According the Congressional Research Group, a nonpartisan research arm of the US Congress, Israel has never been a self-sufficient "state".
"Israel is not economically self-sufficient, and relies on foreign assistance and borrowing to maintain its economy. Since 1985, the United States has provided $3 billion in grants annually to Israel. Since 1976, Israel has been the largest annual recipient of U.S. foreign assistance, and is the largest cumulative recipient since World War II. In addition to U.S. assistance, it is estimated that Israel receives about $1 billion annually through philanthropy, an equal amount through short- and long- term commercial loans, and around $1 billion in Israel Bonds proceeds."
This section makes no mention of loan guarantees, but Israel also receives an additional $9 billion wherein many cases repayment is waived. With grants and loan guarantees that brings US annual contributions to Israel in at about $10 billion. According to the CIA Factbook that is roughly 1/10 of Israel's annual GDP. Such an infusion of cash into the US economy would be nearly equal to $1 trillion!
Supporting European Jews in their effort to create a Utopian theocracy in a highly contested region was not good foreign policy in 1948 for many reasons, but it certainly has come home to roost today. Manifesting itself in declining commercial and political relationships around the world and in fewer social and health care services here at home.
Our reputation around the world is clearly being affected negatively by our partisan support for Israel. Our proxy war in Iraq and our overt threats to Iran in the interest of this relationship have cost us many friends abroad. These days it's not only Arab countries that are showing disdain for US government policies regarding the Palestine Issue, but many nations including China, Russia and The European Union are making their feelings known through trade.
From 2005 to 2006 US exports to China only rose by $14 billion (approx. $41 billion to $55 billion). During that same time exports from the EU to China increased by $22 billion (approx. $71 billion to $93 billion ) despite the relative strength of the Euro.
Having lived in China for two years and traveling there on business since, I can tell you that Chinese firms are negotiating contracts with European firms at a much greater rate than before the Iraq war. This war was waged in the name of "national security" and yet at no time has Iraq or Iran posed a physical threat to the United States. The only countries they are capable of threatening are their immediate neighbors. It is clear, however, that protecting Israel was the goal if we look at the Kyl-Lieberman Amendment to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guard a "terrorist organization". That Amendment was later adopted as policy by the Bush administration.
Not only are we losing American jobs through our meddling in the Middle East, but the $10 billion a year that goes into Israeli pockets is coming from government programs here in the United States. With that money we could send 1,713,502 college age students to a public university for an entire year. With that same money we could provide 909,090 American families with health insurance for a year.
The money we give Israel is but a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of the war in Iraq waged on their behalf. It is time to take a very hard look at the damage our monetary and moral support for Israel, is having on the US economy.
Sources:
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/mideast/IB85066.pdf
https://www.odci.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/is.html
http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2007/november/tradoc_136870.pdf
http://usinfo.state.gov/eap/Archive/2005/Mar/03-517799.html
http://money.cnn.com/2006/10/24/pf/college/college_costs/index.htm
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/health/2005-09-14-family-health-policy_x.htm
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2007/09/kyllieberman_iran_amendment_passes_by_huge_margin.php
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21553970/
About Me
- dwit
- Having grown up in a loud, liberal, blue collar household back in the seventies, I can still recall the nightly dinner table debates during election season. They nearly always resulted in my grandparents not speaking to each other for at least a couple of days. Oddly enough, they were both lifelong New Deal Democrats.
11 comments:
Dwit,
Couldn't agree more. I happen to be an Obama supporter based on this issue.
I followed Hillary just prior to her election to the New York Senate seat and up until that point she stressed her support for a Palestinian State and voiced sympathy for their plight under occupation.
In the run-up to the race she began to change her tune and quick. Suddenly her statements began to vilify Arafat.
Its just this kind of character issue that disturbs me. I am afraid that she could be influenced by those with the most money when it comes time to deal with Israel, rather than doing the "right" thing.
Hank,
Yay! My first comment!
I have had the same reservations about Clinton since her first run for Senate.
What troubles me about her and Bill is their cozy relationship with the Israel lobby (AIPAC).
The double standard would be comical if it didn't affect all of us so intimately.
She had the cajones to vote in favor of the Kyl-Lieberman amendment, which I mentioned in the article, yet she endorses AIPAC, which also funnels money to right-wing Hebrew militias in the West Bank and Gaza.
I'm just fed up with this kind of thing. I have to vote for Obama, even though I do have some reservations about his experience. Hell, it will still be waaay better than what we have now.
PS. I saw your comment on the "Open Thread" and I couldn't agree more. We have two Democratic Senators in my state already, but I hope we can fill some of those vacancies coming up in 2008 or we're screwed.
Your second comment:
Namaste Dwit,
Obviously, I agree pretty much with what you've written, and I congratulate you on the total absence of anything which could be construed as antisemitic, even by the most rabid pro-Israeli folk.
The history of this devastating error (the Zionist project and its working out) has been a matter of obsessive interest to me for at least a decade. Before that, like so many, my attitude was conditioned by having read Exodus (Uris' version) as a 50s/60s college student. I have since come 360 degrees.
A great collection of historical documents can be found at mideastweb.org, There is a good summary history from Jews for Justice here, and a wealth of material at Palestineremembered, including the 1946/7 census of Palestine, an explanation of Nakba denial, and a remarkably prescient
statement from over 300 prominent American Jews in 1919.
For the truly obsessive, there is a lengthy and well-referenced
history from the UN.
Suffice it to say, I cannot see any way we can hope to "heal the world" without addressing this running sore which lies at the heart of much that is wrong between the "West" and the rest.
If you're interested, the original "partition" resolution
(UNSC 181) is worth a read, and especially the voting at the bottom. So much for "self-determination" of indigenous peoples...
GRRRRRR!
[/rant]
Salaam/Shalom/Shanthi/Dorood/Peace
-ed
Thanks ed,
Yeah, I am certainly not an anti-Semite. We are Jewish on my father's side. In fact, beyond the economic issues I have presented in my article, I am for a US policy shift with regard to immigration for Israeli Jews.
I have stated in other articles that I believe the real estate now occupied in the ME is more dangerous for Jews than its worth. The US needs to open the doors to all Israeli Jews and allow them to resettle here. That is what Truman should have done after the war. I would even be for some sort of resettlement allowance to these families until they get on their feet.
The United States has been the most Jewish friendly state in history. There is NO country where Jews have thrived to such a degree. Jews occupy every level of government and industry in numbers far disproportional to their population here. That, to me, says it all.
This is the best place for Jews to thrive and grow as an ethnicity. I just hope we can sideline these nutty end-timers and get something like this done in the next decade.
You mention Uris. Unfortunately that and the Bible are the only sources for many.
I have always suggested that folks read the following among others, if they'd like to REALLY understand the phenomenon of Zionism and its affect on the region and our predicament today.
Lawrence Of Arabia: Selected Letters by Malcolm Brown
Seven Pillars of Wisdom: A Triumph by T.E. Lawrence
A Prince of Our Disorder: The Life of T. E. Lawrence
God, Guns and Israel: Britain, the First World War and the Jews in the Homeland
See No Evil: The True Story of a Ground Soldier in the CIA's War on Terrorism
Hi again Dwit,
Sadly, I have to admit to not having read any of the books you list, but it may yet happen. Jews also thrive in the UK, holding prominent positions in government, business and the arts FAR out of proportion to their 0.25% of the population.
The 1919 statement I linked in my first post illustrates the level of achievement in America, but the phenomenon is worldwide.
The Scots and certain Asian sub-groups also exhibit disproportionate achievement, and I reckon it may have something to do with the "traditional values" of such ethnicities - "family" values (nepotism, "clannishness"), education, delayed gratification, and a certain level of eugenic selection.
There is little doubt that the Ashkenazi represent the most "intelligent" gene pool on the planet. This is probably due to Rabbis being encouraged to have large families, while 'lesser' folk were discouraged. Sadly, the Sephardi gene pool has an average IQ below 100,
and now makes up a majority in Israel.
Enough "racism"!
I learned much of my "business" skills from the Jews of New York, and, thanks to semitic looks, have often been mistaken for a Jew, usually to my advantage, although of almost pure WASP geneology (with a hint of Amerindian). My namesake on Facebook is a black Texan, the result, no doubt, of some ancestor's midnight creep.
As to relocating israel in America, I won't hold my breath. I fear the best we could hope for would be a secular, interpenetrating Palestine, and even that seems pretty remote. The (only slightly) likely outcome of a "two-state" solution would still represent a catastrophe for the native Palestinians, and, if you've actually read the road map, and the Israeli 'reservations', you'll know
it ain't worth a dime. Meanwhile, this very day they are building houses in the illegal settlements......and possibly
killing children.
Still, We Go On, inshallah.
God Bless,
ed
Thanks Ed! Yeah, I hope I didn't come off as preachy on that last message. I can see you are well read. I was putting that stuff out there for public consumption.
I recommended the T.E. Lawrence stuff mainly so people can see the mindset of the British during the Zionist era. For all of the empty promises to the Arabs that were subsequently broken.
Many Arabs of Palestine died in aiding the British ouster of the the Turks. No wonder they are pissed off today! The Brits turned right around and gave the "promised" land to the Zionists.
As you are probably aware, the film "Syriana" was based on "See No Evil" by Robert Baer. I thought that might be a good follow-up to the other more historical stuff to see how the US has picked up where the British Empire left off.
The way I see it, The USA of today is not Unlike the British Empire of the Victorian Era. Too far flung to survive.
Dwit,
I enjoyed Syriana, and I'm glad for such folk as Redford and Clooney, and too many others to mention. I also recently enjoyed the Kite Runner, and found it a not bad rendering of the book, which I'd read at a single sitting. I watched "Wilson's War", not knowing whether it'd make me laugh or get me angry. In the end it did both and made me cry as well - "These were magnificent deeds, heroic deeds, but we fucked up the ending..."
Banbino in hiding
Peace, God's mercy and blessings be upon you - Assalaamu Alaykum wa Rahmatulla wa Barakaatuhu
Shalom
ed
Dwit,
Sorry, but the link provided earlier goes to a site full of bin Laden cartoons, but the cartoonist seems not to have been paying his site subscription...
An example from another site of one of John Blair Moore's bin Laden cartoons. The rest are similarly amusing....
Salaam, etc.
ed
Ed,
That is funny stuff!
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