Calling Israel’s self-defense capabilities and its qualitative military edge “central to both Israel and U.S. security interests,” Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced tonight that Israel will buy six V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft for its air force.
Hagel made the announcement during his keynote address on the 1200th annual Anti-Defamation League meeting in Big apple.
“Israel gets six V-22s out of the subsequent order to head at the assembly line, and they’re going to be compatible with other [Israeli military] capabilities,” he said. “The Israeli and American defense relationship is stronger than ever.”
With Afghanistan — the second one of America’s two longest wars — winding down, Hagel said, “we continue to stand a classy and volatile world. Nowhere is that this more apparent than within the Middle East, where the usa and our allies are facing an unprecedented set of complex challenges.”
For Israel, the secretary noted, progress with one neighbor tends to bring new threats from other directions. “There aren’t any margins for Israel,” he said.
One challenge that threatens U.S. and Israeli security interests is preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, Hagel said.
“Iran is a state sponsor of terror, accountable for spreading hatred and extremism inside the region,” the secretary said. “But foreign policy isn’t a nil-sum game. If we will find methods to resolve disputes peacefully, we’re wise to explore them.”
Ridding the arena of hatred takes greater than just work, imagination and songs, Hagel told his audience; it also demands commitment, sacrifice, and courage.
“It demands that we must continue to march our armies of tolerance, equality, and justice worldwide.” Hagel said. “And it demands that we remember the timeless questions of Rabbi Hillel: ‘If it’s not that i am for myself, who could be for me? If i’m just for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?’”
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