J Street Executive Director Jeremy Ben-Ami released the following statement today upon news that President Obama has asked Congress to approve $205 million in funds for Israel’s short-range rocket defense “Iron Dome” system:
J Street welcomes the Obama Administration’s recent Congressional request for additional funding for Israel’s “Iron Dome” to protect Israeli civilians from rocket attacks from Hamas, Hezbollah, and other militant groups. The project will help save lives and improve the quality of life of civilians, particularly in the South of Israel, who have lived under a cloud of fear of rocket attacks for too long. We urge Congress to quickly approve the funding.
Anyone who questions the Obama Administration’s support for Israel and its security simply hasn’t looked at the facts. Strategic military cooperation – a bedrock foundation of the US-Israel alliance and part of what makes Israel’s steps toward peace possible – is stronger now than it was under the Bush Administration. Opponents of President Obama’s policies in the Middle East should think twice before characterizing the Administration’s urgent pursuit of a two-state solution as anything but further evidence of the strength of the US-Israel friendship, since a two-state solution is the only way that Israel can achieve real peace and security as a Jewish, democratic home.