By, Anshel Pfeffer
1 min read
Over the past few days, the Obama administration has taken a number of steps to assure Israel that the strategic alliance between the two countries remains intact.
At the Nuclear Nonproliferation Review Conference last week, the US, Britain and Canada blocked a resolution that would have put pressure on Israel to disclose details about its nuclear weapons programme.
The three nations, led by the US, objected to a measure being pushed by Arab states, especially Egypt, to convene by March 2016 a special conference on a nuclear weapons-free Middle East.
Israel is not a signatory of the Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT), although it was an observer at the conference.
It has traditionally observed a policy of "opacity" over its reported nuclear capabilities and has been supported in this by the US and its other Western allies.
However, Israeli officials have been concerned in recent months that the US would not be supportive at the upcoming conference, owing to the rocky relationship between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Barack Obama.
In the event, the Americans closely co-operated with their Israeli counterparts throughout the four weeks of negotiations and demanded that Egypt, which was backed by Russia and Spain, drop the March 2016 deadline from the resolution.
Egypt refused and, as the conference ended on Friday, the US, Britain and Canada blocked the resolution, which would have needed a consensus to pass. Two days earlier, the State Department announced it had approved Israel's request to purchase $1.9 billion worth of American advanced munitions.
The order includes 14,500 JDAM kits, which are capable of transforming regular bombs into guided missiles; 3,000 Hellfire helicopter-launched missiles, which have been used extensively by Israel in urban warfare in Gaza; and 750 bunker-buster missiles, including 50 BLU-113 Super Penetrators capable of penetrating up to 20ft of reinforced concrete. These missiles could be used against Hamas or Hizbollah tunnels and underground command centres, and possibly against Iran's nuclear installations.
At a speech on Friday at the Adas Israel synagogue in Washington, President Obama acknowledged differences between the two governments over the talks with Iran and the Palestinian issue, but said: "When someone threatens Israel's citizens or its very right to exist, Israelis necessarily take that seriously. And so do I. Today, the military and intelligence co-operation between our two countries is stronger than ever."