Sen. Rand Paul calls for gradual cut in aid to Israel

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Sen. Rand Paul calls for gradual cut in aid to Israel
January 7, 2013
By Associated Press

JERUSALEM — In his first visit to Israel, U.S. Sen. Rand Paul is calling for a gradual reduction of American foreign aid.

It's an unlikely place to deliver the message, since Israel is among the largest recipients of American assistance. But Paul said in a Monday meeting with reporters that the U.S. can't afford to keep sending money overseas, even to allies like Israel. He says it would be "harder to be a friend of Israel if we are out of money."

The Kentucky Republican, a longtime opponent of foreign aid, acknowledges he's expressing a "minority opinion" and doubts Congress will cut aid. He insists Washington should first cut aid to countries with strained ties to America, such as Pakistan and Egypt.

Israel gets about $3 billion a year in military aid.


Read more: http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/international/middle_east/2013/01/sen_rand_paul_calls_gradual_cut_aid_israel

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(Short article, no more at link.)

[Coyotl]

1. Just cut them off completely. We have children to feed and educate.

Oh, and maybe they can give us a few billion for a few decades, to pay us back for all the kind help.

[Judi Lynn]

2. You'd think the right-wing would support it, wouldn't you?

After all, they are overwrought about spending, they claim. IF that's the case, using our tax dollars HERE would make so much more sense.

[Coyotl]

3. Indeed. Meanwhile, where is the aid to the starving masses in Gaza?

[Dokkie]

4. They get lots of money too

But its high time they all get a hair cut. The US is not as rich as it used to be

[humblebum]

5. Do you mean the ones who keep calling for the destruction of Israel and that they

have no right to exist?

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. You disappoint me. A rare post by you outside Religion, and you show prejudice against a group in it

They meant the starving masses. That's what they said. Why are you attributing political statements to the ordinary people in Gaza?

I thought that you might have compassion, with your religious background. It seems not.

[humblebum]

9. "Starving masses" in African nations definitely, but in Gaza?

Not so much. Israel ships in food supplies in convoys and Gaza markets are filled with produce, people, and guns.

[muriel_volestrangler]

14. Please read:

Ayman, 15, lives in Khuza’a, an impoverished village in southern Gaza, where extreme poverty has dramatically increased due to the blockade. For Ayman, whether or not he’s able to go to school each day is determined by how much food is left in the cupboards.

“Every morning, the first thing I do is go to the kitchen,” he said. “If there is food, I go to school; if there is none, I go to work.”

http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/oPt_59582.html

Almost 58 percent of Palestinians live in poverty, and about half of this group lives in extreme poverty. About 50 percent of Palestinians experience or risk experiencing food insecurity. Food insecurity is particularly severe in Gaza, where the majority of the population relies on humanitarian assistance to survive. The rate of chronic malnutrition in children under the age of five has increased, reaching almost 10 percent, and the mortality figures for children under the age of one and under the age of five have each increased by about 30 percent. Anaemia is common, with 55 percent of children under the age of three affected by the condition. Among pregnant women, the rate is 36 percent―46 percent for nursing mothers. The West Bank and Gaza ranks 114 out of 187 countries on the United Nations Development Programme's 2011 human development index.

http://www.acdi-cida.gc.ca/acdi-cida/ACDI-CIDA.nsf/En/JUD-124144933-R9J

Israel's military blockade of Gaza has left more than 1.4 million Palestinian men, women and children trapped in the Gaza Strip, an area of land just 40 kilometres long and 9.5 kilometres wide.

Mass unemployment, extreme poverty and food price rises caused by shortages have left four in five Gazans dependent on humanitarian aid. As a form of collective punishment, Israel’s continuing blockade of Gaza is a flagrant violation of international law.

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/suffocating-gaza-israeli-blockades-effects-palestinians-2010-06-01

[humblebum]

16. How is it then that the blockades are not curtailing the the flow of rockets and guns into Gaza

but preventing food from crossing. I am not saying that the continued conflict has not caused shortages of everything, but I do think propaganda on both sides is obscuring the actual conditions.

We do know that there is a steady flow of weapons into the Gaza, so you need to ask yourself why it is that food supplies cannot enter the same way. Short answer is that they are, and food shipments also come in by the truckload from Israel.

[Comrade Grumpy]

24. I hear there's a steady flow of weapons into Israel, too.

Get back to me when Gaza is blockading Israel.

[humblebum]

25. There would be no Israel if Gaza had their way about it.

Last edited Tue Jan 8, 2013, 07:35 PM - Edit history (1)

As an official of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt said a few days ago, Israel will cease to exist within a decade.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/9774553/Israel-will-cease-to-exist-within-a-decade-says-Muslim-Brotherhood-official.html

[Joe Bacon]

6. It's time to take Israel off of welfare.

We need to take care of our own.

[loudsue]

7. Agreed. It's also time to take the military industrial complex off welfare.

We need to take care of our own and quit planning to destroy everyone else.

[riverbendviewgal]

10. yes

[lsewpershad]

11. Agreed

[Joe Bacon]

13. Absolutely!

Total agreement.

[Indykatie]

15. Agree Totally

This may be the only statement from Paul that I will ever agree with.

[and-justice-for-all]

31. +4 kazillion

[L0oniX]

12. I'd rather give the 3 billion to 60,000 US poor people ... $50,000 each.

[humblebum]

18. Just imagine if such was applied to people's student loan debt. How much more spending power

the consumers would have to help spur the economy - and new jobs.

[Coyotl]

22. How about $2,500 a year in food stamps to 1.2 million people?

This is a better way to assess what is represented, food security for 1.2 million children in the USA.

[JesterCS]

19. I agree with Rand Paul? WTF is the world coming to.

Honestly though, we should not provide "AID" to any country but our own. I don't care who gets butthurt about it

[h2ebits]

20. I agree

I can actually agree with Rand Paul on something. We really do need to stop aiding and abetting Israel to continue their shameful war against other people.

I want to see worldwide peace in my lifetime.

[NorthCarolina]

21. We're supposedly broke, why wait.

Of course, AIPAC is the largest lobby group in DC, and they do hand out millions annually to friendly lawmakers. The upside I guess, if you want to call it such, is that a portion of the taxpayer funds given to Israel every year does manage to find it's way back here to the US via AIPAC. Pocket grease.

[Comrade Grumpy]

23. Are there any Democrats saying something similar?

[graham4anything]

26. Ron and Rand Paul are proven racists and friends with neo-Nazi's.

I would hope no one is fooled by them.

If I were Israel, I wouldn't have let him into the country

[lib2DaBone]

27. Cut off all foreign aid... America comes first....

If we are so worried about Terrorism... stop using Predator Drones on innocent women and children.

If we stop killing their family.. maybe peace will break out all over world?

There is a better way.. and Dwight D Eisenhower was correct about his warning concerning the Military Industrial Complex.

[KamaAina]

28. Who in Israel is actually meeting with this moran?

[AnOhioan]

29. Never thought I would agree with him...but there is a 1st time for everything

[and-justice-for-all]

30. Holy shit balls! I actually agree with that asshat. nt