Israel
may ask for double its usual $3.8 billion from the U.S
this year
By
Alison Weir
Breaking Defense magazine reports
that Israel may ask to get its yearly aid ahead
of time, and possibly twice as much as usual…
But 26 million Americans out of jobs and U.S.
companies closing due to coronavirus might
object… A
petition proposes: ‘Israel has received over
$10 million per day, year after year. This year
it’s time to keep our money home.’
Breaking Defense,
a digital magazine that
covers military issues, reports
that Israel may ask for its U.S. aid early, possibly in
a lump sum that could be as high as $7.6 billion.
This
would work out to almost $21 million per day from
American taxpayers, even though the U.S. is approaching
a
$4 trillion deficit
(the largest in the world), and Israel typically has a
lower unemployment rate
than the United states.
The
report is by
Breaking Defense
Israel correspondent
Arie Egozi, an Israeli
citizen who served in the Israeli military and is close
to the Israeli security establishment.
Egozi’s article
states that because of the coronavirus pandemic,
“Israel’s Ministry of Defense and high command have
hammered out an emergency plan for an appeal to
Washington.”
The article,
which carries a Tel Aviv dateline, reports: “Sources
here say the COVID-19 pandemic is forcing Israel to ask
Washington to make major changes to the [aid] agreement,
including a request to receive the annual allocation
$3.8 billion earlier than planned.”
U.S. aid
to Israel is normally disbursed in October, in a
lump sum that is
deposited to an interest-bearing Israeli account in the
New York Federal Reserve Bank. (Since the U.S. has been
operating at a deficit, this means that the U.S.
government borrows the money and pays interest on it
long after it has gone out.)
Potentially $14,000 per minute from
American taxpayers
In addition to
receiving the aid earlier than usual, a “senior source”
quoted by Egozi suggests that Israel may request that
the aid expected for 2024 also be disbursed this year.
If that
happens, it would work out to nearly $21 million per
day, or $14,460 per minute to Israel from American
taxpayers suffering from a devastating hit to the U.S.
economy.
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Moreover, it is highly likely that when 2024
comes around, the advance would be forgiven, as
have numerous U.S. “loans” to Israel, and Israel
would get the aid again.
The
current aid to Israel is based on a 2016 agreement by
the Obama Administration to give Israel $3.8 billion
annually for the next 10 years – a total of $38 billion,
touted as the
largest such aid
package in U.S. history. Overall, Israel has received
more U.S. aid than any
other country, on average, 7,000 times more per capita
than others.
While the
Obama Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is a non-binding
agreement, Israel has received this sum every year since
it was signed. Israel advocates in Congress are
currently seeking to cement it into
a law that would permit
this amount to go even higher in the future.
A ‘wild idea’ that might not appeal
to Americans
Egozi reports
that the former president of Israel Aerospace
Industries, Joseph Weiss, said asking for the money
ahead of time is “a wild idea,” but said it “makes sense
in the special conditions created [in Israel] by the
pandemic.”
However, it’s
unlikely that this would make equivalent sense to
Americans, who have been at least as hard hit by the
pandemic.
Over 26 million
Americans so far have lost their jobs, and many U.S.
companies are facing bankruptcy. A comment below Egozi’s
article suggests how Americans would respond to a
massive outlay to Israel this year:
“Why do
Americans put up with all this money going to Israel
when millions of them have no healthcare, no job, and
are eating from food banks?”
To deflect such
outrage, Israel partisans in the U.S. typically defend
the aid by saying that it eventually goes to U.S.
defense companies. However, they fail to mention that
millions of the dollars go to Israeli companies that
compete with American businesses, often leading to job
losses in the U.S. No other country receiving U.S.
military aid is allowed to do this.
In addition,
many Americans feel that Israel should use its own money
to purchase its weaponry, as the U.S. does. They point
out that if Americans wished to subsidize weapons
companies, the U.S. government could simply purchase
items for American use.
Similarly, a growing number of Americans object to the
uses Israel makes of U.S. weapons, regularly deploying
them in violation of both
international law and
U.S. law (also
this).
However,
the
pro-Israel lobby in the
U.S. is extremely influential in both political parties,
and U.S. media rarely
report on aid to
Israel, so the lump sum could slip through without
notice.
An
administration official recently
said that Israel would
not need to worry about money “even if there is a
depression.”
Giraldi: Israel may ask for
triple the normal amount
A critic
of the aid, former CIA officer Philip Giraldi,
points out that Israel
is not an ally, and that it has often “done damage to
the United States.”
Giraldi, who is currently
executive director of the
Council for the National Interest (CNI),
notes that Israel often spies on the U.S. and has stolen
American technology.
It also
tried to sink a
U.S. Navy ship, killing
34 Americans and injuring over 170.
Giraldi feels
that Egozi’s article is unclear and suggests that Israel
may ask for even more money this year. He says he “would
not be surprised” if they seek advances for additional
years, receiving possibly triple the normal
amount.
Petition by Council for the National
Interest
Giraldi is asking people to
sign a petition by CNI calling on Congress to “stop
the money to Israel.”
The
petition states: “…We need to take care of Americans and
not send our tax money to a wealthy foreign country.
Israel has already received billions of dollars from
American taxpayers. It has received over
$10 million per day,
year after year. This year it’s time to keep our money
home.”
Alison Weir is executive
director of If
Americans Knew,
president of the Council
for the National Interest,
and author of Against
Our Better Judgment: The Hidden History of How the U.S.
Was Used to Create Israel.
This article has been updated with Philip Giraldi’s
views on the Breaking Defense article. -
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