum is closed to the public due to the federal government shutdown. It will reopen when the federal government resumes operation,” reads a message at the top of the museum’s website, confirming a hypothesis published on this very blog back in April 2011: that a government shutdown is bad for the Jews.

Read more at: http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/147530/u-s-holocaust-museum-shuttered-by-shutdown

US to pass law for more money and wars for Israel

The ambitious goal to be formally designated as the United States' "major strategic ally" is apparently on the agenda at the annual American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee gathering that's kicking off in Washington, known as AIPAC. If the plan becomes legislation, it could oblige the US to support Israel diplomatically and militarily if it strikes Iran. 

Robert Naiman (JEW), policy director at Just Foreign Policy, says that it could also exempt Israel from any reduction in foreign aid that might result from budget cuts.

Swiss Holocaust fund returns $1.3bn to Holocaust victims

The 1998 settlement fund was the result of a class-action lawsuit launched in the United States by Holocaust survivors and victims' families alleging that Swiss banks were making it unnecessarily difficult to access dormant accounts by, for instance, requiring death certificates which typically do not exist for Holocaust victims.

Korman noted that the Swiss banks for decades clung to the dormant accounts and had continued deducting fees from them.

"It wasn't just one bank... It was a conspiracy," he told Beobachter.

According to Swiss news agency ATS, more than 452,000 Holocaust victims and their descendants have received compensation through the fund

Source: http://news.ph.msn.com/business/swiss-holocaust-fund-returns-dollar13bn-to-victims-judge-2

US taxpayers paid more to Israeli defense budget than Israelis

The Israeli army’s chief of staff states that in the past three years, “US taxpayers have contributed more to the Israeli defense budget than Israeli taxpayers,” according to a report in the Jerusalem Post, a prominent Israeli newspaper.

Source: http://www.veteransnewsnow.com/2012/09/17/us-taxpayers-paid-more-to-israeli-defense-budget-than-israelis/

US will ensure Israel's 'military superiority'

"This is an ironclad pledge which says that the United States will provide whatever support is necessary so that Israel can maintain military superiority over any state or coalition of states, as well as non-state actors," (Defense Secretary) Panetta told the top pro-Israel lobby in Washington, AIPAC.


Source: Google News

Germany to compensate Jews who fled the Nazis in the Soviet Union

Germany has agreed to grant one-time compensation to Jews who fled the Nazi onslaught in the Soviet Union during World War II, even if they ended up in regions that Nazis did not conquer, the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany announced on Sunday.

Source: http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/germany-to-compensate-jews-who-fled-the-nazis-in-the-soviet-union-1.403562

Israel, U.S. to embark on largest joint exercise in allies' history

The U.S. has a $3 billion per year commitment to Israel, which [US Assistant Secretary for Foreign Affairs] Shapiro said the Obama Administration would continue to honor over the next ten years, "even in challenging budgetary times".

...

"We support Israel because it is in our national interests to do so," said Shapiro, echoing the recent report by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, entitled, "Israel: A Strategic Asset for the United States", which argues that Israel is a strategic asset to the U.S. "If Israel were weaker, its enemies would be bolder. This would make broader conflict more likely, which would be catastrophic to American interests in the region. It is the very strength of Israel’s military which deters potential aggressors and helps foster peace and stability."

Source: Haaretz

Shimon Peres: We cannot exist without the United States

Source: http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=192392
President Shimon Peres said that Israel cannot survive without the help of the United States, at a Jerusalem conference of the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute on Thursday.

Peres said that, "for our existence, we need the friendship of the United States of America."

Speaking of how Israel can give back to the US, he said that just "as the US is trying to understand the security needs of Israel, we Israelis ourselves must understand the security needs of the US." He continued, "We cannot give back to the United States what the US is giving us, but in our own small way, we can be of help."

Connecting two of the largest issues on the Israeli - and American - agenda, the president said Israel could be of help to the US by enabling an "anti-Iran coalition in the Middle East, and the contribution will not be by declaration, but if we stop the secondary conflict between us and the Palestinians," in order to allow the US to focus on the Iranian threat.

Peres also spoke of the former US president's foreign policy in the Middle East, saying that he appreciates George Bush's "attempt to expose them [Arab states] to democracy, but is that possible?" The president explained his thought, adding that it is "very difficult to come to a king and tell him to go to elections."

Driving home the point, he said that "it would be like inviting a turkey to a Thanksgiving feast." Peres said that he believed "Muslims should be able to choose their own path."

Israel to seek another 1billion euros Holocaust in reparations from Germany

It would be in addition to US$93 billion Germany has already paid to Israel since 1950s.

Source: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1136383.html