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Biden decided to not only link military aid to Israel to a giant package of aid, over $60 billion to Ukraine, but also a huge package of other priorities, including getting illegal aliens processed faster, spending in the Pacific and “humanitarian aid” to the ‘Palestinians’.
Meanwhile, the media feels free to run headlines like this.
‘The White House is asking for almost $106 billion for Israel, Ukraine and the border’ – NPR
In order of priorities, the money is mostly going to Ukraine.
The White House’s breakdown runs something like this, $61.4 billion for military and economic assistance to Ukraine, $14 billion to hire more border patrol officers, asylum processors and judges, $4 billion for foreign aid in the Pacific and $14 billion for Israel. The Israel figure however seems to be inflated by rolling in embassy security expenditures.
The military aid for Israel is around $10 billion with an additional “$3.7 billion for the State Department to strengthen Israel’s military and enhance US Embassy security.” I’m not sure how the State Department is strengthening Israel’s military. Securing U.S. embassies in the region is obviously a vital priority, but it’s not aid to Israel.
Rolling embassy security funding in and pretending it’s part of an aid package to Israel is dishonest, and yet virtually the entire media has quoted a $14 billion aid to Israel figure.
The official budget letter admits “the request will also help the Administration enhance embassy security by sustaining Mission Israel and our embassies in neighboring countries.”
Strengthening security on embassies in Egypt, Jordan and say, Libya, is a good idea. It’s not foreign aid to Israel.
Even that $10 billion figure creates the impression of a huge check being sent to Israel. What it actually means is allocation of military equipment and ammo from American defense contractors. And in some cases, it just means money sent to defense contractors to improve their functionality.
“For an additional amount for “Operation and Maintenance, Defense-Wide”, $4,400,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 2025, to respond to the situation in Israel and for related expenses: Provided, That amounts made available by under this heading shall be available for transfer to accounts under the headings “Operation and Maintenance”, “Procurement”, “Research, Development, Test and Evaluation”, and “Revolving and Management Funds” for replacement, through new procurement or repair of existing unserviceable equipment, of defense articles from the stocks of the Department of Defense, and for reimbursement for defense services of the Department of Defense and military education and training, provided to or identified for provision to Israel or to foreign countries that have provided support to Israel at the request of the United States:”
$800 million would be used to build up local capacity.
This request would provide $801 million to the Procurement of Ammunition, Army account in the Department of Defense. Funds would be used to: improve ammunition plants and equipment in order to increase capacity; and accelerate the production of equipment in order to more rapidly replenish defense stocks.
So it’s $800 million that’s going to build up U.S. ammunition plants and make them readier to produce at a more rapid capacity. (This will be more likely benefit Ukraine than Israel. We’ve been running out supplying Ukraine, not Israel.)
I support improving our production capacity, but this is not what comes into people’s minds when they think foreign aid to Israel.
There’s another $200 million being similarly utilized.
This request would provide $199 million to the Defense Production Act Purchases Account in the Department of Defense. Funds would be used to mitigate industrial base constraints to allow for faster production of weapons and equipment.
Again this will help Israel. It’ll help Ukraine. It’ll help us if we get into a war. But it’s money being used to improve the capacity of defense contractors here.
There is $4 billion here to resupply Iron Dome. And $1.2 billion to fund research on Iron Beam, a system to stop short-range rocket attacks.
Those provide direct military benefits to Israel.
This isn’t unusual. It’s how foreign aid to Israel works. Unlike a lot of countries, aid to Israel mostly means aid to American defense contractors, spending credits that Israel can use and equipment and weapons transfers, and ammo resupply. All of those are useful, but they’re not the big giant check for $10 billion that some people envision.
When you hear about $X billion a year in foreign aid, that’s what it actually looks like.
Israel just needs to cut ties with America. I’m American and I love our culture but our government is fucking evil. A rattlesnake is more trustworthy. Sure. they’ll all bite you and kill you if you go near them but you don’t have to go near them. And if you turn around and stop looking at them, they slither away.
You can’t get away from the government. It slithers but it never leaves.
Sadly, you are right. We are inconsistent with Israel and therefore not to be trusted.
That’s really just a down payment on your dependency. Israel shouldn’t even need anything from Biden. Blithering idiot Biden.
It has to do with the dollar being the World’s reserve currency. As bad as our government financial management is, the other currencies are worse. So Israel has to have a real budget instead of borrowing and printing money like we do.
The US puts many client states in the same position.. The US provides weapons and uses those client states as proxies. But the time comes when the US withholds resupply or ammunitions, and the client states are abandoned to their own devices. They often don’t survive. We’ve seen this repeatedly in recent decades. Israel may have thought it had a special relationship with America as the only democracy in the Middle East, but Obama/Biden should dispel that myth as they deliberately abandon Israel while pretending to support Israel and avoid domestic criticism.
Pervie Biden wants us to replenish our diminished stock weaponry by spend for all new equipment but we had all new weapons ($85 billion) and left it behind for the terrorists in Afghanistan – some of which has already moved into Gaza. All this corrupt criminal is doing is shoveling billions to the weapons industry. He needs to be removed from office and arrested for murderous crimes against this nation.
The money and weaponry moving around is just another way to make many in government and the military industrustrial complex very rich. Treason.