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Purveyor

(29,876 posts)
Sat Jan 12, 2013, 01:35 AM Jan 2013

Israel Can Live Without U.S. Aid

To the delight of Israel’s enemies and the dismay of its supporters, libertarian Senator Rand Paul, a potential Republican contender for the United States presidency, argued while in Israel this week that the U.S. should phase out the $3-billion per year in aid that it provides Israel’s military. Ending this aid along with U.S. aid to all foreign countries — call it the Rand Paul Doctrine — would actually leave Israel better off, he claimed to raised eyebrows.

Criticism was quick, especially from Israel’s supporters in the U.S. Said Senator Bill Nelson: “Israel needs the full assistance of the U.S. It’s the only way Israel can remain secure.” Said the National Jewish Democratic Council: “Senator Paul’s misguided views on aid to Israel are plain wrong.”

In fact, the Rand Paul Doctrine is eminently sensible and should be seen as such, including to Israel’s supporters. Paul’s assessment that U.S. “aid hampers Israel’s ability to make its own decisions as it sees fit” is indisputable, as is his assessment that the U.S. gift of military hardware represents lost contracts for Israel’s defence industries. Fresh eyes on Israel’s need for U.S. help would be salutary.

For starters, let’s dispense with the myth that, but for the grace of the U.S. government, Israel could never have survived against its much more populous and better-armed enemies. In the first decades following Israel’s creation in 1948, the U.S was less friend than foe, generally siding with Israel’s Arab neighbours, whom the U.S courted for their oil wealth and to keep them out of the Soviet sphere. The U.S. not only gave Israel little economic and no military aid in the early years — the first military grant wouldn’t come until 1974, a quarter century after Israel’s founding — it refused to even sell arms to help the fledgling state defend itself. Meanwhile, the U.S. not only sold arms to Israel’s enemies, it also lavished them with economic and military aid through a Marshall-type plan for the Middle East.

MORE...

http://opinion.financialpost.com/2013/01/11/israel-can-live-without-u-s-aid/

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ellisonz

(27,709 posts)
1. He's basically correct (I know I just threw up in my mouth too)
Sat Jan 12, 2013, 01:47 AM
Jan 2013

Israel has a GDP of $237 billion. Israel has a defense budget of about $15 billion including our aid. They spend about 7% of GDP on Defense, in contrast to our approximately 5% spending. If we were to withdraw our aid to Israel they could easily make it up without too much negative drag on their economy (Israel has weathered the recession very well BTW).

Israel is not dependent on our aid, they don't need it to be secure, but I don't believe they would do anything different unless we were to pull our diplomatic support too.

That's the math.

 

R. Daneel Olivaw

(12,606 posts)
2. Then why you believe that there is always the gnashing of teeth
Sat Jan 12, 2013, 01:57 AM
Jan 2013

when one suggests it? If aid was to be pulled then it should be pulled on human rights issues alone.

Possibly it is like any freebee. Why let a good thing slip away when you can keep it?

ellisonz

(27,709 posts)
7. Our partisan politics...
Sat Jan 12, 2013, 02:13 AM
Jan 2013

....like I said, from a non-political perspective i.e. that of someone with some study of international relations as a discipline, I do not believe, based on the economic figures and geopolitical position of Israel, that our withdrawing our aid would either substantively weaken the defense capabilities of Israel or force a policy change in Israel. Quite simply, the argument that Israel is dependent on the US for either military or international political support is overstated. This is especially true with the decline of the Labor Party in Israel which is way more influenced by US policy than Likud.

That's just the math, you don't have to like it.

 
18. OMG ANTISEMITISM!
Sat Jan 12, 2013, 03:41 AM
Jan 2013


We should cut aid to all oppressive regimes, starting with Israel and Pakistan, our two worst "allies."

Cary

(11,746 posts)
6. True.
Sat Jan 12, 2013, 02:12 AM
Jan 2013

Israel is an incredibly innovative society. They lack only a market.

We actually get a lot back from Israel. There is a lot more cooperation between Israel and us than some might suspect. Israel continues to be useful in a dangerous and volatile region.

ellisonz

(27,709 posts)
10. Israel by regional standards has a very diverse economy...
Sat Jan 12, 2013, 02:26 AM
Jan 2013

...and a well-developed human and industrial infrastructure.

Israel would certainly benefit from having a stronger regional market, but they have a solid EU presence and prospects in China, India, and the developing world.

Israel is a relatively safe economic bet.

 

dballance

(5,756 posts)
3. Frankly We Should Be Using the $3 billion Domestically.
Sat Jan 12, 2013, 01:59 AM
Jan 2013

Why the hell we're supporting Netanyahu baffles me. We used to support Sadam Hussen too. That didn't work out well did it?

So sorry AIPAC lets spend our money domestically. And no, that is not anti-semitic. It's just good sense for our domestic needs.

 

Purveyor

(29,876 posts)
4. Same it true with all our foreign aid. I have no problem of providing aid in the case of natural
Sat Jan 12, 2013, 02:03 AM
Jan 2013

disaster but beyond that, in this day and age...we can't afford it anymore.

 

Scootaloo

(25,699 posts)
8. Of course, that's not quite what Paul suggested
Sat Jan 12, 2013, 02:16 AM
Jan 2013

He suggested phased ends to funding, starting with those nations with "strained relations" to the US... He specifically mentioned Egypt, for instance.

In other words? We;d keep funding Israel's military after ceasing to do so to other states in the region. End result? We're still fueling Israel's war machine while making the people who bear the brunt of it more vulnerable.

Basically, he called for continuing welfare for the strong and penalties to the weak.

Response to Purveyor (Original post)

ellisonz

(27,709 posts)
11. In the US budget it's a pittance...
Sat Jan 12, 2013, 02:36 AM
Jan 2013

...and in the Israeli budget its a smidgen. Israel has a budget of $76 billion - our aid of $3 billion is approximately 4% of their budget. We would double their budget deficit of 4% but they would survive. This is in contrast to our budget deficit of approximately 34%.

We probably should pull our aid to help clean our fiscal house (albeit it's a very small step). Doing so would actually be more beneficial in the long-run to the security of Israel!

Response to ellisonz (Reply #11)

ellisonz

(27,709 posts)
14. We give them money because we are their ally.
Sat Jan 12, 2013, 02:44 AM
Jan 2013

We give lots of money to other countries for military purposes - 150 countries to be exact.

Top Recipients of U.S. Military Aid, FY2010 Country $U.S. millions
Afghanistan 6,800.3
Israel 2,799.5
Egypt 1,301.9
Iraq 1,006.0
Pakistan 913.9
Jordan 303.8
Somalia 204.0
Colombia 185.8
Russia 126.8
Sudan 104.9
Mexico 96.0
Poland 55.6

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_military_aid

Response to ellisonz (Reply #14)

Behind the Aegis

(53,833 posts)
15. We don't "give" them money.
Sat Jan 12, 2013, 02:51 AM
Jan 2013

The majority of the money is in the form of loans. Another form is "cash in the system" type of money. The US provides money which then Israel in turn spends on American products (almost always defense items). Some of the money that appears to be "gifts" are actually used for testing American systems in Israel. Their nation is a foothold in a volatile region. You have already stated you don't understand and have have no clue, so I suggest you read up on the Middle East, start with hostile on-set of the Cold War. Most of the Arab countries were "falling" to the Soviets, the US decided to "invest" with the Israelis. That is really the beginning of the US-Israeli relationship, thought the US was the 1st (2nd?) country to officially recognize Israel as a sovereign nation.

ellisonz

(27,709 posts)
17. Bingo.
Sat Jan 12, 2013, 03:09 AM
Jan 2013

We're still very much running our Cold War international apparatus.

If our financial support in anyway influenced Israeli policy, then logically Israel should have had a different policy before the onset of our aid in the early 1970s: but it didn't.

I would add that if we took the axe to our Defense Budget (and we very much should) - foreign military aid would be one the last things I would cut. We get tremendous value for our buck in that department.

 

Rex

(65,616 posts)
13. Isreal will always be a friend and have a strategic
Sat Jan 12, 2013, 02:44 AM
Jan 2013

alliance with the United States. That won't ever change. I have no doubt they can survive without US aid, but they will never have to worry about it imo.

The US is the largest arms dealer on the planet. We are lucky all the other countries have not caught on yet.

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