US Sells 7,000 Bomb Kits to Israel By Jspace Staff on 12/11/2012 at 10:33 AM Categories:
United States,
Israel 
The US has approved the sale of nearly 7,000 precision bomb kits to Israel, an agreement valued at $647 million.
The Pentagon announced the move yesterday, after the Jewish state requested the sale of 6,900 Joint Direct Attack Munitions tail kits, as well as thousands of other bombs.
“The United States is committed to the security of Israel, and it is vital to U.S. national interests to assist Israel to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defense capability,” the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, the arm of the Pentagon that oversees foreign weapon and equipment sales, said yesterday. “This proposed sale is consistent with those objectives."
“The proposed sale of munitions will enable Israel to maintain operational capability of its existing systems,” the statement said. “Israel, which already has these munitions in its inventory, will have no difficulty absorbing these additional munitions into its armed forces.”
Congress has 30 days to block the deal , though such a move is considered unlikely by insiders.
The agreement comes as Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu continued to stress the importance of ending
Iran’s nuclear program, which the Jewish state sees as an existential threat.
“I made clear that once Iran crosses that enrichment threshold, the chances of us effectively stopping Iran’s nuclear weapons program would be reduced dramatically,” Netanyahu said. “Iran is two and a half months closer to crossing this line and there is no doubt that this will be a major challenge that will have to be addressed next year.”
He added: “The sanctions on Iran are hurting the Iranian economy. There is no question about that. But we have not seen any evidence that sanctions have stalled Iran’s nuclear weapons program. Israel is more capable of addressing this challenge than it was when I took office four years ago.”
