On Wednesday, the United States and Israel signed a memorandum of understanding promising Israel $38 billion in military aid over the next ten years. This represents, as National Security Advisor Susan Rice declared, “the single largest pledge of military assistance to any country in U.S. history.”

Israel has already been the world’s largest cumulative recipient of US foreign aid since World War II, having received more than $125 billion, mostly in military assistance. Rice noted that the new aid commitment comes at a time of belt-tightening across the board, with mandatory sequestrations set to return in a few years, meaning further cutbacks in needed social programs. But this is worth it, said Rice, because of the “unbreakable bond,” the “ironclad bond,” “the unshakable commitment” between the United States and Israel. Israel will become the first foreign country in the world to receive the new, fifth-generation stealth aircraft, the F-35, and more generally the United States will continue to guarantee Israel a qualitative military edge over all its adversaries.

Wednesday’s signing ceremony was clearly a play to the Israel lobby, with American Jewish leaders prominently in attendance and Rice mentioning that the deal was also in the interests of the United States only at the very end of her remarks (“Our security is linked,” and “the deal will support American jobs.”)