US and Israeli officials today signed a military aid package which will see the US give Israel $38 billion worth of equipment over the next decade. This is by far the largest single military aid package offered in US history, and US officials were quick to insist it could rise even further “in case of emergency.”
President Obama had sought to finalize the massive deal for over a year now, with the Israeli government repeatedly resisting accepting the offers, in hopes of bumping the amount up even further. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s camp has urged Israel not to accept the pact, suggesting he’d give Israel far more they waited.
While acrimony between Obama and Netanyahu did have some in the Israeli far-right government eager to wait just to spite Obama, there was also growing concern that if Israel refused to take $38 billion from Obama it would further politicize the issue of Israeli aid within the US.
Under the deal, the US agrees to provide $3.8 billion annually, and Israel promises not to ask Congress for more money without the White House’s permission. Israel can continue to ask for more money for “cyber defense” as well as tunnel warfare.
The other big change from the last deal is that it will force Israel to slowly taper off the amount of US aid used to buy equipment from Israeli companies, ensuring that a larger percentage is earmarked for well-connected US arms makers.
Thats what I like about Americans. Willing to sacrifice health, education, housing etc so that Israeli’s can steal more land and fence off the Palestinians.
We don’t even follow our own laws when it comes to Israel. It violates the Arms Export Control Act, which syates that no military aid can be sent to any state that hasn’t signed the NNPT. Anything for Israel. ITS SICK.
Why do we give money to India & Pakistan even though they haven’t signed the NNPT?
Anything we “give” them pales in comparison to little piddly Israel’s share of the pie.
If it’s against the law, then it’s against the law even if it’s only 1 dollar. There may be some loophole that we don’t know about to allow this aid.
Beyond absurd.
Trump better be all over this!!
“Well, Good Morning America!! It’s time to bend over and spread ’em wide. Sorry, we ran out of astroglide so grit your teeth and tell yourself its for the benefit of your Daddy, *itch.”
Sorry for the crudity but that’s just this old Curmudgeon’s opinion of how the American people are being treated by those we elect to represent and serve the citizens in the best interests of America.
So, how will Israel express her gratitude?
By asking for even MORE money.
They really do own us. It’s like extortion from the Mafia
Former Supreme Commander of NATO and U.S. Secretary of State Gen. Alexander Haig (deceased) described Israel as “the largest US aircraft carrier, which does not require even one US soldier, cannot be sunk, is the most cost-effective and battle-tested, located in a region which is critical to vital US interests. If there would not be an Israel, the US would have to deploy real aircraft carriers, along with tens of thousands of US soldiers, which would cost tens of billions of dollars annually, dragging the US unnecessarily into local, regional and global conflicts.”[6]
http://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/107007/us-aid-israel-why-its-must-david-meir-levi
6] And Secretary of State Hague was not exaggerating. According to one professional assessment from July, 1986:
“Washington has shown interest in Israeli help in possible air and sea battles with Soviet forces in the eastern Mediterranean. The growing strength of the Soviet Navy and declining political reliability of Premier Andreas Papandreou’s anti-American regime in Greece has increased the importance of Israeli cooperation in this vital area…. The Israeli Air Force has had extensive combat experience over the Mediterranean and could play a dominant role in the area south of Turkey and east of Crete. A U.S. Navy study [DML: not available to the public] reportedly has concluded that Israel’s Air Force alone could destroy the entire Soviet Fleet in the eastern Mediterranean. By one estimate, Israel could launch 20 times as many air attack sorties as an aircraft carrier air wing or 12 times as many air combat sorties. Even if only 10 percent of the Israeli Air Force were committed to sea control missions, Israel could project more air power than could a U.S. carrier in the eastern Mediterranean (author’s emphasis). …. The small Israeli Navy, meanwhile, is a modern force comprised of fast missile boats that pack considerable punch. .… Even if Israel sits out a military conflict with the Soviet Union, Jerusalem could make a major difference in the outcome by permitting U.S. warplanes to use Israeli air bases.”
http://www.policyarchive.org/handle/10207/bitstreams/9275.pdf and cf. alsohttp://www.heritage.org/research/reports/1986/07/americas-security-stake….
Israel’s military capacity has only grown since then. For a broad over-view of Israel’s strategic value to the USA see: http://www.aipac.org/israel-and-the-us and http://www.aipac.org/israel-and-the-us/military-partnership.
• The Port of Haifa maintains facilities for the United States Sixth Fleet.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_military_bases
Thanks for the cut and paste. They just stir up trouble, spy on is, and force us into wars for their own expansion. No one has ever been able to tell me what concrete benefit they actually provide for what it’s costing us.
What wars?
Iraq , Syria and almost Iran
Israel warned us against Iraq invasion, US official says
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3444393,00.html
We’re fighting ISIS in Syria. That has nothing to do with Israel. ISIS attacked our allies France, Belgium, & Turkey.
I’m ceasing all tax generating activities. I’m not paying for Israel’s ethnic cleansing and genocide and land theft nor their Agenda 21.
If Israel were trying to kill all Palestinians, the IDF would not have warned Palestinians before destroying their homes.
$38 Billion worth of US tax dollars going to a foreign country over ten years and no discussion at all about this (pros and cons) on the corrupt US news media. They tell us we owe 20 trillion $. Where is the money coming from?
Every dollar we give to Israel will come right back here to the USA.
Our economy is sluggish between of income inequality.
The poor & middle class aren’t spending because they don’t have the money. The rich have money to invest in new factories, but what’s the point of building new factories if the great majority of people don’t have the money to buy what the factories are producing. One solution is for the government to take money from the rich & spend it.
All the money we will be giving Israel will go to the US defense industry. The industry will hire workers. The workers will take their salaries & buy things & people will have to be hired to produce those things that the defense department employees are buying. A virtuous circle.
Furthermore, military research often leads to new consumer products.
Well let’s just give them all our gold reserves then too, so they can just borrow it. If it’s all coming back here, no reason to give it to them in the first place. The only way it’s coming back here is when it’s stuffed into the pockets of Lobbyists and the Congress people, to keep the protection racket going.
No. Every dollar has to go the US defense industry.
No. If that was the case why is $$$$ involved? We could just give them the weaponry from the “US defense industry”, thereby eliminating the transfer of $$$$.
“A virtuous circle.”
No, it’s not virtuous to steal money from American workers so that it can be handed to a foreign government who will then spend it with politically connected enterprises in the US, on the off chance that a little bit of it might trickle back to the people it was stolen from in the first place.
If you want Israel to have money, pick up the check yourself. Supporting your hobbies isn’t my job.
Money is not being stolen from American workers.
All of the money goes back to the US.
If someone just sends money to Israel, there’s no guarantee that any of it will come back to the US. With this deal, ALL of it comes back to the US.