US lawmakers seek to 'fuse' Israeli, US militaries under 2027 defense authorization act
By: The Cradle
A confusing turn of events. Who is dominating who in this alliance? Or is Donald Trump trying to become the first Jewish President?
Another questionable choice made by President Trump. Trump's track record for choices does not inspire confidence.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
May 29, 2026 -- Lawmakers in Washington are quietly moving to integrate the US and Israeli militaries in unprecedented ways, according to a clause in the 2027 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) released earlier this week.
Section 224 of the NDAA, entitled “United States–Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative,” proposes bilateral defense research and development, co-production of weapons, joint ventures, licensing agreements, and other US-Israeli military-industrial complex cooperation.
If implemented, the initiative would “arguably do more to intertwine the US military with the Israeli military than the more than $200 billion (inflation adjusted) in military assistance Israel has received from the US since its founding in 1948,” Responsible Statecraft (RS) wrote. It is “the first step towards shifting aid further into the shadows” and “would all but fuse the two countries' armed forces together,” RS added.
Section 224 of the NDAA calls for expanded US–Israeli coordination in the areas of defense tech, including AI, quantum, autonomous systems, directed energy, cyber, and biotech.
It also proposes “network integration” and “data fusion,” which would allow Israel to access the US military's data.
If implemented, the measures would give the Israeli government expanded influence over the US political system. “By expanding or starting new co-production facilities like it already has in Mississippi and Arkansas, the Israeli government could boast of providing jobs on US soil, thereby securing allies among members of Congress who represent the districts where those jobs lie,” RS concluded.
The move would also make US aid to Israel more difficult to monitor by making it part of the “opaque machinery of defense acquisition,” where oversight is limited and political accountability is minimal.
The move comes at a time when support for Israel in the US is falling and when many believe Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is responsible for dragging the US into a war with Iran that is deeply unpopular.
According to a New York Times/Sienna poll from mid-May, only 30 percent of respondents believe Trump made “the right decision” to go to war with Iran, while 64 percent said it was wrong.
A recent Institute for Global Affairs poll found that only 16 percent of respondents said the US should keep supplying Israel with weapons without new restrictions, while 38 percent want the US to stop supplying weapons to Israel entirely.
Israel's standing in the US and across the world has fallen drastically in recent years, in particular in response to Israel's genocide of Palestinians in Gaza starting in October 2023.
If passed, the $1.14 trillion NDAA will increase the Pentagon's budget to historic levels. An extra $350 billion in defense spending has been proposed from a separate party-line budget reconciliation bill.
In response, federal budget watchdog organizations are urging US lawmakers to rein in military spending, particularly since the Pentagon is the only federal agency to have never passed an audit.
“There is little doubt that the United States has immense defense and national security needs. But having allocated $4.6 trillion over the past five years to defense, there should also be little doubt that there is substantial waste, fraud, abuse, and errors within the defense budget,” the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) argued in a statement released Wednesday.
“Before Congress considers an enormous expansion of the defense budget, they should work to understand what previously-appropriated dollars are still available and make sure existing dollars are being spent wisely and cost-effectively,” the watchdog added.
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Apparently the Trump administration's point of view is that "all roads lead to Jerusalem". While support for the existence of Israel as a state is warranted, this new development goes far beyond support. Wedding US and Israeli interests will very likely lead to a messy divorce.