I’m hoping one of you can explain something to me.
I tried to figure out how much money the U.S. gives to Israel every year. It’s hard to determine the figure because the assistance takes different forms and there are different opinions about how to count it. For example, the U.S. budget is running a deficit. Should we count every dollar we give to Israel as just a dollar, or do we include the interest expense because we have to borrow the dollar? And how about direct military assistance – how do you count that?
There are plenty of estimates on the Internet, but I suspect they are mostly from anti-Israel sources. It’s hard to trust them. Some say that 30% of all U.S. foreign aid goes to Israel. But everyone seems to agree that U.S. aid to Israel is between 1-3 billion dollars per year.
It certainly makes sense for the U.S. to support its allies. And presumably we get some things in return, such as intelligence to help with the war on terror.
Here’s the part that puzzles me. I like to ask my political minded friends why we’re giving money to Israel. So far I haven’t found anyone who can think of a good reason. Everyone I’ve asked thinks we should stop so that the terrorists have less justification to attack.
Then there’s the issue of alternative uses for that money. If you asked the American public to vote where they’d like their billion dollars to go, and it could only go to one of these purposes, which would they choose?
1. Homeland security
2. Saving lives in Darfur
3. Katrina reconstruction
4. Making life easier for Israelis
According to Wikipedia, the GDP of Israel in 2004 was $145 billion. Our one billion doesn’t have much effect on them, but it sure pisses off the people who are trying to kill us so we’ll stop supporting them.
So why do we give foreign aid to Israel? That’s not a rhetorical question. I actually want to know the answer.