US assistance approved: will allocate 3.8 billion dollars to Israel for security

After a long and tedious process, which included going through and debating every comma and line of the 4,155-page document, the US House of Representatives joined the Senate in approving next year's US budget of $1.7 trillion on Friday. Members of Congress entered a frantic last-minute race to pass the budget Before Christmas, while the storm winds are raging outside and across the US the lowest temperatures have been recorded in years.
Outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had hoped to pass the bill as early as Thursday night to allow lawmakers to board flights from Washington in the morning and have time for the holiday dinner, but in the end the process of passing the legislation took longer. Now the budget package will be placed on the desk of President Biden, who has already stated that it will receive his stamp.
The package actually determines the budgetary allocations of the government departments, authorities and federal agencies of the United States. For foreign relations, for example, the administration allocated 64.57 billion dollars in 2023 - about 8.4 billion more than last year, an increase of about 15%. Beyond the matters of banning the use of TikTok in government offices - this bill is also included in the package - the attention of the American and international media is devoted to the budget section of 45 billion dollars to support Ukraine, but it also of course has some interesting points for Israel.
As agreed in the 2016 memorandum of understanding between Israel and the United States, in the coming year the United States will also allocate 3.3 billion dollars to Israel for security assistance. In addition, as last year, 500 million dollars will be allocated for missile defense, including for Iron Dome, and 72.5 A million dollars for protection against drones and drones as well as tunnels. This year, a new additional funding of 6 million dollars was also promised in favor of establishing a grant program on cyber security.
Along with security assistance to Israel, the US will invest 225 million dollars for humanitarian aid and economic development of the West Bank and Gaza. This is an increase of 6 million dollars compared to last year, and 40 million dollars more than the original budget request of President Biden himself. 50 million dollars This will be the third year for the purpose of promoting an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement through the fund named after the former member of Congress, Nita LaVey. Also, the US will continue the official policy that protects
The Jewish-American organization Israel Policy Forum was quick yesterday to congratulate the approval of the budget in Congress. According to them, the package actually strengthens US support for Israel, "and guarantees its future as a safe, Jewish and democratic country that eventually moves towards a two-state solution."
  the payments that the Palestinian Authority transfers to the families of terrorists.