Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak is headed to Washington DC on Monday, with plans for him and his US counterpart Leon Panetta to officially announce $680 million in additional US military aid to Israel.
The Pentagon initially cooked up this most recent plan to increase aid to Israel, pushing for the House Armed Services Committee to authorize the funding for the “Iron Dome” missile defense program in late March. The committee quickly did so.
Officials pushed for the new funding to increase the number of such defensive missiles along the border with the Gaza Strip, after Israel’s March bombardment of the strip and subsequent return-fire ended with a “malfunction” and rockets causing minor damage.
The Pentagon insists that the Iron Dome “saved many lives,” despite it failing to stop a good portion of the rockets and those rockets not being particularly deadly at any rate (mostly doing minor damage to buildings or landing harmlessly in fields). The Iron Dome program was initially defunded by the Israeli military in 2010 for being a waste of money, and the US has since picked up 100% of the costs.
This is unbelievable! To increase subsidies for Israeli militarism when at the same time the USG is running record trillion dollar deficits, and will soon be forced to asked many Americans to take what will be painful cuts in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid is unconscionable. I know I sound like a broken record, but before any cuts are made in "entitlement" programs ALL foriegn aid should be abolished, ALL the troops, not just the troops from Afghanistan, should brought home, the militarism budget should be completely abolished, and the USG's foriegn empire should be completely terminated. On this issue Dr. Paul has hit another homerun!
I wonder if Mr Panetta has heard the adage: charity begins at home. He probably thinks poverty begins at home.
I just dont understand our government anymore. Where do we get this $680 Million from to give them? How can we continue to cut food stamps, eduction yet give all this money, to nations around the world, like it is nothing?
We print money. We print Dollars and the rest of the world makes stuff to get those Dollars.
This is what happens when a foreign government controls the re-election prospects of the government "The Iron Dome program was initially defunded by the Israeli military in 2010 for being a waste of money, and the US has since picked up 100% of the costs.", says antiwar's Jason Ditz.
I wonder how many schools, hospitals, etc could be bulit in USA with this US tax payers money, but no, lets keep flooding with money the military industry complex (wich are major contribuitors to campains) to help zionists genocide humans.
I just want to know why some ´people´ think they are better than others, that others that are ´not like´ them dont apreciate life as these ´people´ do, For these ´people´, the value of a human life´s worth less then a fly, just a slap and its gone.
Here are some numbers from USA debt during Obamination:
Upon Inauguration: $10,626,877,048,913
As of May 10, 2012: $15,674,689,177,259
In 3.3 yrs Increased: $5,047,812,128,346
George Bush (8yrs): $4,899,100,310,609
http://www.theobamadebt.com/
To pay MORE THAN HALF A BILLION DOLLARS to zionists keep doing there thing is really freaking INSANE – bad to US moral, security, dignity, ethics, interests and economics.
As I see theres a lot of divergency between the US/ZIon interests and the regular US citzens, wich is paying for the Zionist `Party` in Middle East, not to mention the disasterous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and Obamination/Netaniahell want despertly go into Iran for NO REASON AT ALL.
They hate us for our freedom.
"…a waste of money, and the US has since picked up 100% of the costs…"
Now why are we not surprised about that? This is what happens when we allow Congress to dictate what the taxpayer spends money (we don't have) on that the experts have declared as a waste of money. All those Israel Firsters can't be seen as stopping the flow of $$$ and/or arms to their masters (as well as the MIC) regardless of whether it's a good value or not.
Another reason we should be seriously considering a Constitutional Convention – to either fix the problems years of neglect in holding Congress accountable has created…or just disolving the entire Congress and starting over again with a new and more manageable plan.
A good solution but you guys will need violence to achieve such a feat.
Ahh how convenient it is to shut your eyes to reality and just blame the Jews for everything! And such people pride themselves on their intelligence. Oh! The irony!!!
Honor those who deserve to be honored and blame those who deserve to be blamed. Got a problem with that AIPAC troll?
Hasbara Troll – fight your own wars, sacrifice your own precious Chosen blood, pay for your own weapons, take care of your own economy, stop coming to the door with your hand out, stop stealing land, $$, US secrets, and leave us the hell alone.
Someday step up and pretend to be a part of the human race, instead of above it.
Hey asswipe, nobody said the word jew until you came. Go troll somewhere else. Or better yet, I suggest to give the Palestinians only 25% of what the Israelis get in military aid. Woosh, problem solved as they will never ask for anymore.
People scrupulously try to avoid the word Jew. But its not difficult to find out where they are coming from after reading through their fetid outpourings. And regarding you idea of support to the Palestinians, yes, our past history of helping the Mujahaideen against the Soviets has brought us such good results. lol We should do it again. Grab a life.
The Israeli government, Israeli militarism, and the Likud party are not identical to the Jewish people. Jews do not have a monolithic opinion on these subjects, and it is you and people of your ilk who encourage people to think the opposite who are the greatest purveyers of Jew hatred in the world. Further to blindly support the actions of a group of persons, no matter how odious or immoral those actions are, just because those actions happened to performed by Jews, is not supporting the Jewish people. It is nothing but an ugly display of tribalism.
Ira, I don't speak for the Israeli govt or the Likud, I express my thoughts about how I feel for the Jews i.e. the common citizen of Israel and other countries. I have no love lost for any of these CEOs or bigshots who happen to be Jewish. The Jews and the Serbs I keep close to my heart, wishing them all the best in the times to come.
Again, my support is not blind but when I see flagrant hate being posted here by infantile pseudo intellectuals, I feel I have to respond to set things straight and I do so. Notice how many thumbs down I get, sometimes I have a chuckle on their naivety.
This is part of your propaganda: link any opposition to Israel's criminal actions to Jewish victimization. Lately, however, this cheap ploy doesn't hold water anymore. Remember Lincoln's words: "You can fool all the people some of the time…"?
Remember Lincoln's words: "You can fool all the people some of the time…"?
lol coming from someone who lives in the USA!!! Ahhh!! the irony!!!
Ahhh the ignorance!!! I'm not American nor do I live in the US. Why don't you grapple with the topic? Too difficult for your 'jackassery'? You may chuckle all you want, but Israel criminality cannot be ignored by calling us pseudointellectuals. I understand ad hominem attacks make you feel good though.
More aid to Israel ? What a novel idea – next they'll be telling us more tax breaks for the rich! That should fix everything.
Just as Russia's total commitment to Serbia led to her self-destruction almost 100 years ago, the US's committment to Israel today will lead to her own self-destruction.
History repeats itself, first as tragedy and then as farce.
Panetta and EVERY member of Congress who is an Israel first TRAITOR to the US should be put on a leaky boat for a one way sail to Israel.
Then your Congress will be all empty!
Palestine is occupied by Israel. Weimar Germany was occupied economically and politically by excesses of its monied Jewish minority. America is similarly occupied right now. Our entire electoral system has been corrupted by Netanyahu's Israel, AIPAC, Israel Firsters and ingenious distribution of enormous amounts of Jewish money. Our representative democracy is nearly defeated and the destruction of America as we know it well underway. Many other countries are being similarly occupied by AIPAC like organizations. The Jewish State has current technology ICBM nukes with land and submarine launch systems. The whole planet is increasingly vulnerable to its relentless pursuit of invulnerability, territorial conquest and apartheid supremacist empire beyond the Mideast.
John, you summed it up perfectly, and in one paragraph. Perhaps China will be the rock upon which the Israeli ship will sink.
"Weimar Germany was occupied economically and politically by excesses of its monied Jewish minority." Yes, of course, the Jews were to blame for the Holocaust. Just like the Arabs are to blame for living on land the USG wants to colonize. Seriously, switch around a few ethnicities and you have a line straight from Pammy Geller.
Thank you Angela, I am nauseated by the holier than thou attitude of some of the posters here who spew nothing but venom at people they know nothing about. Also the flimsy grasp they have on matters historical leave one depressed.
The posters on Antiwar display more knowledge about the Middle East than the U.S. media propaganda. In fact, they reveal a perspicasity about Israeli actions and its ethnic cleansing.
What most of the posters here know about matters concerning the middle east or elsewhere in general, a child of 5 could write it on a grain of rice. And that is being generous.
To consider yourself right despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, is the hallmark of the fool. We should take our cues from history otherwise we are doomed to repeat it.
There are no "enormous" amounts of Jewish money going to Israel. There are enormous amounts of U.S. taxpayer dollars and technology which is developed using U.S. taxpayer dollars given to or stolen by Israeli spies. Congressional Representatives do seem to benefit from this generosity to Israel. One must wonder why.
In other news, I'm sure completely unrelated- California is broke to the tune of 16 billion $.
Yeah, baby! Take from poor Americans to give it to the filthy rich Zionists. Atta boy! The prick never ceases to amaze just when you think he can stoop any lower…he lowers his pants and bends over for the masters.
One thing you learn is, the US sticks by its terrorists, right or wrong no matter what.
It's a shame, how 9/11 brainwashed Americans into endlessly supporting wars against Israel's enemies.
Its not war against Israel's enemies. We are trying to secure the most precious resource, has absolutely nothing to do with Israel and fighting its battles. but don't let reality bother you .
Reality and verifiable facts certainly have not bothered you!
Exactly what is this "most precious resource" you speak of? Please, enlighten us.
Take a guess, I'll help you out with a hint though..it doesn't have anything to do with the collective IQ of the Islamic countries there.
"I am nauseated by the holier than thou attitude of some of the posters here who spew nothing but venom at people they know nothing about. Also the flimsy grasp they have on matters historical leave one depressed." Lol What a fool of yourself you make! And a hypocrite. And to top it all, what a formidable grasp of history you do have eh? What do you know about Middle East countries? Very little apparently, or maybe your hatred blinds you. Did you know that algebra, for example, began in ancient Egypt and Babylon? This tradition continued with Alexandrian mathematicians. In the 9th century, the Arab mathematician al-Khwarizmi wrote a systematic exposé of the basic theory of equations. By medieval times Islamic mathematicians were able to talk about arbitrarily high powers of the unknown x, and work out the basic algebra of polynomials. This included the ability to multiply, divide, and find square roots of polynomials as well as a knowledge of the binomial theorem. The Persian mathematician, astronomer, and poet Omar Khayyam showed how to express roots of cubic equations by line segments obtained by intersecting conic sections, but he could not find a formula for the roots. A Latin translation of Al-Khwarizmi's Algebra only appeared in the 12th century. So despite your scorn for Middle Easterners, remember that a good part of your knowledge you owe it to your nemesis lol.
Good Israel, here's your next military welfare check or bad Israel, here's your next military welfare check. It doesn't matter either way and in the end more west bank will be stolen and more displaced Palestinians will be called terrorists. And so it goes …..
As an American tax payer, I do not want one more cent to be given to Israel to build up their military. Their military and nuclear weapons are the problem in the Middle East today. Who will join me in a "NOT ONE MORE CENT" sign-up for our Zionist biased Congress to stop this bribery? Who will refuse to pay their taxes until this pay out of bribe money is stopped? The good life in Israel is based upon hand-outs from many sources, most of it coming from the USA (government and diaspora). When will these people earn their keep?
As a former Israeli citizen and a non-practicing Jew, I find it comical that Israelis' psychophants can find no wrong in their blind devotion. Ask 'em if they speak Hebrew or have even been to visit Israel. I can answer that – 85% will reluctantly concede that NO – they DO NOT speak Hebrew and have never been to Israel. They have little else but blind faith for no reason other than their Jew guilt.
Israel spends the most per capita for the defense of their citizens (~$1000), the US is only ~$600 per capita. The entire Israeli Gov't has a hand in every major Defense Contractor. In my mind they are the epitome of Socialism gone wrong. It works in theory but only if you have a an Uncle Sam or more appropriately a Daddy Warbucks to support a policy of spend and spend and when your done w/that spend some more.
AIPAC works tirelessly to get their supporters in office and God (no pun intended) help you if you vote against any aid package to the Holy Rollers in the land of milk and honeys (SIC) . The same folks will work tirelessly to make sure you do not get re-elected.
So what is another 68% of a billion dollars for the those war mongers at the end of the Mediterranean Sea? The State of Israel would find it very difficult to exist in a world with out war or conflict. One of Israel's main attributes is the ability to instigate another and then point the finger squarely at the one they just incited and say "see they are evil, look what they just did". In all fairness that behavior is the norm in that part of the world but Israel uses it to shift the wealth from the United States of America to a foreign land and most of Congress will just rubber stamp any legislation to that end.
Israel does have a right to exist, they even have the right to take over the world (will it happen? – probably not) but it should not happen with my hard earned tax dollars. Is Obama a psychophant to Israel? I actually think less so that Romney. My personal experience with LDS folks is that they are total psychophants to Israel and Jews alike. Not that I mind the special attention I get from LDSers if I reveal my heritage but I certainly do not go looking for it.
In summary, I'd like to point out that with this single act alone – never mind the 3+ billions dollars that Israels gets every year from the US – the per capita expenditure for defense of Israelis just increased by 10+%. Is it really worth it?
'Bloody hell mate' I'm really glad that I'm "safe in Oz"
The average American voter has NO idea who he/she is electing. They go by "name recognition" and then walk away without checking to see who or what they support. The fact that so many "Israel First" members of Congress keep getting elected (Eric Cantor) and re-elected, in spite of the fact that they are openly supporting a not so friendly alien nation that is stealing our military secrets (Janathan Pollard anyone?) and undermining our status in the international community, shows an alarming lack of awareness among our voters.
The Supreme Court made an unforgiveable mistake in allowing Unions, Coprorations and "Special Intersets" to spend unlimited" amounts of money in support of their candidates during our national elections. AIPAC must have been dancing the Hora and Washington DC was turned into a "House of Ill Repute". Term limitations are in order. Now!
Last but not least: NO more tax deductible donations by American Jewish individuals or groups in support of Israeli initiatives to build illegal housing in Jerusalem and/or the West Bank or any other illegal Israeli intiatives to steal land ands property from the Palestinians.