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The sequester is expected to cost Israel $155 million in defense assistance.

A senior staffer on the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee said defense assistance to Israel would likely be cut by 5 percent — or between $150 million and $160 million of the $3.1 billion Israel was to have been allocated this year — under the sequester, the across-the-board cuts mandated by 2011 legislation.

A pro-Israel official confirmed the number as $155 million.

The congressional staffer said missile defense programs, funded separately from the defense assistance, also likely would be affected. They include the Iron Dome anti-missile system, which Israel said deflected more than 80 percent of rockets fired at the country during its operation in the Gaza Strip last December.

Pro-Israel groups plan to push back against the Israel cuts specifically and foreign assistance funding overall. Israeli officials have said they are worried about the cuts, and they don’t expect to be exempt from them.

Maintaining assistance at current levels was a centerpiece of lobbying by the thousands of activists who attended the annual AIPAC policy conference in Washington, D.C., March 3-5.

Among the legislative items on their agenda was a bill in the House of Representatives and the Senate to designate Israel a “major strategic ally,” a one-of-a-kind label, and keep funding at current levels.

The bill, introduced March 4 by Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) and Ted Deutch (D-Fla.), was timed for the annual conference, and 13,000 activists were sent out to lobby for the measure and Iran-related bills the following day.

The “major strategic ally” bill would codify a number of existing facets of the U.S.-Israel relationship, including annual defense assistance and cooperation on missile defense, energy research and cybersecurity.

It also calls for Israel to join the program that waives prearranged visas for select nationals entering the United States.

The Iran-related bills would tighten sanctions aimed at forcing that country to suspend its suspected nuclear weapons program and calls for the president to support Israel should it feel “compelled” to strike Iran. — jta