I’m not 100% clear on where you going with that comment, besides there being a lot of Nazi references being dropped in here recently.
That still doesn’t answer my question - why should the US be paying over $3.3 billion a year to support Israel? And that is before any extra war costs get tossed in by Congress in the next few weeks. What am I getting out of this deal? When we aren’t pouring money into either Afghanistan or now Ukraine, Israel is the #1 recipient of US foreign aid, getting 11% of what we spent in 2021. When you add in what we also pay Jordan and Egypt - in part to not attack Israel, and in part to help cover to costs of Palestinian refugees - it almost doubles.
So far I have been told that we get a buddy to help stand off against Iran - which seems a bit pricy. What else does Israel have to offer me, the US taxpayer, in return for $3.3 Billion a year?
The continued existence of a stable and friendly democracy in a region of the world that is critical to our economic interests, and a bulwark against Russian and Islamist imperial designs.
Probably have nuclear weapons, plus rule Syria, Lebanon, and whatever would exist in Israel’s geographical location by proxy and export terror against the west from those locations.
I feel it is fair to question that Israel is stable, what with them engaged in an endless war with their neighbors.
That region of the world is critical to our interests, but that is about the one spot that doesn’t have any oil worth counting. I willing to take bids from Lebanon and others in the region to see if they will do the job for less. The Saudis are always up for a deal.
I also question their democracy rating when Israel openly has two sets of rules for the people who live there.
Edited to add, I prefer my friends not kill civilians on my dime. Our PR in the region already stinks, we can probably do a neat ad campaign in Iran for $2 billion.
Who cares if it’s a democracy? Didn’t Kissinger pioneer the concept of realpolitik on US foreign policy? Whether the allies are democracies or not doesn’t seem to be a motivating factor for the US.
I would phrase it is “The continued existence of a stable and solid ally in a region of the world that is critical to our economic interests”, which I may buy.
Adding the “democracy” as part of it is a red herring.
Here we go again with “bulwark against…”. Please specify how the world would be different wrt Russian and Islamist designs if Israel did not exist
Not sure one virus written 13 years ago is a big enough impact on Iran to stop them from their imperialist designs. What other concrete things that Israel does impeded Iran from their plans?
Israel’s intelligence has been invaluable in preventing Iran’s nuclear program from getting closer to bomb making, and their military has contained Hezbollah in Lebanon, plus have very vigilantly bombed Iranian military shipments into Syria.
Now according to this, in 2021 (most recent I can find) we gave Israel $3.3 billion and Syria $782 million. That seems like we are bidding against ourselves. It happens every time people hear that Uncle Sucker is giving out money. I say we tell Syria to rebid to handle Iran themselves and cut out the middle man.
The Republicans in the House are looking to slash the budget. We can’t just waste our money on some random stretch of desert just because we have for 75 years. Its like with cable, you gotta make them give you a better price or you cut the cord.
It’s an important factor to me. I would much prefer the US to be in the business of boosting and defending liberal democracies where they exist, and Israel is the most liberal democratic state in the entire region.
For $3.3 billion, I want Israel to be more of a liberal democracy, and less of a bloodthirsty bully.
According to this list, Cyprus is more democratic, and we gave them a measly $23,000 in aid. Imagine what they could do with $1 billion. Clean things up in the region in no time flat I’d wager.
Perhaps if North Cyprus tunneled under the DMZ and murdered 1100 Greeks at a music festival they’d be a higher priority. Thank goodness that’s not likely to happen.
Hey, Cyprus has a track record of successfully finding a peaceful solution to a multi-National dispute over the same piece of land. Better than some I could mention.
Look, Israel is busy right now. It isn’t fair for us to ask them to take on all of this regional stuff too. We’ll send their money to Cyprus for now to keep an eye on Syria and Iran, and once Israel takes care of this little problem with their neighbor, they can give us a call and put in a rebid.
The United States has a $50 billion economic and commercial partnership with Israel, and Israelis invest around $24 billion in the US. Israel is the only stable democracy in the region and a very large intelligence partner when it comes to dealing with security threats. Critical components of many American high-tech products are invented and designed in Israel as well. It is not some third-world banana republic. What does Palestine have to offer to the US for the $600 million per year they get in US Aid?
Well with all of that money at play, I guess Israel doesn’t need a petty $3 billion more. I’m not saying we completely cut off Israel. Where they are providing value in return, then that is a fair transaction.
But shouldn’t we be saving our aid for someone who really needs it? Like maybe a place currently with no electricity or running water?
Israel also just recently suffered their biggest intelligence failure, leading to the deaths of 1,200 of their citizens. Why the hell would we want to continue working with those failures? Let’s give someone else a try.
You’re being silly. We fund Israel so it can better defend itself against its enemies that want to destroy it. Funding Cyprus to fight Hamas wouldn’t make any sense, they’d have no interest in the deal, and it’d risk reigniting a cold war and pissing off several NATO members.
I was only replying to the answers given to me by others that we sent money to Israel to pay for things like stopping Iran and Russia, and their wonderful intelligence system. Nobody mentioned Hamas.
You now are telling me we are paying Israel to defend itself. OK, we have been footing that bill for 75 years, and I’m tired of paying it, and seeing my tax dollars used to kill innocent people. So once again, why should I as an American be paying for that? What is Israel giving me back besides blood on my tax dollars? America has pulled out of endless stupid wars before, why should we continue supporting this endless war?