The Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee has approved a revision to the fiscal year 2015 military spending bill that would nearly double the amount of US funding for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system.
Israel hypes the success of the Iron Dome system during its assorted flareups with Hamas, though experts have suggests the percentages are not only inflated, but virtually impossible given the basic laws of physics.
The use of the pricy missiles to shoot down the primitive Hamas rockets is also not particularly economical, to the point that the IDF tried to defund the program years ago, before the US Congress stepped up and bankrolled it.
The Senate’s enormous increase is roughly in keeping with the increase proposed by the House last month, and while before it seemed like a tough sell in the Senate, the ongoing Gaza War has many eager to show their pro-Israel bonafides by not only increasing the funding, but increasing it more than anyone had requested.
And I'm sure that since the USA is "impartial", certainly not a defender of the colonizers, and since Israel has fired far more rockets into Gaza than vice versa, and Israel has killed about 200 Gazans in the last few days, almost all civilians, and since 1 Israeli has been killed, since all that is true, I'm sure the USA is also currently installing an Iron Dome system in Palestine.
The image I'm getting of Congress-creatures watching that PR and figuring out where to plant their lips & how … well … gives me minor but persistent giggles. Gotta be the most expensive genocide Jews ever ran.
Anybody following the money on Iron Dome? Who's profiting? Seems we got some idea who did with drones… but seems who-profits is an issue that tends to come up years late?
We paid for Iron Dome because it was supposed to make it safer for Israel to take risks for peace if the rocket threat was handled.
Instead, it has been used to make Israel safer when it resorts to pounding Gaza. We pay for their impunity as they smash up Gaza the same way they always did.
We ought to take back the funding, not double it. They are doing the opposite of what we intended with it.
The more they kill – The more we give
Congress is just doing its best for the people it represents…and that ain't us.
They do not have a real report on how the system did and they vote $60 million plus for a program that one has to wonder how effective? From what I have read the rockets claimed to have been hit were knocked out of the sky but the war head not disabled. If that is true the Iron dome system has become part of the guidance system for the rockets. There is no brain in the rockets so nothing tells the rockets that it is time to drop and explode. Iron dome is over populated areas so it shoot down the rockets over the public. Without iron dome the rocket could very well have just cotinued its trip and fallen in the desert.
I am sure that israel gets a huge part of the construction of the rockets. To be a senator you need a lot of money to run a campaign so they are drawned to the big bucks of special interest like AIPAC. AIPAC gives the senator millions and the senator returns $62 million this bill with many more to come.
We really need to cut the number of senators in 1/2 so we keep them away from playing president around the globe. Why do we need two senators from each state?
"To be a senator you need a lot of money to run a campaign so they are drawned to the big bucks of special interest like AIPAC. AIPAC gives the senator millions"
Actually, AIPAC doesn't make political campaign donations. That would be too direct and obvious. It obviously does route money to American politicians via proxies, though.
Those concerned with the state of things here in the US should start questioning scores of constituents in the districts of those congresscritters who vote for sending American taxpayer $$$$ to defend Israel…asking them what the millions of $$$$ congress is sending Israel could be used for in their districts and states. How many roads and bridges could be repaired, how many schools and health clinics could be built, how many low-income housing units could be built.
The big news this week is that the Highway Trust Fund is bankrupt and congress is arguing over funding increases – or not. Want to solve that problem? Take the money being sent or spent on Israel and….voilà! Want to make sure it doesn't run out of money in our lifetimes? End the wars, bring the troops home from all those bases all around the world and stop sending American taxpayer dollars to every friggin' dictator in the world. But that's just this old Curmudgeon's opinion…
The amount of money the congress spends on Israel needs to be put into proper perspective relative to the needs of the American people. If enough people are asked to respond, eventually more people will start to question their elected representative the hard questions that they need to answer…eventually.
The World will be waiting a LONG LONG time for the American People to wake up and question the insane support of a State that thrives on bloodshed. Everything that the Nazi's inflicted on the Jews is being inflicted bythe Jews on the Palestinians WHILST THE WORLD CHEERS THEM ON.
Will Israel ever pull itself off the U$ cash cow udders, or will it have to be flung off ? Somehow, I doubt that it will be sent to the Island of "Flung" any time soon, and that makes the USA the big sucker.
Why do you think Israel have to be in a war with its neighbors ever so often? Because without that manufactured threat the money in Washington would eventually dried up….murder has become the norm for the Israeli by way of getting free money and all the military hardware from Washington.
This is just pure pork. Sent to Israel, comes back immediately. As there is no way to even spend all the money, it ends up in local fridges, swimming pools, luxury retreats, campaign funds etc.
Most does, but Israel – which has many times been caught spying on the US – is the ONLY country that gets to spend our 'military aid' on its own weapons industry. So some of the money doesn't even come back!
Our Zionist controlled government just does what its masters say.
Its about time we the people sanction congress. No more tax revenue from us. This is so asinine. Give them more money when we are broke and not to mention the slaughter committed by Israel so far on the Gazans. If this was in reverse, Congress would urinate in their pants screaming war crimes.
The blatant corruption in our Congress has passed the point of no return.
American voters have to vote these prostitutes out of office at the first given opportunity.
The fact that our Government openly supports a terrorist government is a flagrant violation
of our Bill of Rights. Israel is not even a democratic society. They are a murderous, sadistic,
genocidal regime that is determined to annihilate the Palestinians and our Government is
guilty by association.
The Senate is a weird, alien, unreal entity with zero connection to the American citizen. If Washington were to disappear tomorrow, the country would be far better off.