- The U.S. opened its first permanent military base on Israeli soil.
- The new facility will be located at an undisclosed location in southern Israel housing permanent U.S. troops.
- The U.S. has a history of donating billions of dollars of taxpayer money to fund Israel's military over decades.
- The new base opens as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. president Donald Trump plan to meet before the U.N. General Assembly.
The first U.S. permanent military base was introduced in Israel Monday, less than a year after Donald Trump was elected president of the United States.
"We inaugurated, with our partners from the United States Army, an American base, for the first time in Israel," said Brigade General Tzvika Heimowitz, head of Israeli missile defenses during a speech at the celebratory event.
The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) reports the new base will be at an undisclosed location in southern Israel.
Despite being the first permanent U.S. military facility, it is far from the first significant military expenditure by the undisputed allied country.
This time last year, the United States pledged $38 billion dollars - the largest amount in its history - over the span of a decade while Obama was president, despite his sour relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Before that, the U.S directly invested $205 million in Israel’s Iron Dome in 2010.
The U.S. has a long history of giving significant amounts - millions and billions - of citizen tax payer money since the 1960s in increasing amounts.
More recently the U.S. military gave $2.77 billion in 2010, $3 billion in 2012, and $3.15 billion per year from 2013 to 2018 according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
The new U.S. base will wave the American flag for the first time and house dozens of U.S. soldiers permanently stationed there.
This development takes place as Netanyahu is planned to meet with Trump in New York before the upcoming U.N. General assembly.
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