No Aid to Israel
Aref Assaf , As published in the Bergen Record,
December 13, 2002
Israel has recently asked Washington for about $4 billion in
new military aid, and $8 billion to $10 billion in loan
guarantees to help bolster its badly flagging economy; it
will likely receive a large percentage of this.
Economist
and Middle East specialist Thomas Stauffer estimates that
since 1973, Israel has cost the United States about $1.6
trillion (adjusted to 2001 dollars). This figure includes
such things as outright grants from public and private
sources, discounts on military purchases, forgiven loans (or
forgiven interest), and taxpayer-funded subsidies to the
Israeli arms industry.
It also includes costs such as $139 billion in foreign
aid paid to Egypt and Jordan to secure peace agreements with
Israel. Stauffer adds in costs and losses incurred as a
result of the 1973 oil embargo, on the grounds that it was
caused by U.S. military support for Israel.
It should be mentioned that much of the direct aid is in
violation of U.S. domestic law, which prohibits military aid
from going to any country "which engages in a consistent
pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized
human rights."
It is clear that Israel has cost the United States a huge
amount of money. It is unclear whether this should be
described as "support" for Israel. In funding the hawkish
agenda of the most militant factions of Israeli society, the
United States has in effect shielded Israel from needing to
integrate itself into the region and deal fairly with the
Palestinians. In these terms, United States aid has not
supported Israel at all, but has done considerable damage to
both Israeli society as well as to the Palestinian people.
Aref Assaf
