(JTA) — A bipartisan group of 32 senators called on a Senate committee to allocate full funding for joint United States and Israel missile defense systems.
Sens. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) introduced the March 27 letter to the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee calling for the allocation of the full funding in the Fiscal Year 2016 Defense Appropriations bill. The programs include the Iron Dome anti-missile defense system as well as the David’s Sling and Arrow weapons systems.
“As you know, the cooperative programs being jointly developed by the United States and Israel continue to yield critical defense capabilities that protect Israel from missile and rocket threats from as near as the Gaza Strip and Lebanon and from as far as Iran,” the letter said. “Indeed, investments in U.S.-Israeli missile defense cooperation over the years continue to prove their worth and have saved the lives of countless civilians from indiscriminate rocket and missile attacks.”
The letter comes days after two House members requested additional funding from the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense for joint U.S. and Israel missile defense systems.
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