Instead, the House and Senate provided $37.5 million program for
Arrow-3, meant to enable the destruction of Iran's Shihab-3
intermediate-range and Syria's Scud D medium-range missiles. Congress also
increased the U.S. contribution for David's Sling by up to $25 million.
Obama had requested $45.8 million for David's Sling, which received
$72.9 million in 2009. David's Sling has been a project of Israel's Rafael
Advanced Defense Systems and the U.S. firm Raytheon.
The sources said they do not expect the administration to battle the
congressional decision to restore U.S. aid to Israel. The House Foreign
Affairs Committee, in an amendment to the foreign aid bill, expressed
support for "complete accelerated co-production of Arrow missiles."
"It is the sense of Congress that Israel has the inalienable right to
defend itself in the face of an imminent nuclear or military threat from
Iran, terrorist organizations and the countries that harbor them," Rep.
Pete Sessions, a Texas Republican, said.
Congress also ordered an early transfer of U.S. military aid to Israel
as part of the supplemental budget, signed by Obama on June 24. Under the
bill, Israel would receive $555 million meant for fiscal 2010.
