JERUSALEM POST – Key voices inside the government are arguing it is in Israel’s interests to sign a Memorandum of Understanding to govern US military aid for the next decade while President Barack Obama is in office, as a way of locking in support for the deal from wider swaths of the American public.

According to this reasoning, Obama is a progressive president and, as such, if he signs the deal it would be tantamount to buy-in from a wider spectrum of Americans.

If presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton wins in November and she signs the deal, she could come under fire from the liberal wing of her party – the Bernie Sanders wing – for giving Israel too much.

If the presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump wins, this could be seen as an over-generous gift to Israel from the Republicans.

But if Obama signs the deal, it’s a different story altogether.

Here, it is argued, is a progressive president, one who has had his disagreements with Israel. If he signs this type of agreement, and offers this level of aid, more segments of the US population are likely to understand that this must truly be in America’s interest.

For this reason, there are some inside Israel’s corridors of power saying it would be worth signing the deal before Obama leaves office next January, even if that means agreeing to a smaller sum than might be anticipated under his successor.

Last week, US National Security Advisor Susan Rice told the AJC Global Forum in Washington that Obama was committed to ensuring Israel’s security for the remainder of his term and for years to come.

“Israel currently receives more than half of the United States’ entire foreign military assistance budget. And, we’re discussing a new agreement with Israel that would guide our military assistance until 2029,” she said. “Even in these days of belt tightening, we are prepared to sign the single largest military assistance package – with any country – in American history.”

That’s the good news. The more troublesome news from Israel’s perspective is that the negotiations for this Memorandum of Understanding have been dragging on.

That the negotiations have continued for months without an agreement has led to various reports: that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was holding out, hoping he would get a better deal under the next president; that Obama would eventually sign the memorandum in order to say he “has Israel’s back” on security matters and can then move forward a US-sponsored UN Security Council resolution that would lock in the parameters of an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal, something that Israel adamantly opposes.

The current MoU, which was signed in the summer of 2007 under president George W. Bush, expires at the end of 2017. That memorandum provided about $3 billion of annual military assistance to Israel, not including additional funding for ballistic missile defense and various emergencies. Last year the total sum was about $3.6b.

There have been various reports of dis

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