Weapons of Mass Destruction in the Middle East

US-Israel Memorandum of Agreement

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On 31 October 1998, Israel and the United States reached an agreement designed to provide greater security for Israel against regional missile and weapons of mass destruction (WMD) threats. The Memorandum of Agreement (MoA), signed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Bill Clinton, commits the United States to enhancing Israel's "defensive and deterrent capabilities."[1]

The MoA does not have the legal status of a treaty. However, in signing the accord the United States pledges to provide assistance "diplomatic or otherwise" to defend against "direct threats to Israel's security arising from the regional deployment of ballistic missiles of intermediate range or greater."[2] While the MoA represents a strengthening of US-Israeli defense ties, it does not bind the United States to intervene militarily if Israel comes under missile attack. The MoA likewise does not constrain Israel from taking unilateral, preemptive military action against perceived military threats. Thus, according to an Israeli government source, the MoA has "the advantages of a [defense] treaty without the disadvantages," and is designed to act as "a virtual US umbrella" over Israel against missile attack.[3]

The full text of the MoA[4] is reproduced below:

MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT

In view of the long-standing relationship between the United States and Israel and the long-term commitment by the United States to the maintenance of Israel's qualitative edge, and considering the developing regional threats emanating from the acquisition of the ballistic missile capabilities and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, the governments of the United States and Israel have decided to work jointly consistent with their long-standing policies toward the attainment of the following objectives:

• Enhancing Israel's defense and deterrent capabilities.
• Upgrading the framework of the U.S.-Israel strategic and military relationship, as well as the technological cooperation between them.

The two governments will forthwith designate representatives to a joint strategic planning committee which will formulate specific recommendations on steps that can be implemented as quickly as possible to advance the foregoing objectives.

The United States Government would view with particular gravity direct threats to Israel's security arising from the regional deployment of ballistic missiles of intermediate range or greater. In the event of such a threat, the United States Government would consult promptly with the Government of Israel with respect to what support, diplomatic or otherwise, or assistance, it can lend to Israel.

The Memorandum of Agreement has been done in duplicate in the English language at Washington, D.C. and Jerusalem and will enter into effect when each side has informed the other that it has signed an original. The two sides will exchange the signed original for completion of the signature process.

Notes:

[1] Steven Erlanger, "U.S. Signs Accord to Protect Israel From Mass-Destruction Arms," New York Times, 2 November 1998, p. A13. "New US-Israel Strategic Memorandum," Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, (http://www.jinsa.org/infovault/issue.cfm?I=51&T=426&MID=51&L=26), 12 November 1998.

[2] Steven Erlanger, "U.S. Signs Accord to Protect Israel From Mass-Destruction Arms," New York Times, 2 November 1998, p. A13.

[3] Scott Peterson, "New Shield For More-Vulnerable Israel: US," Christian Science Monitor, 5 November 1998, p. 1.

[4] The text of the MoA was published in Strategic Assessment 1 (January 1999), p. 9.

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