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House Committee Saves Israeli Aid in Foreign Aid Cut

(Globes) Ron Dagoni - The U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee Wednesday cut the Obama administration's $51 billion 2012 budget request for the State Department and foreign aid by $6.4 billion, but kept unchanged the $3 billion in military aid for Israel. Bipartisan support for Israel keeps U.S. military aid intact a year after Congress ratified an agreement that formalizes U.S. aid for Israel through 2018. According to a statement by committee chairwoman Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.): "The bill reaffirms support for Jerusalem as Israel's undivided capital by requiring that Jerusalem be identified as Israel's capital on relevant U.S. Government documents, and requires the Executive Branch to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem by the start of 2014. It also expresses Congress' opposition to the Arab League Boycott of Israel." "The bill states that it shall be U.S. policy to uphold the reassurances provided by the President of the United States in an April 2004 letter to the Prime Minister of Israel, which reassured U.S. support for secure, defensible borders for Israel and for Israel's qualitative military edge, and stated that it is unrealistic to expect negotiated final borders to parallel the pre-1967 lines."
2011-07-21 00:00:00
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