Special to WorldTribune.com

WASHINGTON — The administration of President Barack Obama could
reduce military aid to Middle East allies.

Officials said the Defense Department would be forced to slash $46
billion from its fiscal 2013 budget, which went into effect on March 1.

The officials said the cut, called sequestration, would include $300 million from the Foreign Military Financing program, which facilitates U.S. arms exports.

“This cut will be felt at home, resulting in a loss of sales to U.S.
industry and a potential loss of U.S. jobs,” Secretary of State John Kerry
said.

In a Feb. 11 letter to Senate Appropriations Committee chairwoman Sen.
Barbara Mikulski, Kerry said the cut to the FMS program would reduce
military assistance and cooperation with such major Middle East allies as Egypt, Israel and Jordan. Kerry said sequestration would also result in a $35 million reduction in counter-proliferation program.

Israel has been alarmed by the prospect of a U.S. arms cutoff. On March
4, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak was scheduled to arrive in Washington
to meet Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel.

“The Israeli embassy still doesn’t know what will be the extent of the
sequester,” Israel’s ambassador to Washington, Michael Oren, said. “The aid
to Israel is included in the federal budget. Just as this budget is cut, so
can the aid to Israel.”

Oren told the Israeli business daily Globes that Israel would try to
maintain projects partially financed by the United States. The ambassador
cited the Iron Dome missile and rocket defense system, designed to intercept
projectiles fired from Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.

  Chuck Hagel, Ehud Barak, Foreign Military Financing Program, John Kerry, Sen. Barbara Mikulski, Sequestrated: U.S. officials warn of reduction in aid to Middle East allies