Dr. Michael Makovsky: ‘For Israel, the Iran Deal Was a Strategic Disaster’

Dr. Michael Makovsky, CEO of the Jewish Institution for National Security Affairs, talked about the new security agreement between the United States and Israel on Thursday’s edition of Breitbart News Daily.

“In short, Israel and America signed a new 10-year MOU, a Memorandum of Understanding, for military aid from the United States to Israel,” said Makovsky. “It’ll average about $3.8 billion a year. This is to replace a current MOU, which will expire in about a year and a half, that was signed in 2007.”

“In return, Israel will make certain concessions, including not wanting more aid than that for at least the first couple of years, and also all the weapons will be made here in the United States,” he continued.

Makovsky told SiriusXM host Alex Marlow that the United States had the better end of this deal.

“First of all, of course, Israel is not obligated to anything, and their part’s very good. From Israel’s perspective, it’s very generous that the United States wants to give its aid. That said, there already is an aid package, and Israel, the concessions in the current MOU, 74 or 76% had to be made in the United States, so that’s going to hurt the Israeli military industry,” he said.

Makovsky said the most significant feature of the new agreement is that the $3.8 billion is “a ceiling, not a floor, of military aid.” He said this was viewed in a negative by both Israel and some members of Congress.

Marlow noted that some critics say Barack Obama is “the most anti-Israel President,” and asked Makovsky if he thought Obama’s treatment of Israel had been fair.

“No, I do not,” Makovsky replied. “I think he’s been the least friendly to Israel, perhaps of any… probably worse than Jimmy Carter in many ways. On the other hand, the Administration and its supporters always point to, and it’s correct, that the military support has generally been rock solid, and the military intelligence cooperation between the two countries hasn’t really been affected by the political attentions at the top.”

“To me, the most important strategic thing for Israel, or one of the most important things, certainly, is the Iran issue,” he said. “The fact that the Administration has been, you know, championing this deal, this Iran deal — and when you call it a deal, it’s actually an unsigned deal — I think has been the worst thing for Israel strategically, and not just for Israel, but also for our close Arab allies in the region.”

“Obviously Hillary Clinton has supported that deal, and Donald Trump has said he’d oppose it. I think that’s a very important issue,” Makovsky judged. “You don’t really hear too much from the main candidates about Israel. I mean, they talk a little bit about it, but we don’t have a lot of detail. But certainly on that, we do know unequivocally, and I think for Israel, the Iran deal was a strategic disaster.”

Marlow asked if it was logical to state, “If you’re on the side that backs that deal, you’re on the side that is against Israel.”

“It’s certainly logical,” Makovsky agreed. “I’m not sure that’s how Hillary Clinton and her folks look at it.”

He imagined that if Clinton were present to defend her position, “she’d say that this pushes off the Iranian nuclear problem for a number of years. I think that would be the best case that they could really make for this deal. It does push things off for a little bit, so it buys a little time.”

“The downside is overwhelmingly, in my opinion, in the negative, because also in the near term they’re getting billions of dollars that they could use to do all sorts of bad things, and also it gives them international recognition, and in fact a blessing, for Iran to eventually become a nuclear power,” he explained.

“By the way, I think this has been a disastrous deal for the United States,” Makovsky added. “And I think it doesn’t get enough attention, but the fact that the deal doesn’t outlaw ballistic missile development, really, so now we’re enabling over time the Iranian regime to be able to deliver nuclear weapons to the American homeland. That is really a disaster.”

Breitbart News Daily airs on SiriusXM Patriot 125 weekdays from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Eastern.

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