http://lobelog.com/should-moguls-subsidize-us-military-aid-to-their-favorite-nations/#more-32528

Should Moguls Subsidize US Military Aid to their Favorite Nations?

by Marsha B. Cohen
The Obama “scandal du jour” in the Israeli press focuses on the US president having turned down a $1 billion donation to Israel’s Iron Dome program that billionaire Sheldon Adelson offered in 2012.
The claim is structured around a few paragraphs gleaned from an in-depth Politico profile of President Barack Obama’s relationship with his chief of staff, Denis McDonough:

In 2013, [then-Senate Majority Leader Harry] Reid used his open channel to float a proposal—not made public until now—that stunned Obama and his staff. Congress had just passed a funding bill for the joint Pentagon-Israel Iron Dome missile system when Reid fielded a phone call from Sheldon Adelson, the Las Vegas multibillionaire and GOP donor. Adelson made an offer: He would personally finance $1 billion for Iron Dome batteries, paid through the federal government, so committed was he to safeguarding the Jewish state.
“I’ll call the president right away,” an excited Reid told him, according to people with knowledge of the interaction.
Obama was thrown off his guard momentarily—“What?!” he asked Reid. When the president regained his footing, he told the leader to thank Adelson but that he didn’t think private financing of munitions would set a good precedent, and didn’t feel the need to loop McDonough into the decision-making process. The idea died.

http://lobelog.com/should-moguls-subsidize-us-military-aid-to-their-favorite-nations/#more-32528