Dempsey confirms massive Austere Challenge 12 exercise to be held either in October or November after postponement

        The United States and Israel are expected to hold a joint military exercise sometime around October, after postponing it earlier this year, the US chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said on Friday, confirming previous reports that it was back on track. "We rescheduled it for October-November time frame," US Army General Martin Dempsey said. "I really don't know what the final decision was, but it is our expectation that that's when the event will occur." In addition to the military exercise, the U.S. Senate voted for a bill affirming U.S. commitment to Israel as well as calling for an array of further actions to be taken to this end, some of which could be seen as direct support for an Israeli attack on Iran's nuclear program in case the diplomatic negotiations currently taking place fail to get Iran to cooperate with the west. Army General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said he wasn't sure what the final decision was on timing after high-level talks in Israel this week. "We rescheduled it for October-November time frame," Dempsey said. "I really don't know what the final decision was, but it is our expectation that that's when the event will occur." The air-defense drill, named "Austere Challenge 12," was scheduled for the spring and had been expected to be the largest exercise between the two allies, who regularly hold joint military maneuvers. Following the vote on similar bill in the U.S. House of Representatives in early May, the U.S. Senate passed the United States-Israel Enhanced Security Cooperation Act of 2012 (S. 2165). The bill, introduced by Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Johnny Isakson (R-GA), with total of 69 co-sponsors, lists several possibilities for strengthen the strategic cooperation between Israel and the U.S.. The act mentions a "rapid change" in the Middle East that will lead not only to hope but also a "great challenges to the national security of the U.S." and its regional allies, especially Israel, that is "facing a fundamentally altered strategic environment." The act charts the existing U.S. policies designed to meet these challenges; reaffirming the "unwavering commitment to the security of the State of Israel as a Jewish State" and the commitment to help Israel preserve its qualitative military edge, to veto anti-Israeli resolutions at the UN Security Council and "to support Israel's inherent right to self-defense," as well as, offering several suggestion to how to augment cooperation between the two nations.