Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told ministers at Sunday's cabinet meeting that talks with the U.S. government on a new 10-year memorandum of understanding on security assistance are ongoing but a deal may not be reached until after President Barack Obama's successor takes office next January. "It's not yet certain that we will reach an agreement," Netanyahu said. "We are demanding an answer to Israel's security needs and there are discussions. Either we will finish this with the current administration or we will need to reach an agreement with the next administration." Acting National Security Adviser Yaakov Nagel briefed the ministers on the strategic situation facing Israel in 2016. Nagel told the ministers that Israel is seeking around $5 billion in annual security aid from the U.S., up from the current total of around $3.1 billion. In recent days, a delegation of U.S. officials, led by Yael Lempert, visited Israel for talks on the new memorandum of understanding. The current memorandum of understanding is set to expire in 2017. The new memorandum of understanding was a topic of discussion during separate visits to Washington late last year by Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon. Netanyahu also discussed the matter with Vice President Joe Biden during their meeting at the World Economic Forum in Davos last month. Netanyahu's office said in a statement on Sunday, "The talks are advancing with a desire to reach understandings." During an interview with CNN's Fareed Zakaria in Davos last month, Netanyahu referred to the security aid talks with the U.S., saying, "Iran's going to get about a hundred billion dollars now [due to the nuclear deal with world powers]. ... American assistance to Israel is about $3.1 billion a year. We're talking about a bigger package, but remember that even over a 10-year period, it pales in comparison to the enormous funds that Iran gets. "So yes, we are talking about it; I appreciate it. I think we'll probably reach a successful conclusion, I hope in the coming months. And it's a sign of how strong the American-Israeli alliance is. You know? We can have our disagreements. We do. They're always publicized, they're very dramatic. But the alliance between the United States and Israel is so strong and so powerful that the only thing that's collapsed is the talk of the imminent American-Israeli collapse. It's very clear that's not going to happen and that this partnership is rock solid and will remain so."
