Obama Official Delivers Pro-Israel Speech, Hails 'Iron Dome'

A top U.S. State Department official said the U.S. has tremendously increased its defense aid to Israel in light of increasing threats the Jewish State faces.

The message was delivered in a rare speech on Friday by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Andrew J. Shapiro. He said that U.S. President Barack Obama has asked Congress to allocate $205 million to accelerate development of the “Iron Dome” anti-rocket system – and that the House of Representatives has already done so.

One reporter at the State Department press briefing on Friday referred to Shapiro’s “Obama Administration loves Israel; please vote Democratic in November” speech. The Associated Press similarly reported that “the election-year message of increased U.S. aid to Israel seems aimed at assauging [sic] the concerns of many Jewish voters that Obama remains committed to Israel's security.”

"As surely as the bond between the United States and Israel is unbreakable, our commitment to Israel's qualitative military edge has never been greater," Shapiro said.

The $205 million for Iron Dome is “above and beyond the $3 billion in Foreign Military Financing that the Administration requested for Israel in fiscal year 2011,” Shapiro said. In 2010, he said the administration requested $2.775 billion from Congress in security assistance funding specifically for Israel, the largest such request in U.S. history.

The aid package, which is the most extensive in U.S.-Israel history, does not come without strings attached. “It is our hope that the Administration’s expanded commitment to Israel’s security will advance the process by helping the Israeli people seize this opportunity and take the tough decisions necessary for a comprehensive peace,” Shapiro said.

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