21 jan 2020
Billions of US taxpayers’ dollars will continue to be funneled into Israel in the next fiscal year, and for many years in the foreseeable future.
Republican and Democratic Senators have recently ensured just that, passing a bill aimed at providing Israel with $3.3 billion in aid every year.
The Bill, co-sponsored by Democratic Senator Chris Coons and Republican Senator Marco Rubio, was passed on 9 January, only one day after Iran struck US positions in Iraq. Enthusiasm to push the Bill forward was meant to be an assurance to Tel Aviv from Washington that the US is committed to Israel’s security and military superiority in the Middle East.
Despite a palpable sense of war fatigue among all Americans, regardless of their political leaning, their country continues to sink deeper into Middle East conflicts simply because it is unable – or perhaps unwilling — to challenge Israel’s benefactors across the US government. “What’s good for Israel is good for America” continues to be the supreme maxim within Washington’s political elites, despite the fact that such irrational thinking has wrought disasters on the Middle East as a whole, and is finally forcing a hasty and humiliating American retreat.
The latest aid package to Israel will officially put into law a “Memorandum of Understanding” that was reached between the right-wing government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Barack Obama administration in 2016. At the time, Obama had offered Israel the largest military aid package in US history.
Senator Rubio explained the passing of the recent Bill in terms of the “unprecedented threats” that are supposedly faced by Israel. Coons, meanwhile, said that “the events of the past few days [the US-Iran escalation], were a stark reminder of the importance of US assistance to Israel’s security.”
What is particularly odd about Coons’ statement is the fact that it was not Israel, but US positions in Iraq that were struck by Iranian missiles, and that they were fired in response to the killing of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani.
Yet, the American taxpayers’ funding of Israel’s military adventures continues unabated, despite the rapidly changing political reality in the Middle East, and the shifting US role in the region. This confirms further that the blind US support of Israel is not motivated by a centralized, distinctly American, strategy that aims to serve US interests. Instead, the unconditional – and, often, self-defeating — US government funding of the Israeli war machine is linked largely to domestic American politics and, indeed, the unparalleled power wielded by the pro-Israel lobby in the United States.
According to the public policy research institute of the United States Congress, the Congressional Research Centre (CRS), between 1946 and 2019 (including the requested funds for 2020) US aid to Israel has exceeded $142 billion.
Most of this immense sum of money — over $101 billion — went directly to the Israeli military budget, while over $34 billion and $7 billion went to Israel in terms of economic aid and missile defense funding respectively.
It is becoming increasingly obvious that the US no longer possesses a well-defined and centralized strategy in the Middle East; President Donald Trump changes American priorities from one speech or tweet to the next. However, the one consistent key phrase in whatever political agenda happens to be championed by Washington in the region at any particular time is: “Israel’s security”.
This precarious term seems to be linked to every American action pertaining to the Middle East, as it has for decades under every American administration, without exception. Wars have been launched or funded in the name of Israel’s security; human rights have been violated on a massive scale; the five-decade — and counting — military occupation of Palestine, the protracted siege of the impoverished Gaza Strip and much more, have all been carried out, defended and sustained in the name of Israel’s security.
US aid to Israel — the occupying state — continues, while all American aid to the Palestinians — the people under Israeli occupation — has been cut off, including the $300 million annual donations to the UN Agency responsible for the welfare of Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
The Agency has provided education, healthcare, and shelter for millions of refugees since 1949, but is now, bizarrely, seen by both Israel and the US as “an obstacle to peace”.
Inexplicably, Israel receives roughly “one-third of the American foreign-aid budget, even though (it) comprises just .001 percent of the world’s population and already has one of the world’s higher per capita incomes,” wrote Professor Stephen Zunes in the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.
This massive budget includes much more than the $3.3 billion of annual funding, but the other amounts and perks rarely make headlines. Anywhere between $500 million to $800 million is given to Israel every year as part of a missile defense package; an additional $1 billion benefits Israel in the form of tax-deductible donations, while $500 billion is invested in Israeli bonds.
Then there are the loan guarantees, where the US government assumes the responsibility for billions of dollars that Israel can access as a borrower from international creditors. If Israel defaults on its loans, it is the legal responsibility of the US government to offset the interest on the borrowed money.
Since 1982, Israel has been receiving US aid as a lump sum, as opposed to scheduled payments, as happens with other countries. To fulfill its self-imposed obligations to Israel, the US government borrows the money and is thus left to pay interest on the loans. “Israel even lends some of this money back through US treasury bills and collects the additional interest,” Zunes explained.
US relations with Israel are not governed by the kind of political wisdom that is predicated on mutual benefit. But they are not entirely irrational either, as the American ruling classes have aligned their interests, their perception of the Middle East and their country’s role in that region with that of Israel, thanks to years of media and official indoctrination.
Despite the fact that the US is retreating from the region, lacking strategy and future vision, lawmakers in Washington are congratulating themselves on passing yet another generous aid package to Israel. They feel proud of their great feat because, in their confused thinking, a ‘secured’ Israel is the only guarantor of US dominance in the Middle East. That is a theory that has been proven false, time and time again.
– Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of five books. His latest is “These Chains Will Be Broken: Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons” (Clarity Press, Atlanta). Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA), Istanbul Zaim University (IZU). His website is www.ramzybaroud.net
Republican and Democratic Senators have recently ensured just that, passing a bill aimed at providing Israel with $3.3 billion in aid every year.
The Bill, co-sponsored by Democratic Senator Chris Coons and Republican Senator Marco Rubio, was passed on 9 January, only one day after Iran struck US positions in Iraq. Enthusiasm to push the Bill forward was meant to be an assurance to Tel Aviv from Washington that the US is committed to Israel’s security and military superiority in the Middle East.
Despite a palpable sense of war fatigue among all Americans, regardless of their political leaning, their country continues to sink deeper into Middle East conflicts simply because it is unable – or perhaps unwilling — to challenge Israel’s benefactors across the US government. “What’s good for Israel is good for America” continues to be the supreme maxim within Washington’s political elites, despite the fact that such irrational thinking has wrought disasters on the Middle East as a whole, and is finally forcing a hasty and humiliating American retreat.
The latest aid package to Israel will officially put into law a “Memorandum of Understanding” that was reached between the right-wing government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Barack Obama administration in 2016. At the time, Obama had offered Israel the largest military aid package in US history.
Senator Rubio explained the passing of the recent Bill in terms of the “unprecedented threats” that are supposedly faced by Israel. Coons, meanwhile, said that “the events of the past few days [the US-Iran escalation], were a stark reminder of the importance of US assistance to Israel’s security.”
What is particularly odd about Coons’ statement is the fact that it was not Israel, but US positions in Iraq that were struck by Iranian missiles, and that they were fired in response to the killing of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani.
Yet, the American taxpayers’ funding of Israel’s military adventures continues unabated, despite the rapidly changing political reality in the Middle East, and the shifting US role in the region. This confirms further that the blind US support of Israel is not motivated by a centralized, distinctly American, strategy that aims to serve US interests. Instead, the unconditional – and, often, self-defeating — US government funding of the Israeli war machine is linked largely to domestic American politics and, indeed, the unparalleled power wielded by the pro-Israel lobby in the United States.
According to the public policy research institute of the United States Congress, the Congressional Research Centre (CRS), between 1946 and 2019 (including the requested funds for 2020) US aid to Israel has exceeded $142 billion.
Most of this immense sum of money — over $101 billion — went directly to the Israeli military budget, while over $34 billion and $7 billion went to Israel in terms of economic aid and missile defense funding respectively.
It is becoming increasingly obvious that the US no longer possesses a well-defined and centralized strategy in the Middle East; President Donald Trump changes American priorities from one speech or tweet to the next. However, the one consistent key phrase in whatever political agenda happens to be championed by Washington in the region at any particular time is: “Israel’s security”.
This precarious term seems to be linked to every American action pertaining to the Middle East, as it has for decades under every American administration, without exception. Wars have been launched or funded in the name of Israel’s security; human rights have been violated on a massive scale; the five-decade — and counting — military occupation of Palestine, the protracted siege of the impoverished Gaza Strip and much more, have all been carried out, defended and sustained in the name of Israel’s security.
US aid to Israel — the occupying state — continues, while all American aid to the Palestinians — the people under Israeli occupation — has been cut off, including the $300 million annual donations to the UN Agency responsible for the welfare of Palestinian refugees, UNRWA.
The Agency has provided education, healthcare, and shelter for millions of refugees since 1949, but is now, bizarrely, seen by both Israel and the US as “an obstacle to peace”.
Inexplicably, Israel receives roughly “one-third of the American foreign-aid budget, even though (it) comprises just .001 percent of the world’s population and already has one of the world’s higher per capita incomes,” wrote Professor Stephen Zunes in the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.
This massive budget includes much more than the $3.3 billion of annual funding, but the other amounts and perks rarely make headlines. Anywhere between $500 million to $800 million is given to Israel every year as part of a missile defense package; an additional $1 billion benefits Israel in the form of tax-deductible donations, while $500 billion is invested in Israeli bonds.
Then there are the loan guarantees, where the US government assumes the responsibility for billions of dollars that Israel can access as a borrower from international creditors. If Israel defaults on its loans, it is the legal responsibility of the US government to offset the interest on the borrowed money.
Since 1982, Israel has been receiving US aid as a lump sum, as opposed to scheduled payments, as happens with other countries. To fulfill its self-imposed obligations to Israel, the US government borrows the money and is thus left to pay interest on the loans. “Israel even lends some of this money back through US treasury bills and collects the additional interest,” Zunes explained.
US relations with Israel are not governed by the kind of political wisdom that is predicated on mutual benefit. But they are not entirely irrational either, as the American ruling classes have aligned their interests, their perception of the Middle East and their country’s role in that region with that of Israel, thanks to years of media and official indoctrination.
Despite the fact that the US is retreating from the region, lacking strategy and future vision, lawmakers in Washington are congratulating themselves on passing yet another generous aid package to Israel. They feel proud of their great feat because, in their confused thinking, a ‘secured’ Israel is the only guarantor of US dominance in the Middle East. That is a theory that has been proven false, time and time again.
– Ramzy Baroud is a journalist and the Editor of The Palestine Chronicle. He is the author of five books. His latest is “These Chains Will Be Broken: Palestinian Stories of Struggle and Defiance in Israeli Prisons” (Clarity Press, Atlanta). Dr. Baroud is a Non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA), Istanbul Zaim University (IZU). His website is www.ramzybaroud.net
20 jan 2020
Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly pushing for the U.S. administration to present the peace plan before the vote; while Benny Gantz opposes such a move, raising concerns over election intervention
U.S. President Donald is weighing whether to release his administration's Middle East peace plan ahead of the March 2 general election, Channel 13 reported Sunday.
The launch of the so-called “deal of the century” has been delayed repeatedly by the political uncertainty in Israel, which will hold an unprecedented third vote in the span of a single year.
The first part of the proposal was presented last summer during the "Peace to Prosperity" workshop in Manama, Bahrain.
It dealt exclusively with financial incentives for the Palestinians in case a peace plan was concluded.
The publication of the other part, which deals with the political dimensions of a proposed solution, was repeatedly delayed due to the lack of a full-fledged elected government in Jerusalem.
Trump is expected to make a final decision in the coming days as he holds talks with his peace team in Washington and regional leaders in the Arab world at the Davos World Economic Forum, set to begin on Monday.
Making the decision public will take into consideration several factors.
Senior officials with knowledge on the subject told Channel 13 that one of the main factors is Trump's upcoming impeachment proceedings in the Senate.
The most important consideration, however, will be made following the expected meeting between Senior White House Advisor Jared Kushner and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue & White party head Benny Gantz, later this week in Jerusalem.
Netanyahu is reportedly pushing for the administration to present the peace plan before the vote, while Gantz opposes such a move, raising concerns over election intervention.
U.S. President Donald is weighing whether to release his administration's Middle East peace plan ahead of the March 2 general election, Channel 13 reported Sunday.
The launch of the so-called “deal of the century” has been delayed repeatedly by the political uncertainty in Israel, which will hold an unprecedented third vote in the span of a single year.
The first part of the proposal was presented last summer during the "Peace to Prosperity" workshop in Manama, Bahrain.
It dealt exclusively with financial incentives for the Palestinians in case a peace plan was concluded.
The publication of the other part, which deals with the political dimensions of a proposed solution, was repeatedly delayed due to the lack of a full-fledged elected government in Jerusalem.
Trump is expected to make a final decision in the coming days as he holds talks with his peace team in Washington and regional leaders in the Arab world at the Davos World Economic Forum, set to begin on Monday.
Making the decision public will take into consideration several factors.
Senior officials with knowledge on the subject told Channel 13 that one of the main factors is Trump's upcoming impeachment proceedings in the Senate.
The most important consideration, however, will be made following the expected meeting between Senior White House Advisor Jared Kushner and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue & White party head Benny Gantz, later this week in Jerusalem.
Netanyahu is reportedly pushing for the administration to present the peace plan before the vote, while Gantz opposes such a move, raising concerns over election intervention.
14 jan 2020
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US President Donald Trump said that he made Saudi Arabia pay the US for the increased presence of American service personnel in the region as a result of the regional tensions.
In an interview with the American TV channel Fox News, Trump said: “Saudi Arabia is paying us for [our troops]. We have a very good relationship with Saudi Arabia.” “I said, listen, you’re a very rich country. You want more troops? I’m going to send them to you, but you’ve got to pay us. They’re paying us. They’ve already deposited $1 billion in the bank.” tweet Last October the Pentagon said it approved the deployment of 3,000 additional soldiers and military equipment to Saudi Arabia after the |
country’s state-owned oil giant, Aramco, was subjected in September to a missile attack, for which Yemen’s Houthis claimed responsibility. The new military equipment included Patriot missiles, THAAD system and fighting planes.
Trump has repeatedly said he would force states to pay for US protection, often in reference to Gulf states. The region has seen unprecedented upheaval since Trump’s arrival to the Oval Office, with tensions between Saudi and Iran being at their peak and an ongoing nearly three year Arab boycott of Qatar.
Trump has repeatedly said he would force states to pay for US protection, often in reference to Gulf states. The region has seen unprecedented upheaval since Trump’s arrival to the Oval Office, with tensions between Saudi and Iran being at their peak and an ongoing nearly three year Arab boycott of Qatar.
12 jan 2020
NBC News says Jerusalem 'helped confirm the details' of Iran's general secret flight from Damascus to Baghdad, where his vehicle was struck by drones upon arrival; earlier, top IDF official claimed Israel was 'not the story' of the operation
Israeli intelligence was used by the United States in a mission to assassinate a top Iranian general, NBC News reported Sunday.
Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds force and mastermind of its regional security strategy, was killed in an airstrike a week ago near the Iraqi capital's international airport.
Iran struck back at the Americans days later by firing a series of ballistic missiles at two military bases in Iraq housing American troops. There were no reported American casualties.
According to the report, Israeli intelligence "helped confirm the details" of Soleimani's Cham Wings Airbus A320 flight from the Syrian capital of Damascus to Baghdad on January 3.
Neither Soleimani nor the soldiers were registered on the passenger manifesto, according to a Cham Wings airline employee.
Despite the high level of secrecy, once the general had landed in Iraqi capital, rockets fired from a U.S. drone killed him as he left the airport in a convoy of two armored vehicles.
Citing interviews with two officials with direct knowledge of the operation, NBC News says that initially informants at the Damascus airport provided intelligence on Soleimani's flight to Baghdad.
In Iraq's capital, American spies pinpointed the location of the jet carrying Soleimani, his meeting with an Iraqi ally at the runway broadcast live for U.S. officials across the globe to watch.
At this point, three U.S. drones were already hovering up above, armed with Hellfire missiles and ready to eliminate a man who, according to President Donald Trump, was planning attacks on four U.S. embassies.
With little traffic on Baghdad's roads, Soleimani's convoy - one sedan carrying the general and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis (founder of Kata'ib Hezbollah militias) and a minivan with their entourage - headed out and went up in flames after four missiles were launched from the drones.
The report gave no further details on the extent of Jerusalem's alleged involvement in the operation.
GOC Southern Command Maj. Gen. Herzi Halevi last Monday distanced Israel from the killing of the general, saying Israelis “are not the story here.”
Israeli intelligence was used by the United States in a mission to assassinate a top Iranian general, NBC News reported Sunday.
Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran's elite Quds force and mastermind of its regional security strategy, was killed in an airstrike a week ago near the Iraqi capital's international airport.
Iran struck back at the Americans days later by firing a series of ballistic missiles at two military bases in Iraq housing American troops. There were no reported American casualties.
According to the report, Israeli intelligence "helped confirm the details" of Soleimani's Cham Wings Airbus A320 flight from the Syrian capital of Damascus to Baghdad on January 3.
Neither Soleimani nor the soldiers were registered on the passenger manifesto, according to a Cham Wings airline employee.
Despite the high level of secrecy, once the general had landed in Iraqi capital, rockets fired from a U.S. drone killed him as he left the airport in a convoy of two armored vehicles.
Citing interviews with two officials with direct knowledge of the operation, NBC News says that initially informants at the Damascus airport provided intelligence on Soleimani's flight to Baghdad.
In Iraq's capital, American spies pinpointed the location of the jet carrying Soleimani, his meeting with an Iraqi ally at the runway broadcast live for U.S. officials across the globe to watch.
At this point, three U.S. drones were already hovering up above, armed with Hellfire missiles and ready to eliminate a man who, according to President Donald Trump, was planning attacks on four U.S. embassies.
With little traffic on Baghdad's roads, Soleimani's convoy - one sedan carrying the general and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis (founder of Kata'ib Hezbollah militias) and a minivan with their entourage - headed out and went up in flames after four missiles were launched from the drones.
The report gave no further details on the extent of Jerusalem's alleged involvement in the operation.
GOC Southern Command Maj. Gen. Herzi Halevi last Monday distanced Israel from the killing of the general, saying Israelis “are not the story here.”
