Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has “pulled the rug” from under pro-Israeli members of Congress by rushing to sign the new $38 billion 10-year “memorandum of understanding” with the Obama administration, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) said on Friday.
“Here is what I would tell Bibi: ‘When members of Congress come to Israel, you do a great job talking about the State of Israel’s needs and threats. Well, don’t tell us about all those needs and when we try to help you, you pull the rug from under us,'” Graham said in a conference call with American Jewish community leaders. “I think that is bad for Israel.”
On Wednesday, the Obama administration and the Israeli government signed the new decade-long security assistance package, which was described as the “single largest pledge of bilateral military assistance in U.S. history.” Under the agreement, Israel also committed not to approach Congress for additional budgets for missile defense systems, and “volunteered” to give back any money Congress gives above the MOU’s limits, “>showed Lapid’s Yesh Atid Party would receive 27 Knesset seats, while the ruling Likud would go down from its present 30 seats to only 23.
“I think Bibi is in a bad spot, politically,” he added. “Well, I am not. You know what? We are not going to let this agreement be turned into something that is dangerous for the checks and balances in our government. We are not going to let this president take the power of Congress away when it comes to helping allies. And in the end of the day, I would tell our friends in Israel: Congress is your friend. Don’t pull the rug from under us.”
Graham also suggested that Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, would “give you a better deal than this.” He also said that Clinton (“I don’t know if she wins”) would be “more generous to Israel.”
