[News] U.S. Military Aid to Israel

[Anti-Imperialist News]

http://www.counterpunch.org/
March 5 , 2009


The Ultimate Earmark


U.S. Military Aid to Israel

By KATHLEEN and BILL CHRISTISON

In these days of economic crisis, budget 
overruns, earmarks, and multi-billion dollar 
bailouts, when Americans are being forced to 
tighten their own belts, one of the most 
automatic earmarks­a bailout by any measure­goes 
to a foreign government but is little understood 
by most Americans.  U.S. military aid to Israel 
is doled out in annual increments of billions of 
dollars but remains virtually unchallenged while 
other fiscal outlays are drastically cut.

The United States and Israel signed a Memorandum 
of Understanding in August 2007 committing the 
U.S. to give Israel $30 billion in military aid 
over the next decade.  This is grant aid, given 
in cash at the start of each fiscal year.  The 
only stipulation imposed on Israel’s use of this 
cash gift is that it spend 74 per cent to 
purchase U.S. military goods and services.

The first grant under this agreement was made in 
October 2008, for FY2009, in the amount of $2.55 
billion.  To bring the total 10-year amount to 
$30 billion, amounts in future years will 
gradually increase until an annual level of $3.1 
billion is reached in FY2013.  This will continue through FY2018.

Israel is by far the largest recipient of U.S. 
foreign aid.  Since 1949, the United States has 
provided Israel with $101 billion in total aid, 
of which $53 billion has been military aid.  For 
the last 20-plus years, Israel has received an 
average of $3 billion annually in grant aid;, 
until now the grant has been a mix of economic and military aid.

Israel receives its aid under vastly more 
favorable terms than any other recipient.  Egypt, 
for instance, receives $2 billion a year in 
economic aid, but this is a loan and must be 
repaid.  Saudi Arabia also has U.S. military 
equipment in its arsenal, but it buys and pays 
for this equipment and is not given it, as Israel is.

Aid to Israel can be said to benefit the United 
States because it is spent to purchase equipment 
manufactured here.  But this recycling of federal 
monies into the arms industry is not the wisest 
way to spur general economic recovery.  In fact, 
in the midst of a financial crisis, incurring a 
long-term obligation of this magnitude is highly irresponsible.

When Israel attacks Palestinians, as during the 
recent assault on Gaza, its instruments of 
destruction are U.S. fighter jets and attack 
helicopters, U.S. missiles, U.S.-made white 
phosphorus, U.S.-made Caterpillar 
bulldozers.  All of this American-made 
destruction is clearly identifiable to television 
audiences throughout the Arab and Muslim world, 
where viewers receive a steady diet of news 
showing Palestinian civilians being killed by 
weapons made in the USA.  It is from this vast 
population, which feels kinship with Palestinians 
and feels itself to be under assault from the 
United States, that terrorists such as Osama bin 
Laden are able to find recruits.

The U.S. Foreign Assistance Act stipulates that 
no aid may be provided to a country that engages 
in a consistent pattern of violations of 
international human rights laws.  Israel has been 
charged by human rights organizations such as 
Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch with 
precisely such violations during the Gaza assault 
and in past attacks.  Israel also violates the 
Arms Export Control Act, which stipulates that 
U.S. weapons must be used only for “internal security.”

This arms package, furthermore, seriously 
undermines the mission of U.S. peace [sic] 
mediators such as former Senator George Mitchell, 
recently appointed by President Obama as envoy to 
the Middle East.  As long as Israel can rest 
assured that it is guaranteed an annual arms 
package in the billions, it will have no 
incentive whatsoever to heed Mitchell’s mediation 
[sic] efforts, to make the territorial 
concessions necessary to reach a peace agreement 
[sic], to stop building settlements and other 
infrastructure in the occupied Palestinian 
territories, or to stop its attacks on Palestinians.

By committing itself to this arms package, the 
United States is undermining with one hand the 
very peace agreement it is trying to promote with the other hand.

These distortions of U.S. national interests [sic] must stop.



Kathleen and Bill Christison have been writing on 
Palestine and Israel for several years. Kathleen 
is the author of two books on the Palestinian 
situation and U.S. policy on the issue, while 
Bill has written numerous articles on U.S. 
foreign policies, mostly for CounterPunch. They 
have co-authored a book, forthcoming in June from 
Pluto Press, on the Israeli occupation and its 
impact on Palestinians, with over 50 of their 
photographs. Thirty years ago, they were analysts 
for the CIA. They are members of the Stop $30 
Billion Coalition in Albuquerque, NM.  They can 
be reached at <mailto:kb.christison at earthlink.net>kb.christison at earthlink.net.




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