Sides mum on aid deal after Israeli and US defense chiefs meet

A meeting between Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter ended Monday without a formal announcement of an aid package to Israel, reportedly a key objective of Ya’alon’s visit to Washington.

US and Israeli officials have been trying to hammer out a memorandum of understanding that would increase US military aid to Israel for the next 10 years.

Ya’alon met with Carter and other senior officials on Monday afternoon regarding the defense aid package. While Ya’alon would not comment on the state of the talks — which have been rumored to be at an impasse — he said he hoped “negotiations will be concluded very soon.”

Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said the two men did agree on “cooperation in the cyber domain to enhance their nations’ cyber defense capabilities.”

“Secretary Carter reaffirmed the United States’ unshakeable commitment to the security of Israel and the importance of the U.S.-Israel defense relationship,” Cook said in a statement.

During a visit to Israel last week US Vice President Joe Biden made vague comments in Tel Aviv about hoping to “make some progress” that were quickly interpreted in some quarters as hinting at an increase in the amount offered in the “Memorandum of Understanding,” a long-term defense aid package due to be renewed before 2018.

The White House scrambled to emphasize that his remarks were not to be taken as any such indication.

“I will be clear about one thing – that Vice President Biden does not intend, and is not carrying with him the next offer in the negotiation over the Memorandum of Understanding about the United States providing military support to Israel,” said Press Secretary Josh Earnest at the time.

“There is a separate channel through which those negotiations continue to take place,” Earnest said.

The US currently gives Israel $3.1 billion annually in defense aid, a number Israel is hoping to increase when the package is renewed for another decade. The White House has been involved in intensive talks with Jerusalem on reaching a deal before President Barack Obama leaves office, though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has hinted he may wait for Obama’s successor to try and secure a better deal.

Speaking with former president Shimon Peres at the Peres Center for Peace in Jaffa last week, Biden promised the former president that “we have absolute and total, unvarnished commitment to the society of Israel and we hope to make some progress.”

White House officials emphasized that Biden’s comments about making progress were not related to the MOU, but more generally about continuing to further deepen the bond and relationship between the US and Israel.

“The work to complete the Memorandum of Understanding is still ongoing but those negotiations have been taking place for a number of months without incident,” Earnest said.