The Senate Appropriations Committee has approved $621.6 million in U.S. funding for Israel’s missile defense program,  Yeshiva World News reported Thursday.The cooperation seeks to strengthen security in the Mideast region and ensures continued development of the Iron Dome, an all-weather mobile air defense system capable of neutralizing short-range projectiles from Lebanon and Gaza.
More than half of the budget will fund the Iron Dome, which Senator Mark Kirk, R-Ill., said has already saved countless lives in recent weeks.
“Strengthening U.S.-Israel missile defense cooperation is critical to ensuring one of our closest democratic allies can defend itself from terrorism,†he added.
Kirk helped shore up full funding for the U.S.-Israeli initiative in collaboration with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, who is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
