Landmark Bill Enshrines Israel as Strategic Partner - CBN News

Landmark Bill Enshrines Israel as Strategic Partner

By Gary Lane

CBN News Sr. International Correspondent

Friday, December 05, 2014

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Congress has unanimously approved legislation declaring Israel a "major strategic partner" of the United States.

The United States-Israel Strategic Partnership Act of 2014 is viewed as historic because it strengthens the friendship the two nations have enjoyed for nearly 70 years.

The landmark legislation expands cooperation in several areas, like energy, agriculture, defense, and intelligence.

It provides Israel with another $200 million worth of military equipment -- a weapons stockpile both nations can use in the event of war.

Israel's status will be upgraded to expedite trade licensing, and Israeli citizens may be allowed to enter the United States without a visa.

Congressional approval comes at a time when relations between the two countries are at an all-time low.

The White House's dislike of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is apparent, with administration officials having made disparaging remarks about the Israeli leader in the past.

In addition, many Israelis feel the United States is pressuring the Jewish state to accept further concessions with Hamas, a designated terror group that has pledged to destroy the Jewish state. 

Nevertheless, Natan Sharansky, chairman of the Executive of the Jewish Agency for Israel, told CBN News he believes the United States will remain friends with Israel because the nation is the only representative of the free world in the Middle East.

"That's why inevitably we have and will continue to have strong cooperation between America and Israel," he explained. "And I have to say that our security cooperation, the cooperation at the levels of our armies and intelligence is very close and very deep."

Sharansky believes what is most important to Israel is that America continues to lead the free world, "and when America is not ready to lead, we will all have a problem."

But some of Sharansky's fellow Likud Party members and some members of the U.S. Congress don't like the direction the Obama administration is leading, especially on the issue of Iran's nuclear program.

They predict the United States will eventually negotiate an agreement that will lead to Iranian development of nuclear weapons.

That's something Sharansky says Israel will never accept.

"Of course we would prefer that the free world would realize the depth of the threat to freedom in the world and will take care of Iran," he said. "But if the free world will not do it, Israel will have no choice but to deal with this problem."

While many see the historic Strategic Partnership Act as a step in the right direction, deep strains in the friendship may still lie ahead.

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