The other day I asked if anyone could explain why we give foreign aid to Israel. I received about 25 alleged reasons. As readers of this blog already know, when something has one reason, there’s a healthy chance that it’s a good reason. When something has 25 completely different reasons, they’re probably all bullshit. That’s just a general rule. Judge for yourself whether it fits this case.
For your convenience, I grouped your alleged reasons into the ones that sound feasible to me and the ones that sound nutty. The feasible sounding ones aren’t “reasons” per se – more like explanations of something gone terribly wrong. And the nutty ones have grains of truth – they just don’t seem compelling compared to alternate uses of the money.
EXPLANATIONS THAT SOUND BOTH TROUBLING AND FEASIBLE
– Aid was part of the U.S. promise at the Camp David peace accords to get agreements between Israel and Egypt. Egypt gets about the same amount of U.S. aid as Israel. (How long did the U.S. agree to continue funding? Forever?)
– In exchange for U.S. aid, Israel is required to buy stuff from the U.S. (mostly military), thus lining the pockets of the military industrial complex.
– U.S. politicians don’t want to lose Jewish votes.
– Many Christians in the U.S. believe that the nation-state of Israel must be restored and the Temple Mount rebuilt prior to the return of Christ and the following “Tribulation.” Thus, support for Israel as a nation-state is viewed as supporting God in history’s culmination.
NUTTY SOUNDING EXPLANATIONS WITH SOME GRAINS OF TRUTH
– It is noble and right because Israel has a right to exist on that particular land.
– Guilt for WWII.
– We get valuable R&D for free from Israel.
– They are our foothold for democracy in the Middle East.
– They need the military aid or they would be destroyed.
– It’s really bribes in disguise to politicians.
– Our aid makes up .7% of Israel’s budget and they would collapse without it.
– Israel is our most reliable ally in the region.
– We are keeping our promise to help others.
– Helping Israel gives us an “extended defense” against dictatorships.
– If we help Israel now, it won’t become an economic basket case and need more help later.
– Financial aide to Israel is viewed by evangelicals as some sort of insurance against God punishing America.
– To maintain our sphere of influence.
– To keep Israel militarily strong so it doesn’t need to launch a preemptive war against its neighbors while they are still weaker.
– Because if Israel fails, it looks as if democracy doesn’t work in the middle east.
– To influence policy in Israel.
– Israel is the U.S. military surrogate in the region. Attacking Iraq’s nuclear reactor is one example.
– Israel is giving us military and other technology that they wouldn’t otherwise have or give to us.
– If Israel is conquered it will trigger the end of the world.
– If we stop funding Israel now, it will make the terrorists think that terror works.
– If we abandon Israel it shows the world we won’t support our allies.
How do you explain to yourself the long list of reasons for giving massive aid to Israel?
One explanation is that it’s a coincidence caused by Israel being at the geographic center of so much history and so much oil.
The other explanation is cognitive dissonance. In other words, the real reason is emotional, but we can’t acknowledge our irrationality to ourselves, much less to others, so we concoct a fabulous set of rationalizations so we don’t seem so nutty.
I think it’s a combination.