June 19th, 2009 | 
Author: Despite budget cuts, US won’t cut military aid to Israel – Jerusalem Post
 Daily Beast |
Despite budget cuts, US won't cut military aid to Israel
Jerusalem Post Senior White House and Congress officials clarified during a series of meetings with Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz that the United States has no intention to cut military aid to Israel, despite the drastic cuts in the US budget, The Finance Ministry … Obama Gave Israel Bunker-Buster Bombs Steinitz Assured on US Military Aid |
In Defense of U.S. Aid to Israel | FrontPage Magazine
frontpagemag.com10/27/11
As demonstrated in the present writer's two previous articles (here and here) regarding US aid to Israel, the USA, in return for its aid and political support, receives from Israel very profitable financial and political reciprocity and …
Many talk-backers and writers of articles on the web, seemingly believe that if America ceased to give aid to Israel, that the Israeli economy would simply collapse.
Such comments are totally fallacious and only display ignorance, with many of them perhaps being based on simple wishful thinking.
According to the Congressional Research Service, the following fifteen countries were the top recipients of U.S. Foreign Aid for fiscal year 2004.
1) Iraq – $18.44 billion
2) Israel – $2.62 billion
3) Egypt – $1.87 billion
4) Afghanistan – $1.77 billion
5) Colombia – $570 million
6) Jordan – $560 million
7) Pakistan – $390 million
8 ) Liberia – $210 million
9) Peru – $170 million
10) Ethiopia – $160 million
11) Bolivia – $150 million
12) Turkey – $150 million
13) Uganda – $140 million
14) Sudan – $140 million
15) Indonesia – $130 million
Compare the above to this;
WASHINGTON – President George W. Bush’s administration will submit its proposed budget for US foreign aid in 2008 to Congress on Wednesday, requesting USD 20.27 billion – a more than 12 percent increase in foreign aid from 2007, and Lebanon to receive some USD 52 million, Israel to get USD 2.4 billion.
Please note that the amount intended for Israel in 2008 was less than the 2004 figure.
A closer look at the aid figures reveals a lot more than is obvious on the surface however.
Israel’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew 6.6 percent in the first quarter of 2006 and is presently said to be GDP: $161.9 billion.
So U.S. aid to Israel of 2.62 billion represents only 1.6% of Israel’s GDP.
Meaning that the withdrawal of 1.6% of Israel’s GDP would hardly make a dent in its strong economy, let alone destroy it.
A next point of interest is that all of the aid given to Israel by the US is military aid.
That’s right, ALL of it is military aid.
Following an initiative that was introduced by Benjamin Netanyahu when he was Prime Minister between June 1996 to July 1999, civilian aid was steadily reduced and completely ended in 2008.
The U.S. will supply Israel with $2.4 billion in military aid this year, but 80% of that money must be spent on purchasing arms from American companies, and it’s worth noting that Israel’s total defense expenditure was reportedly $16.2 billion last year.
Israel was the top defense spender relative to its population in 2008, with the government shelling out more than $2,300 per person, over $300 more than the US, which boasts the second largest ratio.
So what would happen to Israel if it didn’t get $2.4 billion dollars of military aid from the U.S. ?
Much less than you’d probably expect.
Israel became the world’s fourth largest arms exporter in 2007, after signing contracts worth $4.3 billion, according to the Defense Ministry, and only the U.S.A., Russia and France export more arms.
As a pre-condition for receiving military aid from the U.S. Israel is forbidden from exporting much of its home developed weaponry to a whole list of countries.
It is also forbidden from buying from certain countries, and from developing certain projects that it would otherwise develop.
If America canceled military aid to Israel it would cause major job losses in the U.S. and Israel would start buying and selling to countries that are presently closed to it, and it would also develop weapons’ systems that it presently has on hold.
I have used the latest and most reliable figures that I could find, but if anybody has more recent figures then please give me a link to them.
Update to this article
June 23, 2009
Israel’s economy was upgraded by Morgan Stanley Capital Index (MSCI) from an emerging market status, and was accorded recognition as a full-fledged developed market, and it now ranks economically above countries such as Norway, Ireland, New Zealand, Portugal and Greece.
It’s perhaps interesting to note, that most of the anti-Israeli comments that I see on the talk-backs, come from New Zealand and Norway, and Norway’s impending domination by Muslims, is well known.
In 2010, Israel will rank 18th among the 24 developed market members, and it’s market weight will be similar to that of Denmark and Belgium
Moreover, Israel’s Foreign currency surplus hit $47.5B as the Bank of Israel continues buying US currency in an effort to keep dollar rates stable.
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An interesting & well compiled aggregate of information, but what is missing (& perhaps beyond the scope of a single article) is the reciprocity of Israeli technical improvements to US weapons systems.
Given the ongoing accumulated battle experience, speed, agility, & pragmatic ability to implement improvements, Israeli improvements (I believe ~750 on the F-16 alone) saves & enhances US R&D costs; vastly improve the effectiveness of US weapons systems; extend their useful lives; & make their further sale to others much more attractive (& profitable…). Extrapolate that to the numerous systems used by Israel.
The US, by its sheer “macro” size, breadth of requirements, ability to segment & specialise, & lack of “up close” experience, cannot possibly drill down to the “micro” detail Israel can.
By all accounts, the improvements are a contractual obligation, & they are not some “Farmer’s goats__t welding” improvisation.
They are engineering improvements which are designed, tested, refined, & proven cost effective to military specifications; a large very cost in itself.
About 1.5 years ago, there was a very lengthy article in the Washington Post (Unfortunately, I can’t find the link), attempting to financially quantify the benefits the US receives from Israel, including known intelligence cooperation.
It was estimated, from informed & named sources, over Israel’s existence, @ ~ONE TRILLION dollars. That is, ONE THOUSAND BILLION DOLLARS.
There is no free lunch in DC, so chew on that figure instead… Divide $2.6 Billion (or even the totality of ALL US aid into that, & see who really benefits.
And we haven’t even mentioned covert Israeli military & political intelligence passed to the US, local operational training & doctrine, or possibly being a forward base…
Thank you for such a well considered, and thought out post!
Michael