Threat of US Action at UN Security Council Impacting Israel Defense Aid Negotiations

"Politics, not line items, may be complicating negotiations over an historic US defense package to Israel, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

Quiet talks have been under way for months over a new, decade-long aid deal, set to replace an expiring Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) worth $3 billion a year in security assistance to the Jewish state.

But according to a senior Israeli official, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may let the negotiations continue without conclusion so long as there remains a possibility the Obama administration will support a UN Security Council resolution codifying parameters for a two-state solution with the Palestinians.

Netanyahu, the official explained, fears the White House may be seeking to quickly wrap up and sell the MOU as a public display of the president's commitment to Israel's security– in order to free him to pursue action at the UN.

Israel has not received assurances from the White House that Obama opposes such a resolution– a decision that is the president's alone, the official noted..."