US Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, which oversees foreign aid, applauds Israel’s attack on Iran.
By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News
Israel will receive extra emergency funding if it becomes necessary due to its air war against Iran, a key US Republican told Fox News Digital on Tuesday.
“There’s very, very, very strong bipartisan support, in particular Republican support, for Israel,” said Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, who chairs the House Appropriations Committee that oversees foreign aid.
He has had what he called “informal conversations” on the subject with other members of his panel. While he “Can’t speak for others,” on a personal level, he said, “There is a very strong appetite from me to make sure that Israel has all the help that it needs in order to finish the job that it’s doing.”
“We’re going to do what we’ve been consistently doing… helping Israel,” he added. “And if there is a need to do more, obviously you’re going to see strong support, whether it’s in the appropriation… or if we need a supplemental [bill],” he said.
The Floridian’s take on the war was completely different from critics such as Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has called the attacks on Iran “reckless and illegal” and “[Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s war of choice.”
“What we are seeing is Israel doing what they need to do to protect themselves from literally being wiped off the face of the planet,” Diaz-Balart stated.
Last year, Congress approved supplemental funding of military aid to Israel totaling $14.1 billion.
Most of such aid doesn’t leave the US, as Israel spends it on American products of war.
According to a Wall Street Journal report on Wednesday, what Israel needs right now are more Arrow interceptors, which are the best weapons by far that the country has to shoot down the long-range Iranian ballistic missiles that the Islamic Republic has been launching at the Jewish state since Friday.
While the primary contractor for both the Arrow 2 and Arrow 3 is Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), which handles the integration and final assembly locally, the American Boeing firm coordinates the manufacturing of components by over 150 US companies.
The Americans have helped Israel knock out many incoming Iranian missiles with their own supply of interceptors, including its THAAD system, using both their aircraft and warships, but “Neither the US nor the Israelis can continue to sit and intercept missiles all day,” Tom Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, told the Journal.
While the waves of attacks have consisted of 10 or 15 missiles at a time over the last two days rather than hundreds as in the beginning, due mainly to the Israel Air Force’s success in knocking out their launchers from within Iran, the only other layer of Israel’s defense that can take on any kind of ballistic missiles is David’s Sling.
Made by Rafael, it is a system that is made to shoot down short- and medium-range ballistic and cruise missiles, and has had success over the last several days in knocking out some of the Iranian threats.
The IDF responded to the WSJ report by saying, “The IDF is prepared and ready to handle any scenario. Unfortunately, we are unable to comment on matters related to munitions.”
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