The United States has passed a $900 billion COVID-19 relief bill to support industries and workers affected by the ongoing pandemic, of which hundreds of millions of dollars have been granted to Israel and its defense.

In the bill passed by Congress yesterday – part of an overall $2.3 trillion package – the act under the heading of “Procurement, Defense-Wide” detailed a total of $500 million for the “Israeli Cooperative Programs”.

Of that amount, “$73,000,000 shall be for the Secretary of Defense to provide to the Government of Israel for the procurement of the Iron Dome defense system to counter short-range rocket threats.”

In addition to that, a further “$177,000,000 shall be for the Short Range Ballistic Missile Defense program, including cruise missile defense research and development.

Congress justified limits on COVID relief in the current bill for unemployed Americans and impacted businesses to the need to address other essential needs. Defence companies and military sectors which are received money in the bill were said to be heavily hit by the pandemic.

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