Israel seeking to buy $2.67 billion in fuel from U.S.
News comes in U.S. Department of Defense announcement.
The Israeli government is seeking to buy 864 million gallons of petroleum products from the United States, including jet and diesel fuel, at an estimated cost of $2.67 billion, the U.S. Department of Defense has announced.
The fuel is to be used mostly by Israel Air Force planes as well for the Israel Defense Forces’ land-based equipment.
Word of the request came in a U.S. Department of Defense notice stating, in part, that stated in part that “due to volatility in the oil market” the official notice of the purchase contained a request for “a total quantity of these various fuels rather than specific quantities of individual fuels.”
Israel has been buying jet fuel from the United States for years in connection with the American foreign aid program. In 2010, for example, Israel bought about $2 billion in jet fuel.
The quantity of jet fuel Israel has bought for the air force has risen substantially over the years. In 2008, for example, 186 million gallons were purchased as part of a $1.3 billion transaction that included other fuels.
In other defense developments, at his Independence Day reception earlier this week, referring to Iran’s nuclear program, Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said Israel had to plan for the possibility of defending itself alone.
IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz echoed this sentiment in radio interviews for Independence Day, saying the IDF was capable of attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities on its own.
U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is scheduled to arrive in Israel on Sunday for the first stop of a Middle East trip that will last about a week. He is slated to meet with President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and with Ya’alon, his Israeli counterpart.
Hagel is expected to pay a visit on Sunday to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and museum in Jerusalem. On Monday he is slated to take an aerial tour of Israel with Ya’alon.
The U.S. Defense Department has called Hagel’s visit a continuation of contacts following President Barack Obama’s trip here last month. The Iranian nuclear issue will be front and center in Hagel’s defense-related meetings here, along with the changing situation in Syria.
From Israel Hagel will travel to Jordan, where the implications of the civil war in Syria on that country will be discussed, before proceeding on to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.
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