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RL33222 — U.S. Foreign Aid to Israel: Overview and Developments since October 7, 2023

Reports · published 2025-05-28 · v49 · Active · crsreports.congress.gov ↗

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Authors
Jeremy M. Sharp
Report id
RL33222
Summary

Israel is the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. foreign assistance since World War II. Successive Administrations, working with Congress, have provided Israel with assistance reflective of robust domestic U.S. support for Israel and its security; shared strategic goals in the Middle East; and historical ties dating from U.S. support for the creation of Israel in 1948. To date, the United States has provided Israel $174 billion (current, or non-inflation-adjusted, dollars) in bilateral assistance and missile defense funding. Over the last two decades, including during Israel’s ongoing conflict with Hamas, American public attitudes toward Israel as expressed in public-opinion polling have shifted somewhat when compared to previous eras. Though lawmakers continue to vote in favor of U.S. assistance to Israel, there have been calls from some political and ideological groups to reevaluate the long-standing U.S.-Israeli assistance relationship. In 2016, the U.S. and Israeli governments signed their third 10-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on military aid, covering FY2019 to FY2028. Under the terms of the MOU, the United States pledged to provide—subject to congressional appropriation—$38 billion in military aid ($33 billion in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) grants plus $5 billion in missile defense appropriations) to Israel. While negotiations over the next MOU have yet to start, U.S. and Israeli experts and government officials have already started to formulate proposals to shape future U.S.-Israeli military cooperation. Since the Hamas-led attacks of October 7, 2023 and Israel’s subsequent conflicts in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran, Congress has provided emergency supplemental military assistance to Israel and appropriated funding beyond the annual MOU terms for joint U.S.-Israeli missile defense programs. In April 2024, Congress passed P.L. 118-50 (Making emergency supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2024, and for other purposes). That act included, among other things, $3.5 billion in FMF for Israel. The act also included $5.2 billion in defense appropriations for missile defense ($4 billion) and Israel’s new laser defense system, Iron Beam ($1.2 billion). P.L. 119-4, the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025, provides FMF to Israel at the FY2024 base level ($3.3 billion). The act also contains several Israel-specific provisions or anomalies, such as: Section 11206(1) specifies FY2025 FMF for Off-Shore Procurement for Israel (per the terms of the MOU) at $450.3 million; Section 11208(c) reauthorizes loan guarantees to Israel through 2030; and Section 11208(d) reauthorizes annual monetary caps for U.S. additions to the War Reserve Stockpile for Allies program, including the stockpile in Israel, through FY2027 (at $500 million per year). P.L. 119-4 did not include an accompanying explanatory statement specifying defense funding allocations at the line-item level. Section 1422 of the Act required the Department of Defense, after consulting the Defense Appropriations subcommittees, to submit within 45 days “a spending, expenditure, or operating plan” for FY2025 at the same level of detail required for a department report known as Base for Reprogramming Actions. In spring 2025, the Department of Defense released the Base for Reprogramming Actions report, which contained, among other things, $500 million in missile defense for Israel, $47.5 million for the U.S.-Israeli anti-tunneling program, $55 million for the U.S.-Israeli counter-unmanned aerial systems program, and $20 million for “emerging technologies” cooperation. In the 119th Congress, lawmakers have proposed The United States-Israel Defense Partnership Act of 2025 (H.R. 1229 & S. 554), which would, among other things, authorize additional defense funding for U.S.-Israeli counter-unmanned aerial systems cooperation and anti-tunnel cooperation, and would mandate that the Secretary of Defense engage the “Minister of Defense of Israel in a discussion of the process of the ascension of Israel into the national technology and industrial base (as defined in Section 4801 of Title 10, United States Code).” In the Senate, Senator Bernie Sanders has proposed multiple resolutions disapproving various U.S. arms sales to Israel. As of May 2025, the Senate has voted against discharging the Senate Foreign Relations Committee from further consideration of two resolutions (S.J.Res. 26 and S.J.Res. 33) by votes of 15-83 and 15-82, respectively.

Bills cited (25)

Curated by CRS — every bill listed in this report's relatedMaterials. Edge type cited_in_report, gold confidence.

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