EXCLUSIVE: As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets President Donald Trump in Washington for talks expected to center on Iran and regional security, a new report is urging the administration to expand U.S.–Israel defense cooperation by making Israeli air-defense technology a central component of Golden Dome, the planned layered missile shield intended to detect, track and intercept ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, hypersonic weapons and drones before they can strike the United States.The report warns that the planned American missile shield could leave U.S.cities, military installations and critical infrastructure exposed to increasingly common drone and cruise-missile threats if Washington directs too much money toward costly space-based systems that could take years to become operational.The Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) report, titled "The Missing Shield: Acquiring Israeli Air Defenses Makes Golden Dome Sustainable," argues that the initiative’s current funding priorities favor strategic and space-based capabilities that could take years to develop while giving insufficient attention to more frequent, lower-altitude threats such as drones, cruise missiles and shorter-range projectiles.THE US-ISRAEL STRATEGIC ALLIANCE – PARTNERSHIP, NOT CHARITYIsrael's Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets launched from the Gaza Strip, as seen from the city of Ashkelon, Israel, Oct.
9, 2023.(Amir Cohen/Reuters)Ari Cicurel, the report’s author, told Fox News Digital that long-range defenses remain necessary but should not come at the expense of systems capable of stopping threats that could reach the United States now."Right now the current approach is spending the time and money primarily on space, long range threats, which are absolutely needed," Cicurel said.
"But the most frequent and immediate threats are actually short range projectiles, particularly drones."Cicurel pointed to recent drone activity over American c...