Israeli DM Scraps Plan to Buy US Osprey Warplanes

October 31st, 2014

David Schulberg

With US-Israeli relations at their lowest level in years, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon has announced Israel is scrapping a multi-billion dollar deal to buy six V-22 Osprey warplanes from the United States.

Though the reasoning behind the decision has not been made public, there is considerable speculation that the cancellation is Ya’alon retaliating for his high-profile snubbing during a visit to Washington last week.

To the extent that officials are commenting at all, they are downplaying that, and saying they’re just reexamining their security needs right now after the summer Gaza War.

That seems unlikely, however, as such weapons are generally provided as part of the massive US military aid budget, and Israel is rarely too picky about its access to the high-end weaponry that the US is providing them.