The news arrived quickly on the evening of Sept. 21: Washington had removed funding for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system from the upcoming budget shortly before approving it. It was an embarrassment for President Joe Biden as well as the Israeli government. Biden had promised Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett the $1 billion at their meeting in the White House, less than a month earlier.
Biden has been having problems with the progressive end of his party, which tends to take a critical position on US aid to Israel. Now it has become a problem for the leaders of Israel’s new government as well.
