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Thread ID: 4499 | Posts: 18 | Started: 2003-01-17
2003-01-17 17:42 | User Profile
**Are the American people generous or brainwashed? The Price Of Israel ** Charlie Reese
The Christian Science Monitor published in its Dec. 9 edition a story about Thomas Stauffer, a consulting economist, who said recently that the total cost of U.S. support for Israel since 1973 is $1.6 trillion, or twice the cost of the Vietnam War.
This is relevant because the Israelis have just demanded from the U.S. taxpayers another $4 billion to cover the cost of their oppression of the Palestinians as well as an $8 billion loan guarantee.
Ladies and gentleman, there isn't a state in the union that is not facing a financial crisis, and if the U.S. government caves in yet again to the Israeli lobby on this matter, it will be prima facie evidence of mass insanity or of the worse corruption since the administration of Ulysses S. Grant.
Stauffer made his speech in a lecture commissioned by the U.S. Army War College for a conference at the University of Maine. He has converted past aid into 2001 dollars and counts this cost as follows:
Israel has been given $240 billion (remember, this is current dollars), while Egypt has been given $117 billion and Jordan $22 billion as bribes for signing a peace treaty with Israel.
In 1973, when the Arabs attacked Israel in an effort to recover territory taken by Israel in the 1967 war, U.S. support for Israel triggered the oil ebargo. This, according to Stauffer, kicked off a recession that cost $420 billion of output; the boost in oil prices cost $450 billion; the necessity to build a strategic oil reserve, another $134 billion.
He points out that the United States has already guaranteed $10 billion in commercial loans to Israel and $600 billion in housing loans, and he expects the U.S. Treasury will end up paying for all of these. He goes on and on listing more costs, direct and indirect. Israel, for example, is the only recipient of foreign aid allowed to spend a sizeable percentage of the money on Israeli products rather than American. It's the only country from which our defense contractors are required to buy a certain amount of Israeli-made equipment. It is the only foreign country that gets its aid in a lump sum and then invests it in U.S. bonds so that taxpayers not only make an annual gift to Israel but also have to pay Israel interest on that gift.
The fact is that the Israeli government and its powerful lobby have taken advantage of the good-heartedness of the American people. The American people are generous, but never generous enough to satisfy Israeli demands for more of our people's hard-earned tax dollars.
It is one thing to provide emotional support. It is one thing even to guarantee coming to the defense of another country if it is attacked. It is quite another to undertake the permanent subsidy of a foreign country, something our federal government does not even do for its states. We have all kinds of problems in the United States that need attention. It's time to tell the Israelis ââ¬ÅWe can no longer afford you.ââ¬Â
I highly recommend that you read the complete story in the Monitor. It should open your eyes to a problem that will not be fixed unless the American people make their voices heard in Washington.
If we are going to be forced to subsidize a foreign country, I would rather it be France. We can at least get a decent meal in France and enjoy the art treasures collected there. Furthermore, France would not involve us
in its quarrels.
It's America's policy of absolute support for Israel and Israel's cruel treatment of the Palestinians that are a big part of our problem with terrorism. We stand convicted in the eyes of the Muslim world of practicing a
double standard by condoning Israel's human-rights violations and protecting it from international sanctions.
That, too, is a terrible price the American people can no longer afford to pay.
[url=http://reese.king-online.com/Reese_20021218/index.php]http://reese.king-online.com/Reese_20021218/index.php[/url]
2003-01-17 17:44 | User Profile
The Christian Science Monitor December 09, 2002 Economist tallies swelling cost of Israel to US By David R. Francis, Staff writer Since 1973, Israel has cost the United States about $1.6 trillion. If divided by today's population, that is more than $5,700 per person. This is an estimate by Thomas Stauffer, a consulting economist in Washington. For decades, his analyses of the Middle East scene have made him a frequent thorn in the side of the Israel lobby.
For the first time in many years, Mr. Stauffer has tallied the total cost to the US of its backing of Israel in its drawn-out, violent dispute with the Palestinians. So far, he figures, the bill adds up to more than twice the cost of the Vietnam War.
And now Israel wants more. In a meeting at the White House late last month, Israeli officials made a pitch for $4 billion in additional military aid to defray the rising costs of dealing with the intifada and suicide bombings. They also asked for more than $8 billion in loan guarantees to help the country's recession-bound economy.
Considering Israel's deep economic troubles, Stauffer doubts the Israel bonds covered by the loan guarantees will ever be repaid. The bonds are likely to be structured so they don't pay interest until they reach maturity. If Stauffer is right, the US would end up paying both principal and interest, perhaps 10 years out.
Israel's request could be part of a supplemental spending bill that's likely to be passed early next year, perhaps wrapped in with the cost of a war with Iraq.
Israel is the largest recipient of US foreign aid. It is already due to get $2.04 billion in military assistance and $720 million in economic aid in fiscal 2003. It has been getting $3 billion a year for years. Adjusting the official aid to 2001 dollars in purchasing power, Israel has been given $240 billion since 1973, Stauffer reckons.
In addition, the US has given Egypt $117 billion and Jordan $22 billion in foreign aid in return for signing peace treaties with Israel.
ââ¬ÅConsequently, politically, if not administratively, those outlays are part of the total package of support for Israel,ââ¬Â argues Stauffer in a lecture on the total costs of US Middle East policy, commissioned by the US Army War College, for a recent conference at the University of Maine.
These foreign-aid costs are well known. Many Americans would probably say it is money well spent to support a beleagured democracy of some strategic interest. But Stauffer wonders if Americans are aware of the full bill for supporting Israel since some costs, if not hidden, are little known.
One huge cost is not secret. It is the higher cost of oil and other economic damage to the US after Israel-Arab wars. In 1973, for instance, Arab nations attacked Israel in an attempt to win back territories Israel had conquered in the 1967 war. President Nixon resupplied Israel with US arms, triggering the Arab oil embargo against the US. That shortfall in oil deliveries kicked off a deep recession. The US lost $420 billion (in 2001 dollars) of output as a result, Stauffer calculates. And a boost in oil prices cost another $450 billion. Afraid that Arab nations might use their oil clout again, the US set up a Strategic Petroleum Reserve. That has since cost, conservatively, $134 billion, Stauffer reckons.
Other US help includes: US Jewish charities and organizations have remitted grants or bought Israel bonds worth $50 billion to $60 billion. Though private in origin, the money is ââ¬Åa net drainââ¬Â on the United States economy, says Stauffer.
The US has already guaranteed $10 billion in commercial loans to Israel, and $600 million in ââ¬Åhousing loans.ââ¬Â
The US has given $2.5 billion to support Israel's Lavi fighter and Arrow missile projects.
Israel buys discounted, serviceable ââ¬Åexcessââ¬Â US military equipment. Stauffer says these discounts amount to ââ¬Åseveral billion dollarsââ¬Â over recent years.
Israel uses roughly 40 percent of its $1.8 billion per year in military aid, ostensibly earmarked for purchase of US weapons, to buy Israeli-made hardware. It also has won the right to require the Defense Department or US defense contractors to buy Israeli-made equipment or subsystems, paying 50 to 60 cents on every defense dollar the US gives to Israel.
US help, financial and technical, has enabled Israel to become a major weapons supplier. Weapons make up almost half of Israel's manufactured exports. US defense contractors often resent the buy-Israel requirements and the extra competition subsidized by US taxpayers.
US policy and trade sanctions reduce US exports to the Middle East about $5 billion a year, costing 70,000 or so American jobs, Stauffer estimates. Not requiring Israel to use its US aid to buy American goods, as is usual in foreign aid, costs another 125,000 jobs.
Israel has blocked some major US arms sales, such as F-15 fighter aircraft to Saudi Arabia in the mid-1980s. That cost $40 billion over 10 years, says Stauffer.
Stauffer's list will be controversial. He's been assisted in this research by a number of mostly retired military or diplomatic officials who do not go public for fear of being labeled anti-Semitic if they criticize America's policies toward Israel.
[url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1209/p16s01-wmgn.html]http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1209/p16s01-wmgn.html[/url]
2003-01-17 17:47 | User Profile
The Strategic Functions of U.S. Aid to Israel By Stephen Zunes
Dr. Zunes is an assistant professor in the Department of Politics at the University of San Francisco
Since 1992, the U.S. has offered Israel an additional $2 billion annually in loan guarantees. Congressional researchers have disclosed that between 1974 and 1989, $16.4 billion in U.S. military loans were converted to grants and that this was the understanding from the beginning. Indeed, all past U.S. loans to Israel have eventually been forgiven by Congress, which has undoubtedly helped Israel's often-touted claim that they have never defaulted on a U.S. government loan. U.S. policy since 1984 has been that economic assistance to Israel must equal or exceed Israel's annual debt repayment to the United States. Unlike other countries, which receive aid in quarterly installments, aid to Israel since 1982 has been given in a lump sum at the beginning of the fiscal year, leaving the U.S. government to borrow from future revenues. Israel even lends some of this money back through U.S. treasury bills and collects the additional interest.
In addition, there is the more than $1.5 billion in private U.S. funds that go to Israel annually in the form of $1 billion in private tax-deductible donations and $500 million in Israeli bonds. The ability of Americans to make what amounts to tax-deductible contributions to a foreign government, made possible through a number of Jewish charities, does not exist with any other country. Nor do these figures include short- and long-term commercial loans from U.S. banks, which have been as high as $1 billion annually in recent years.
Total U.S. aid to Israel is approximately one-third of the American foreign- aid budget, even though Israel comprises just .001 percent of the world's population and already has one of the world's higher per capita incomes. Indeed, Israel's GNP is higher than the combined GNP of Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the West Bank and Gaza. With a per capita income of about $14,000, Israel ranks as the sixteenth wealthiest country in the world; Israelis enjoy a higher per capita income than oil-rich Saudi Arabia and are only slightly less well-off than most Western European countries.
AID does not term economic aid to Israel as development assistance, but instead uses the term ââ¬Åeconomic support funding.ââ¬Â Given Israel's relative prosperity, U.S. aid to Israel is becoming increasingly controversial. In 1994, Yossi Beilen, deputy foreign minister of Israel and a Knesset member, told the Women's International Zionist organization, ââ¬ÅIf our economic situation is better than in many of your countries, how can we go on asking for your charity?ââ¬Â
2003-01-17 17:48 | User Profile
**U.S. Aid to Israel: What U.S. Taxpayer Should Know ** by Tom Malthaner
This morning as I was walking down Shuhada Street in Hebron, I saw graffiti marking the newly painted storefronts and awnings. Although three months past schedule and 100% over budget, the renovation of Shuhada Street was finally completed this week. The project manager said the reason for the delay and cost overruns was the sabotage of the project by the Israeli settlers of the Beit Hadassah settlement complex in Hebron. They broke the street lights, stoned project workers, shot out the windows of bulldozers and other heavy equipment with pellet guns, broke paving stones before they were laid and now have defaced again the homes and shops of Palestinians with graffiti. The settlers did not want Shuhada St. opened to Palestinian traffic as was agreed to under Oslo 2. This renovation project is paid for by USAID funds and it makes me angry that my tax dollars have paid for improvements that have been destroyed by the settlers.
Most Americans are not aware how much of their tax revenue our government sends to Israel. For the fiscal year ending in September 30, 1997, the U.S. has given Israel $6.72 billion: $6.194 billion falls under Israel's foreign aid allotment and $526 million comes from agencies such as the Department of Commerce, the U.S. Information Agency and the Pentagon. The $6.72 billion figure does not include loan guarantees and annual compound interest totalling $3.122 billion the U.S. pays on money borrowed to give to Israel. It does not include the cost to U.S. taxpayers of IRS tax exemptions that donors can claim when they donate money to Israeli charities. (Donors claim approximately $1 billion in Federal tax deductions annually. This ultimately costs other U.S. tax payers $280 million to $390 million.)
When grant, loans, interest and tax deductions are added together for the fiscal year ending in September 30, 1997, our special relationship with Israel cost U.S. taxpayers over $10 billion.
Since 1949 the U.S. has given Israel a total of $83.205 billion. The interest costs borne by U.S. tax payers on behalf of Israel are $49.937 billion, thus making the total amount of aid given to Israel since 1949 $133.132 billion. This may mean that U.S. government has given more federal aid to the average Israeli citizen in a given year than it has given to the average American citizen.
I am angry when I see Israeli settlers from Hebron destroy improvements made to Shuhada Street with my tax money. Also, it angers me that my government is giving over $10 billion to a country that is more prosperous than most of the other countries in the world and uses much of its money for strengthening its military and the oppression of the Palestinian people.
2003-01-17 17:51 | User Profile
"US. Aid to Israel: Interpreting the 'Strategic Relationship'ââ¬Â by Stephen Zunes
ââ¬ÅThe U.S. aid relationship with Israel is unlike any other in the world,ââ¬Â said Stephen Zunes during a January 26 CPAP presentation. ââ¬ÅIn sheer volume, the amount is the most generous foreign aid program ever between any two countries,ââ¬Â added Zunes, associate professor of Politics and chair of the Peace and Justice Studies Program at the University of San Francisco.
He explored the strategic reasoning behind the aid, asserting that it parallels the ââ¬Åneeds of American arms exportersââ¬Â and the role ââ¬ÅIsrael could play in advancing U.S. strategic interests in the region.ââ¬Â
Although Israel is an ââ¬Åadvanced, industrialized, technologically sophisticated country,ââ¬Â it ââ¬Åreceives more U.S. aid per capita annually than the total annual [Gross Domestic Product] per capita of several Arab states.ââ¬Â Approximately a third of the entire U.S. foreign aid budget goes to Israel, "even though Israel comprises just . . . one-thousandth of the world's total population, and already has one of the world's higher per capita incomes.ââ¬Â
U.S. government officials argue that this money is necessary for ââ¬Åmoralââ¬Â reasons-some even say that Israel is a ââ¬Ådemocracy battling for its very survival.ââ¬Â If that were the real reason, however, aid should have been highest during Israel's early years, and would have declined as Israel grew stronger. Yet ââ¬Åthe pattern . . . has been just the opposite.ââ¬Â According to Zunes, ââ¬Å99 percent of all U.S. aid to Israel took place after the June 1967 war, when Israel found itself more powerful than any combination of Arab armies . . .ââ¬Â
The U.S. supports Israel's dominance so it can serve as ââ¬Åa surrogate for American interests in this vital strategic region.ââ¬Â ââ¬ÅIsrael has helped defeat radical nationalist movementsââ¬Â and has been a ââ¬Åtesting ground for U.S. made weaponry.ââ¬Â Moreover, the intelligence agencies of both countries have ââ¬Åcollaborated,ââ¬Â and ââ¬ÅIsrael has funneled U.S. arms to third countries that the U.S. [could] not send arms to directly, . . . Iike South Africa, like the Contras, Guatemala under the military junta, [and] Iran.ââ¬Â Zunes cited an Israeli analyst who said: ââ¬Å'It's like Israel has just become another federal agency when it's convenient to use and you want something done quietly.ââ¬Â'
Although the strategic relationship between the United States and the Gulf Arab states in the region has been strengthening in recent years, these states ââ¬Ådo not have the political stability, the technological sophistication, [or] the number of higher-trained armed forces personnelââ¬Â as does Israel.
Matti Peled, former Israeli major general and Knesset member, told Zunes that he and most Israeli generals believe this aid is ââ¬Ålittle more than an American subsidy to U.S. arms manufacturers,ââ¬Â considering that the majority of military aid to Israel is used to buy weapons from the U.S. Moreover, arms to Israel create more demand for weaponry in Arab states. According to Zunes, ââ¬Åthe Israelis announced back in 1991 that they supported the idea of a freeze in Middle East arms transfers, yet it was the United States that rejected it.ââ¬Â
In the fall of 1993-when many had high hopes for peace-78 senators wrote to former President Bill Clinton insisting that aid to Israel remain ââ¬Åat current levels.ââ¬Â Their ââ¬Åonly reasonââ¬Â was the ââ¬Åmassive procurement of sophisticated arms by Arab states.ââ¬Â The letter neglected to mention that 80 percent of those arms to Arab countries came from the U.S.
ââ¬ÅI'm not denying for a moment the power of AIPAC [the American Israel Public Affairs Committee], the pro-Israel lobby,ââ¬Â and other similar groups, Zunes said. Yet the ââ¬ÅAerospace Industry Association which promotes these massive arms shipments . . . is even more influential.ââ¬Â This association has given two times more money to campaigns than all of the pro-Israel groups combined. Its ââ¬Åforce on Capitol Hill, in terms of lobbying, surpasses that of even AIPAC.ââ¬Â Zunes asserted that the ââ¬Ågeneral thrust of U.S. policy would be pretty much the same even if AIPAC didn't exist. We didn't need a pro-Indonesia lobby to support Indonesia in its savage repression of East Timor all these years.ââ¬Â This is a complex issue, and Zunes said that he did not want to be "conspiratorial,ââ¬Â but he asked the audience to imagine what ââ¬ÅPalestinian industriousness, Israeli technology, and Arabian oil money . . . would do to transform the Middle East. . . . [W]hat would that mean to American arms manufacturers? Oil companies? Pentagon planners?ââ¬Â
ââ¬ÅAn increasing number of Israelis are pointing outââ¬Â that these funds are not in Israel's best interest. Quoting Peled, Zunes said, ââ¬Åthis aid pushes Israel 'toward a posture of callous intransigence' in terms of the peace process.ââ¬Â Moreover, for every dollar the U.S. sends in arms aid, Israel must spend two to three dollars to train people to use the weaponry, to buy parts, and in other ways make use of the aid. Even ââ¬Åmain-stream Israeli economists are saying [it] is very harmful to the country's future.ââ¬Â
The Israeli paper Yediot Aharonot described Israel as ââ¬Å'the godfather's messenger' since [Israel] undertake[s] the 'dirty work' of a godfather who 'always tries to appear to be the owner of some large, respectable business.ââ¬Â' Israeli satirist B. Michael refers to U.S. aid this way: ââ¬Å'My master gives me food to eat and I bite those whom he tells me to bite. It's called strategic cooperation.ââ¬Â 'To challenge this strategic relationship, one cannot focus solely on the Israeli lobby but must also examine these ââ¬Åbroader forces as well.ââ¬Â
ââ¬ÅUntil we tackle this issue head-on,ââ¬Â it will be ââ¬Åvery difficult to winââ¬Â in other areas relating to Palestine.
ââ¬ÅThe resultsââ¬Â of the short-term thinking behind U.S. policy ââ¬Åare tragic,ââ¬Â not just for the ââ¬Åimmediate victimsââ¬Â but ââ¬Åeventually [for] Israel itselfââ¬Â and ââ¬ÅAmerican interests in the region.ââ¬Â The U.S. is sending enormous
amounts of aid to the Middle East, and yet ââ¬Åwe are less secure than everââ¬Â-both in terms of U.S. interests abroad and for individual Americans. Zunes referred to a ââ¬Ågrowing and increasing hostility [of] the average Arab toward the United States.ââ¬Â In the long term, said Zunes, ââ¬Åpeace and stability and cooperation with the vast Arab world is far more important for U.S. interests than this alliance with Israel.ââ¬Â
This is not only an issue for those who are working for Palestinian rights, but it also ââ¬Åjeopardizes the entire agenda of those of us concerned about human rights, concerned about arms control, concerned about international law.ââ¬Â Zunes sees significant potential in ââ¬Åbuilding a broad-based movement around it.ââ¬Â
The above text is based on remarks, delivered on. 26 January, 001 by Stephen Zunes ââ¬â Associate Professor of Politics and Chair of the Peace and Justice Studies Program at San Francisco University
2003-01-17 17:58 | User Profile
**The Cost of Israel to U.S. Taxpayers: True Lies About U.S. Aid to Israel ** Richard H. Curtiss
For many years the American media said that ââ¬ÅIsrael receives $1.8 billion in military aidââ¬Â or that ââ¬ÅIsrael receives $1.2 billion in economic aid.ââ¬Â Both statements were true, but since they were never combined to give us the complete total of annual U.S. aid to Israel, they also were lies ââ¬â true lies.
Recently Americans have begun to read and hear that ââ¬ÅIsrael receives $3 billion in annual U.S. foreign aid.ââ¬Â That's true. But it's still a lie. The problem is that in fiscal 1997 alone, Israel received from a variety of other U.S. federal budgets at least $525.8 million above and beyond its $3 billion from the foreign aid budget, and yet another $2 billion in federal loan guarantees. So the complete total of U.S. grants and loan guarantees to Israel for fiscal 1997 was $5,525,800,000.
One can truthfully blame the mainstream media for never digging out these figures for themselves, because none ever have. They were compiled by the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. But the mainstream media certainly are not alone. Although Congress authorizes America's foreign aid total, the fact that more than a third of it goes to a country smaller in both area and population than Hong Kong probably never has been mentioned on the floor of the Senate or House. Yet it's been going on for more than a generation.
Probably the only members of Congress who even suspect the full total of U.S. funds received by Israel each year are the privileged few committee members who actually mark it up. And almost all members of the concerned committees are Jewish, have taken huge campaign donations orchestrated by Israel's Washington, DC lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), or both. These congressional committee members are paid to act, not talk. So they do and they don't.
The same applies to the president, the secretary of state, and the foreign aid administrator. They all submit a budget that includes aid for Israel, which Congress approves, or increases, but never cuts. But no one in the executive branch mentions that of the few remaining U.S. aid recipients worldwide, all of the others are developing nations which either make their military bases available to the U.S., are key members of international alliances in which the U.S. participates, or have suffered some crippling blow of nature to their abilities to feed their people such as earthquakes, floods or droughts.
Israel, whose troubles arise solely from its unwillingness to give back land it seized in the 1967 war in return for peace with its neighbors, does not fit those criteria. In fact, Israel's 1995 per capita gross domestic product was $15,800. That put it below Britain at $19,500 and Italy at $18,700 and just above Ireland at $15,400 and Spain at $14,300.
All four of those European countries have contributed a very large share of immigrants to the U.S., yet none has organized an ethnic group to lobby for U.S. foreign aid. Instead, all four send funds and volunteers to do economic development and emergency relief work in other less fortunate parts of the world.
The lobby that Israel and its supporters have built in the United States to make all this aid happen, and to ban discussion of it from the national dialogue, goes far beyond AIPAC, with its $15 million budget, its 150 employees, and its five or six registered lobbyists who manage to visit every member of Congress individually once or twice a year.
AIPAC, in turn, can draw upon the resources of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, a roof group set up solely to coordinate the efforts of some 52 national Jewish organizations on behalf of Israel.
Among them are Hadassah, the Zionist women's organization, which organizes a steady stream of American Jewish visitors to Israel; the American Jewish Congress, which mobilizes support for Israel among members of the traditionally left-of-center Jewish mainstream; and the American Jewish Committee, which plays the same role within the growing middle-of-the-road and right-of-center Jewish community. The American Jewish Committee also publishes Commentary, one of the Israel lobby's principal national publications.
Perhaps the most controversial of these groups is B'nai B'rith's Anti-Defamation League. Its original highly commendable purpose was to protect the civil rights of American Jews. Over the past generation, however, the ADL has regressed into a conspiratorial and, with a $45 million budget, extremely well-funded hate group.
In the 1980s, during the tenure of chairman Seymour Reich, who went on to become chairman of the Conference of Presidents, ADL was found to have circulated two annual fund-raising letters warning Jewish parents against allegedly negative influences on their children arising from the increasing Arab presence on American university campuses.
More recently, FBI raids on ADL's Los Angeles and San Francisco offices revealed that an ADL operative had purchased files stolen from the San Francisco police department that a court had ordered destroyed because they violated the civil rights of the individuals on whom they had been compiled. ADL, it was shown, had added the illegally prepared and illegally obtained material to its own secret files, compiled by planting informants among Arab-American, African-American, anti-Apartheid and peace and justice groups.
The ADL infiltrators took notes of the names and remarks of speakers and members of audiences at programs organized by such groups. ADL agents even recorded the license plates of persons attending such programs and then suborned corrupt motor vehicles department employees or renegade police officers to identify the owners.
Although one of the principal offenders fled the United States to escape prosecution, no significant penalties were assessed. ADL's Northern California office was ordered to comply with requests by persons upon whom dossiers had been prepared to see their own files, but no one went to jail and as yet no one has paid fines.
Not surprisingly, a defecting employee revealed in an article he published in the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs that AIPAC, too, has such ââ¬Åenemiesââ¬Â files. They are compiled for use by pro-Israel journalists like Steven Emerson and other so-called ââ¬Återrorism experts,ââ¬Â and also by professional, academic or journalistic rivals of the persons described for use in black-listing, defaming, or denouncing them. What is never revealed is that AIPAC's ââ¬Åopposition researchââ¬Â department, under the supervision of Michael Lewis, son of famed Princeton University Orientalist Bernard Lewis, is the source of this defamatory material.
But this is not AIPAC's most controversial activity. In the 1970s, when Congress put a cap on the amount its members could earn from speakers' fees and book royalties over and above their salaries, it halted AIPAC's most effective ways of paying off members for voting according to AIPAC recommendations. Members of AIPAC's national board of directors solved the problem by returning to their home states and creating political action committees (PACs).
Most special interests have PACs, as do many major corporations, labor unions, trade associations and public-interest groups. But the pro-Israel groups went wild. To date some 126 pro-Israel PACs have been registered, and no fewer than 50 have been active in every national election over the past generation.
An individual voter can give up to $2,000 to a candidate in an election cycle, and a PAC can give a candidate up to $10,000. However, a single special interest with 50 PACs can give a candidate who is facing a
tough opponent, and who has voted according to its recommendations, up to half a million dollars. That's enough to buy all the television time needed to get elected in most parts of the country.
Even candidates who don't need this kind of money certainly don't want it to become available to a rival from their own party in a primary election, or to an opponent from the opposing party in a general election. As a result, all but a handful of the 535 members of the Senate and House vote as AIPAC instructs when it comes to aid to Israel, or other aspects of U.S. Middle East policy.
There is something else very special about AIPAC's network of political action committees. Nearly all have deceptive names. Who could possibly know that the Delaware Valley Good Government Association in Philadelphia, San Franciscans for Good Government in California, Cactus PAC in Arizona, Beaver PAC in Wisconsin, and even Icepac in New York are really pro-Israel PACs under deep cover?
Hiding AIPAC's Tracks
In fact, the congress-members know it when they list the contributions they receive on the campaign statements they have to prepare for the Federal Election Commission. But their constituents don't know this when they read these statements. So just as no other special interest can put so much ââ¬Åhard moneyââ¬Â into any candidate's election campaign as can the Israel lobby, no other special interest has gone to such elaborate lengths to hide its tracks.
Although AIPAC, Washington's most feared special-interest lobby, can hide how it uses both carrots and sticks to bribe or intimidate members of Congress, it can't hide all of the results.
Anyone can ask one of their representatives in Congress for a chart prepared by the Congressional Research Service, a branch of the Library of Congress, that shows Israel received $62.5 billion in foreign aid from fiscal year 1949 through fiscal year 1996. People in the national capital area also can visit the library of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in Rosslyn, Virginia, and obtain the same information, plus charts showing how much foreign aid the U.S. has given other countries as well.
Visitors will learn that in precisely the same 1949-1996 time frame, the total of U.S. foreign aid to all of the countries of sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean combined was $62,497,800,000 ââ¬â almost exactly the amount given to tiny Israel.
According to the Population Reference Bureau of Washington, DC, in mid-1995 the sub-Saharan countries had a combined population of 568 million. The $24,415,700,000 in foreign aid they had received by then amounted to $42.99 per sub-Saharan African.
Similarly, with a combined population of 486 million, all of the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean together had received $38,254,400,000. This amounted to $79 per person.
The per capita U.S. foreign aid to Israel's 5.8 million people during the same period was $10,775.48. This meant that for every dollar the U.S. spent on an African, it spent $250.65 on an Israeli, and for every dollar it spent on someone from the Western Hemisphere outside the United States, it spent $214 on an Israeli.
Shocking Comparisons
These comparisons already seem shocking, but they are far from the whole truth. Using reports compiled by Clyde Mark of the Congressional Research Service and other sources, freelance writer Frank Collins tallied for the Washington Report all of the extra items for Israel buried in the budgets of the Pentagon and other federal agencies in fiscal year 1993.Washington Report news editor Shawn Twing did the same thing for fiscal years 1996 and 1997.
They uncovered $1.271 billion in extras in FY 1993, $355.3 million in FY 1996 and $525.8 million in FY 1997. These represent an average increase of 12.2 percent over the officially recorded foreign aid totals for the same fiscal years, and they probably are not complete. It's reasonable to assume, therefore, that a similar 12.2 percent hidden increase has prevailed over all of the years Israel has received aid.
As of Oct. 31, 1997 Israel will have received $3.05 billion in U.S. foreign aid for fiscal year 1997 and $3.08 billion in foreign aid for fiscal year 1998. Adding the 1997 and 1998 totals to those of previous years since 1949 yields a total of $74,157,600,000 in foreign aid grants and loans. Assuming that the actual totals from other budgets average 12.2 percent of that amount, that brings the grand total to $83,204,827,200.
But that's not quite all. Receiving its annual foreign aid appropriation during the first month of the fiscal year, instead of in quarterly installments as do other recipients, is just another special privilege Congress has voted for Israel. It enables Israel to invest the money in U.S. Treasury notes. That means that the U.S., which has to borrow the money it gives to Israel, pays interest on the money it has granted to Israel in advance, while at the same time Israel is collecting interest on the money. That interest to Israel from advance payments adds another $1.650 billion to the total, making it $84,854,827,200.That's the number you should write down for total aid to
Israel. And that's $14,346 each for each man, woman and child in Israel.
It's worth noting that that figure does not include U.S. government loan guarantees to Israel, of which Israel has drawn $9.8 billion to date. They greatly reduce the interest rate the Israeli government pays on commercial loans, and they place additional burdens on U.S. taxpayers, especially if the Israeli government should default on any of them. But since neither the savings to Israel nor the costs to U.S. taxpayers can be accurately quantified, they are excluded from consideration here.
Further, friends of Israel never tire of saying that Israel has never defaulted on repayment of a U.S. government loan. It would be equally accurate to say Israel has never been required to repay a U.S. government
loan. The truth of the matter is complex, and designed to be so by those who seek to conceal it from the U.S. taxpayer.
Most U.S. loans to Israel are forgiven, and many were made with the explicit understanding that they would be forgiven before Israel was required to repay them. By disguising as loans what in fact were grants, cooperating members of Congress exempted Israel from the U.S. oversight that would have accompanied grants. On other loans, Israel was expected to pay the interest and eventually to begin repaying the principal. But the so-called Cranston Amendment, which has been attached by Congress to every foreign aid appropriation since 1983, provides that economic aid to Israel will never dip below the amount Israel is required to pay on its outstanding loans. In short, whether U.S. aid is extended as grants or loans to Israel, it never returns to the Treasury.
Israel enjoys other privileges. While most countries receiving U.S. military aid funds are expected to use them for U.S. arms, ammunition and training, Israel can spend part of these funds on weapons made by Israeli manufacturers. Also, when it spends its U.S. military aid money on U.S. products, Israel frequently requires the U.S. vendor to buy components or materials from Israeli manufacturers. Thus, though Israeli politicians say that their own manufacturers and exporters are making them progressively less dependent upon U.S. aid, in fact those Israeli manufacturers and exporters are heavily subsidized by U.S. aid.
Although it's beyond the parameters of this study, it's worth mentioning that Israel also receives foreign aid from some other countries. After the United States, the principal donor of both economic and military aid to Israel is Germany.
By far the largest component of German aid has been in the form of restitution payments to victims of Nazi attrocities. But there also has been extensive German military assistance to Israel during and since the Gulf
war, and a variety of German educational and research grants go to Israeli institutions. The total of German assistance in all of these categories to the Israeli government, Israeli individuals and Israeli private institutions has been some $31 billion or $5,345 per capita, bringing the per capita total of U.S. and German assistance combined to almost $20,000 per Israeli. Since very little public money is spent on the more than 20 percent of Israeli citizens who are Muslim or Christian, the actual per capita benefits received by Israel's Jewish citizens would be considerably higher.
True Cost to U.S. Taxpayers
Generous as it is, what Israelis actually got in U.S. aid is considerably less than what it has cost U.S. taxpayers to provide it. The principal difference is that so long as the U.S. runs an annual budget deficit, every dollar of aid the U.S. gives Israel has to be raised through U.S. government borrowing.
In an article in the Washington Report for December 1991/January 1992, Frank Collins estimated the costs of this interest, based upon prevailing interest rates for every year since 1949. I have updated this by applying a very conservative 5 percent interest rate for subsequent years, and confined the amount upon which the interest is calculated to grants, not loans or loan guarantees.
On this basis the $84.8 billion in grants, loans and commodities Israel has received from the U.S. since 1949 cost the U.S. an additional $49,936,880,000 in interest.
There are many other costs of Israel to U.S. taxpayers, such as most or all of the $45.6 billion in U.S. foreign aid to Egypt since Egypt made peace with Israel in 1979 (compared to $4.2 billion in U.S. aid to Egypt for the preceding 26 years). U.S. foreign aid to Egypt, which is pegged at two-thirds of U.S. foreign aid to Israel, averages $2.2 billion per year.
There also have been immense political and military costs to the U.S. for its consistent support of Israel during Israel's half-century of disputes with the Palestinians and all of its Arab neighbors. In addition, there have been the approximately $10 billion in U.S. loan guarantees and perhaps $20 billion in tax-exempt contributions made to Israel by American Jews in the nearly half-century since Israel was created.
Even excluding all of these extra costs, America's $84.8 billion in aid to Israel from fiscal years 1949 through 1998, and the interest the U.S. paid to borrow this money, has cost U.S. taxpayers $134.8 billion, not adjusted for inflation. Or, put another way, the nearly $14,630 every one of 5.8 million Israelis received from the U.S. government by Oct. 31, 1997 has cost American taxpayers $23,240 per Israeli.
It would be interesting to know how many of those American taxpayers believe they and their families have received as much from the U.S. Treasury as has everyone who has chosen to become a citizen of Israel. But it's a question that will never occur to the American public because, so long as America's mainstream media, Congress and president maintain their pact of silence, few Americans will ever know the true cost of Israel to U.S. taxpayers.
Richard Curtiss, a retired U.S. foreign service officer, is the executive editor of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. [url=http://Http://www.wrmea.com/html/us_aid_to_israel.htm]Http://www.wrmea.com/html/us_aid_to_israel.htm[/url] 11/10/2002
2003-01-17 18:00 | User Profile
[url=http://www.nydailynews.com/11-27-2002/news...99p-36818c.html]http://www.nydailynews.com/11-27-2002/news...99p-36818c.html[/url]
** Israel's 14B war tab: Seeks U.S. aid before Iraq attack**
By Kenneth R. Bazinet Daily News Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON ââ¬â Israel wants $4 billion in new military aid and up to $10 billion in loan guarantees from Washington in part for assurances that Israel will show restraint if attacked by Iraq, sources said yesterday. "This is similar to the loan guarantees of a decade ago," an Israeli source told the Daily News, referring to financial incentives it received in exchange for restraint during the Gulf War in 1991. A pro-Israeli lobbyist familiar with the talks said, "Israel isn't the only country asking for compensation. ... It's a soft negotiation. It's saying we understand your needs, you need to understand our needs."
But the White House downplayed the link between the payment and Israeli restraint. "This is not directly related to compensation in the event of attack," said spokesman Ari Fleischer.
"They [Israeli officials] described the economic impact on Israel of the ongoing war on terrorism ... as well as the impact of continuing uncertainty in the region," he said. "In this context, the officials indicated that Israel is preparing a proposal for assistance."
Israeli officials reasoned during talks this week that defensive preparations for another possible war between the U.S. and Iraq has cost them millions at a time when Israel's economy is tanking. The Palestinian uprising also has helped to thin Israel's treasury. Israel already receives $2.9 billion annually in U.S. grants and loan aid ââ¬â Washington's biggest yearly handout to any nation.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's chief of staff Dov Weisglass, Finance Ministry Director-General Ohad Marani and Ambassador to the U.S. Danny Ayalon made the request Monday in a meeting with national security adviser Condoleezza Rice. Sharon has said Israel reserves the right to respond if attacked, and President Bush has said he recognizes that right. Israel did not fire back when it was bombarded with Iraqi Scud missiles during the Gulf War, earning loan guarantees from then-President George Bush. But this time there will be limits to Israel's patience.
"If there are dirty weapons ââ¬â chemical or biological ââ¬â we can't sit back this time," an official of the ruling Likud Party told The News.
**Other hands out **
Israel joins a handful of other countries asking for U.S. compensation in the event of war. Russia wants assurances that its contracts with Saddam Hussein for a piece of the Iraqi oil industry will be honored. U.S. sources have said the Russians have been promised that those agreements will remain in force if Saddam is toppled.
Turkey has asked for economic aid, trade deals to boost sales of its goods in the U.S. and Washington's backing for admission into the European Union. The EU economic consortium will consider expanding its ranks at a Dec. 12-13 summit, and Bush has pledged his support for Turkey.
Jordan also is looking for an undisclosed amount of financial aid from the U.S. if war breaks out with Iraq. Jordan was not a part of the coalition that liberated Kuwait from Saddam's grip in the Gulf War but signaled its support for the UN resolution leading to weapons inspections set to begin today in Iraq.
Originally published on November 27, 2002
2003-01-17 18:02 | User Profile
[url=http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/Sh...sID=0&listSrc=Y]http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/Sh...sID=0&listSrc=Y[/url]
Monday, December 16, 2002
Bush favors special aid to Israel By Aluf Benn
U.S. President George W. Bush supports conferring special American aid to Israel to help the country cope with its current economic difficulties. While Bush, in a discussion with Jewish leaders last week, did not go into details about Israel's recent assistance request to his administration, participants in the conversation said there appears to be little doubt about the president's commitment to granting the aid.
A delegation of senior Israeli officials will leave for Washington soon to discuss the request with U.S. counterparts. Israel has asked for $4 billion in a special defense grant as well for American agreement to confer loan guarantees of between $8 billion and $10 billion. This special assistance would be added to the United States' annual aid package to Israel, which is comprised of $2.16 billion in defense assistance and $480 million for economic-civilian spheres.
In the same conversation with Jewish leaders, Bush said the administration's Middle East policy is based on his June 24 speech, and is not obligated by efforts being made in various government branches to formulate a "roadmap" for implementing proposals made in the speech.
Bush's comments stand in opposition to signals recently sent out by some State Department officials to Israeli officials suggesting that the roadmap proposals are entirely consistent with Bush's speech. Under the roadmap formulations, a provisional Palestinian state would be established by 2003, and this state would launch talks with Israel to attain a final status agreement by 2005. The State Department wanted to finalize the roadmap proposals during a meeting of foreign ministers from the Quartet, which is scheduled to be in Washington Friday.
But complying to a request made by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, the White House has agreed to defer final action on the roadmap proposal until after January's general elections and the formation of a new Israeli
government.
2003-01-17 18:04 | User Profile
And, finally:
No End in Sight: Germany Has Paid Out More Than $61.8 Billion in Third Reich Reparations
Since 1951 Germany has paid more than 102 billion marks, about $61.8 billion at 1998 exchange rates, in federal government reparation payments to Israel and Third Reich victims. In addition, Germans have paid out billions in private and other public funds, including about 75 million marks ($49 million) by German firms in compensation to wartime forced laborers, the Welt am Sonntag newspaper reported recently. These figures are based on calculations by the German Finance Ministry, the influential paper said.
Of the total, Germany has paid out 78.4 billion marks ($47 billion) on the basis of the 1965 Federal Restitution Law (BEG) to persons, especially Jews, who had been persecuted during the Third Reich era on the basis of race, religion, origin or ideology.
While most of those who were alive during the Second World War are now dead, in recent years Germany was still paying out some 1.25 billion marks (about $75 million) to 106,000 pensioners in Israel, the United States and other countries on the basis of the 1965 Restitution Law.
A substantial portion of Germany's reparations payments have been to the "Jewish Claims Conference" for Jews who had persecuted by the Third Reich. Recipients include former forced laborers and concentration camp internees, as well as individuals deprived of rights or property under the Nazis. Based in New York City, the Jewish Claims Conference (JCC) has operated for decades as a kind of supra-national governmental agency
for Jews around the world.
Between 1992 and July 1998, the German federal government paid out 1.1 billion marks (about $647 million) to the JCC. During the first half of 1998, it made available 378 million marks (about $222 million) to the JCC in special one-time restitution payments for Jews who had persecuted by the Third Reich, according to a German government report issued on September 29, 1998. The JCC distributed up to 5,000 marks each to individual claimants.
In recent years Germany has paid out nearly 1.8 billion marks on the basis of special bilateral agreements concluded in 1991 and 1993 with Poland and three successor states of the former Soviet Union -- the Russian Federation, Ukraine and Belarus (White Russia) -- even though in 1953 Poland and the Soviet Union each renounced any further reparations payments from Germany.
Because there's no sign that German reparations payments will stop anytime soon, the Welt am Sonntag wonders if they might be "bottomless." In coming years, Finance Ministry specialists estimate, Germany will pay out an additional 24 billion marks (about $14.4 billion at a recent exchange rate) in Third Reich reparations.
2003-01-17 18:20 | User Profile
Okay, just a few more....
[url=http://afr.com/world/2003/01/08/FFX8IEGOMAD.html]http://afr.com/world/2003/01/08/FFX8IEGOMAD.html[/url] Financial Review (Australia?)
Israel wants more than total US foreign aid budget Jan 8 2003 James Tyson in Washington, Bloomberg
A delegation from Israel, the largest recipient of US foreign aid, has sought $US12 billion ($21 billion) in assistance at a meeting with State Department and White House officials, Israeli officials said.
The request, covering the next three to five years, exceeds the total $US11.6 billion budgeted last year by the US for all countries.
The request is to help Israel weather the Palestinian uprising and a possible US war with Iraq.
Meanwhile, responding to Sunday's suicide bombing in Tel Avivin which 22 people died, the Israeli government barred Palestinian officials from travelling to London for planned talks on reform, setting off a diplomatic dispute with Britain.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said he regretted the move, as did US Secretary of State Colin Powell in a conversation with Israeli Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's office said Israel was asking for $US4 billion in direct assistance and $US8 billion in loan guarantees. A US official indicated before the meeting that the US was open to the request.
"We always try to do what we can to help our friend and ally," the official told reporters. The meeting was intended to focus on "Israel's current economic situation and Israel's expected request for supplemental assistance", he said.
Dov Weissglas, Sharon's chief of staff, led the delegation, according to Mark Regev, spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington.
Israel's gross domestic product fell about 1 per cent in each of the last two years because of flagging global demand for technology and the damage to tourism and other industries over Palestinian violence.
The US was likely to attach conditions to an offer of assistance, Mr Sharon's office said, adding that Israel would reject terms that compromised its security. Israel receives about $US3 billion a year in military and civilian assistance from the US.
Israel's Finance Ministry said the 2002 budget deficit was 3.97 per cent of gross domestic product, close to the government's 3.9 per cent target.
The deficit narrowed to 19.3 billion shekels ($7 billion) from 21.3 billion shekels in 2001, when it reached 4.5 per cent of GDP, the ministry said.
The deficit did not include the offsetting factor of US aid for 2002, which had not arrived by the end of the year, the ministry said.
"Meeting the deficit target strengthens Israel's economic standing in the world," Finance Minister Silvan Shalom said in a statement.
Israel's deficit and high level of debt have provoked concern among investors and credit-rating services. The government intends, through budget cuts this year, to reduce the deficit to 3 per cent of its GDP.
Israel received US loan guarantees in 1992 to help it finance the cost of absorbing hundreds of thousands of immigrants entering the country from the former Soviet Union. Israel has about $US4.2 billion in foreign loans falling due in 2003, according to the Bank of Israel.
2003-01-17 18:23 | User Profile
[url=http://amconmag.com/01_13_03/buchanan7.html]http://amconmag.com/01_13_03/buchanan7.html[/url]
Ariel Sharonââ¬â¢s Shakedown by Pat Buchanan
ââ¬ÅTough Love for United,ââ¬Â exclaimed the Wall Street Journal, as it congratulated Uncle Sam for stiffing United Airlinesââ¬â¢ plea for $1.8 billion in loan guarantees. Rebuffed, the beloved old airline had to declare its bankruptcy.
Itââ¬â¢s all for the best, the Journal assures us, ââ¬Åmaybe this tough love rejection will start a new government precedent, or at least we can dream.ââ¬Â Fine. May we now expect the Journal to call on Mr. Bush to reject the $10 billion in loan guarantees demanded by Ariel Sharon? Donââ¬â¢t bet on it.
Yet, Sharonââ¬â¢s demand is astonishing in its audacity. California and New York face huge budget shortfalls. The U.S. Treasury is running a deficit nearing $200 billion. Yet, Sharon, who ignored Bush when the president publicly called on him to pull his army out of West Bank cities, is demanding that U.S. taxpayers fork over $4 billion in new military aid and agree to pay off $10 billion Israel intends to borrow should Israel decide to default.
Why should we do this? What does America get out of this? What has all the $100 billion in aid we have shoveled out to Israel bought us, other than ingratitude and the enmity of the Arab world?
While Israel has a first-rate military, it is of no use to us. In Desert Storm, Bush I had to bribe Yitzhak Shamir with $5 billion in aid, $400 million in loan guarantees, and Patriot missiles to stay out of the fighting, lest Israeli intervention dynamite our coalition. Journalists and diplomats alike, returning from the Mideast, attest that our almost-blind support of Israel is a major cause of the anti-Americanism that is sweeping the Islamic world.
When the price of Israel could be paid in dollars alone, $3 billion a year, most members of Congress chose to pony up rather than face the retribution of an Israeli Lobby that has in its trophy case the scalps of two chairmen of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, J. William Fulbright and Chuck Percy.
But now the price of the Israeli connection has begun to rise. U.S. weapons technology given to Israel has been sold to China. Only direct U.S. intervention prevented Israel from selling Beijing AWACS technology. The Patriot missile, the Phoenix air-to-air missile, the Lavi fighter, based on the F-16, have all been sold to Beijing.
In the Reagan era, Israel had the loathsome Jonathan Pollard, whom it suborned into treason, loot our innermost national security secrets, some of which are believed to have been traded to Moscow. Israel refuses to return the roomful of documents it stole and has pressured presidents for Pollardââ¬â¢s release so he can be brought to Israel where he is a hero.
Now Mr. Sharon has handed us Israelââ¬â¢s bill for abstaining from war with Iraq while President Bush is at maximum political risk. Not since 1957, when Dwight Eisenhower ordered Ben-Gurion to get his army out of Sinai, has a U.S. president faced down an Israeli Prime Minister.
To his credit, the presidentââ¬â¢s father tried. In 1991, having driven Iraq out of Kuwait, with his approval at 70 percent, Bush I was asked by Shamir for $10 billion in loan guarantees to bring a million Russian Jews to Israel. Bush assented, on one condition: Shamir must not settle them on the West Bank and must stop expanding settlements.
Shamir rejected the condition, and the Lobby went to work. Bush warned he would veto the guarantees. An Israeli minister called him an anti-Semite. While Shamir was defeated in June of 1992, Bush, his own election in trouble, eventually gave in and gave Israel the loan guarantees. Who was the Housing Minister who announced new settlements even as Bush I was denouncing them? Ariel Sharon.
Sharon now wants to repeat Israelââ¬â¢s victory over Bushââ¬â¢s father by making the son give Israel $4 billion in hardware and $10 billion in new loan guarantees as Sharonââ¬â¢s price for permitting us to crush Iraq while he holds Americaââ¬â¢s coat. It is a shakedown: Ariel Sharonââ¬â¢s big sting
What should Bush do? Tell Sharon the loan guarantees will not even be taken up until he begins to dismantle all the settlements he has begun to build since George W. took office. And if Sharon attempts to roll him in Congress, he, Bush, will go to the country and roll Sharon.
In short, stand up for U.S. national interests and declare Americaââ¬â¢s independence. Israel may be our ally in the war on terror. We are not Israelââ¬â¢s ally in its war on the Palestinians. Our commitment is to Israelââ¬â¢s security, not its settlements, which are the cause of the intifada.
Sharonââ¬â¢s opponent in Januaryââ¬â¢s election, General Mitzna, has agreed to negotiate with the Palestinians on the basis of Camp David and to begin withdrawals from the West Bank and Gaza. If Israeli politicians can stand up to Sharon, why cannot U.S. presidents? If members of the Knesset can refuse to follow the suicidal path of Sharon & Netanyahu, why is Congress so cowardly?
2003-01-17 18:28 | User Profile
Rather than try to recreate the big table in this: there's a link...
CounterPunch
November 16, 2002 US Aid to Israel Feeding the Cuckoo
by PAUL de ROOIJ
Since Sept. 11, Americans have thought of themselves as the target of terrorists, emanating mainly from the Middle East. It may thus surprise them to learn that their own actions are in large part responsible for their problems and resentment in the Middle East. In particular, we argue that the massive aid flows and armaments transfers to Israel are largely responsible for the problems between Israelis and Palestinians today. The repercussions of this conflict reverberate everywhere in the region to the great detriment of the rights of the people in the area, but remarkably, also to the detriment of the US's long-term interests.
Americans by nature tend to look closely at their government's expenditures, to trim the fat wherever they can find it--welfare, social security, health care, education 85 all except when it comes to Israel. A valuable exercise for any American would be to examine the huge handouts given to Israel, which may reveal shocking facts and motivate them to a take closer look at what is done in their name. Here is a quick overview of US aid flows to Israel.
[url=http://www.counterpunch.org/rooij1116.html]http://www.counterpunch.org/rooij1116.html[/url][url=http://http://www.counterpunch.org/rooij1116.html]Feeding the Cuckoo[/url]
2003-01-17 20:07 | User Profile
Avalanche,
You live up to your handle, to say the least. Now that is an avalanche of material on "the only democracy in the Middle East" and "our strategic partner." :D
s a link Ill have to dig up where I have posted a number of articles on how Israel sells U.S. military technology to Red China.[color=red]Some other links in regard to Israel.[/color]
[url=http://forum.originaldissent.com/index.php?act=ST&f=12&t=968&hl=aid+to+israel]http://forum.originaldissent.com/index.php...l=aid+to+israel[/url]
[url=http://forum.originaldissent.com/index.php?act=ST&f=12&t=1820&hl=aid+to+israel&s=3b44a517c6b2bd13ab2]http://forum.originaldissent.com/index.php...a517c6b2bd13ab2[/url]
2003-01-17 21:16 | User Profile
Thanks for the compilation, Avalanche.
I have put on my special yamulke and sat down to do some number crunching. It appears that US aid to Israel is placed at the level $10-$12 billion a year. There is also some speculation about paying off their loans and the German forking over additional billions, but that is just speculation.
Now if the question is, would $10-12 billion a year be worth Jewish support for white nationalist policies, my answer is: without a doubt. Of course, the problem is that we give the Jews what they want and don't get anything in return. One solution is not to give the Jews what they want. An other is to demand something in return. My suggestion has been that look at convincing Jews to give us something in return instead of simply attacking them on all verbal fronts like mad dogs.
2003-01-17 23:22 | User Profile
*My suggestion has been that look at convincing Jews to give us something in return instead of simply attacking them on all verbal fronts like mad dogs. *
Instead of expecting or requesting something in return, how about Israel simply stop sucking off the American taxpayer teet. Is that too much to ask?
BTW, what are the odds of that happening??
2003-01-17 23:28 | User Profile
Sert -- A much, much belated thank you for the Vet. message - I return same.
This whole war thing with Iraq is simply surreal, is it not? Bush has lost his mind. WB
2003-01-20 08:27 | User Profile
W. Bales,
You`re quite welcome. Bush is mad, the idea of going to war for lunatics like the ones in the article below are too much.
Riot at funeral of Israeli settler
By Mazen Dana in Hebron 20 January 2003 Jewish settlers rampaged through the West Bank city of Hebron yesterday, smashing the windows of Palestinian homes and setting cars on fire as they prepared to bury a settler killed by Palestinians.
The body of Natanel Ozeri, 34, killed by Palestinian gunmen on Friday at his home in an illegal outpost near the city, became entangled in a tug-of-war between settlers and Israeli security forces during his funeral procession.
Settlers wanted to bury him where he was shot but police blocked the way. The violence came nine days before Israel's elections, whichthe Likud party of Ariel Sharon, the Prime Minister, is likely to win.
Israeli media reported that Mr Ozeri was a member of the outlawed anti-Arab Kach movement and had been jailed for rioting at a settler's funeral in July. ÃÂ 20 January 2003
[url=http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=370966]http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle...sp?story=370966[/url] ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ This is one of two main reason why they want to have a war, to bail out idiotic zealots like the "settlers," (i.e., sqautters) that went forth and raised all this hell. Zionists screwed up big time when they decided they just had to have Palestine for their future bandit state instead of taking Uganda. They made their bed, let them sleep in it.
2003-01-20 13:48 | User Profile
Sertorius: Zionists screwed up big time when they decided they just had to have Palestine for their future bandit state instead of taking Uganda. They made their bed, let them sleep in it. Except they want US in the bed with them... And just guess who's getting screwed!!!