President Obama approved $38 billion in military aid to Israel, but that cash is then recycled to subsidize the U.S. Military-Industrial Complex like some giant money-laundering machine of the taxpayers’ money, explains JP Sottile.
By JP Sottile
The Israeli lobby wins again! That’s the obvious takeaway from President Barack Obama’s historically large, but not quite unprecedented $38 billion “aid package” to Bibi Netanyahu’s supposedly intransigent government.
In Israel, the ten-year deal is seen as a solid, but not complete victory for Bibi. In the U.S., the deal looks like it’s the cost of doing business with Iran. Sadly, the deal also looks like a bad sign of things to come for the Palestinian people.
Lockheed-Martin’s F-35 war plane.
Shortly after the deal was sealed, President Obama’s farewell tour took him to the United Nations where he stated without irony, “Israel must recognize that it cannot permanently occupy and settle Palestinian land.” The utter toothlessness of his admonition was preemptively underlined by a fascinating online video posted by Netanyahu in which he claimed the Palestinians — not the rapidly encroaching Israelis — were the real outlaws. Apparently, they are advocating “ethnic cleansing” by hoping to reclaim pilfered land from illegal Israel settlements peppered throughout the absconded territory of the West Bank.
It’s an amazing bit of pretzel logic gleefully served up to a dwindling, demoralized crowd of two-state enthusiasts. The mustard came when Obama made his final, flaccid appeal to a now-buoyant Bibi regarding his not-so-subtle expansion of Israel’s ethnically-pure settlements.
Of course, this predictable turn of events confirmed what critics of Israel’s outsized influence have always believed — that when it comes to the State of Israel, the fix is always in no matter how badly the “special relationship” appears to be broken.
In 2006, John Mearsheimer of the University of Chicago and Stephen Walt of Harvard University made a strong case that, as they wrote in the London Review of Books, the “Israel Lobby” surpasses all “other special-interest groups” in its ability to not just “skew foreign policy” away from America’s “national interest,” but it has also simultaneously convinced “Americans that US interests and those of the other country – in this case, Israel – are essentially identical.”
Although there’s little doubt that much of America’s foreign policy establishment seems inexorably convinced that the two nations share “identical” interests, there are indications that Israel is not quite the arm-twister it used to be.
That’s because the Iran Nuke Deal was a distinct departure from the usually suspect arrangement between Washington and Tel Aviv. It does appear that Obama broke 40 years of Israeli exceptionalism to defeat the vaunted Israeli Lobby. In exchange, Obama had to paper-over that unprecedented break with 38 billion greenbacks. In effect, he purchased Israel’s acceptance of the Iran Nuclear Deal.
Transactional Politics
It’s transactional politics and it makes a lot of sense. To keep war with Iran off the table, Obama simply had to reinforce Israel’s nuclear-tipped military edge over Iran, over other regional powers and over the people living in the bombing range also known as Gaza. But there is another thrust to the bulging aid package.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pressed his case for the military offensive against Gaza in a meeting with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in 2014. (Israeli government photo)
It also reinforced the United States’ notable edge as the world’s leading salesman of military hardware. And that’s the interesting upshot of the big deal with little Israel. It’s all laid out in a synopsis of the “Memorandum of Understanding” published by the White House:
–This amount represents a significant increase over the current MOU by every measure, and will enable Israel to acquire additional advanced military capabilities from the United States.
–It includes $33 billion in Foreign Military Financing (FMF) funds and an unprecedented $5 billion commitment in missile defense assistance. This funding will be disbursed in equal increments of $3.3 billion in FMF and $500 million in missile defense funding each year for the duration of the understanding.
–In practical terms, the level of funding specified in the MOU will permit Israel to update the lion’s share of its fighter aircraft fleet — including through the acquisition of additional F-35s — increase its missile defense, and acquire other defense capabilities needed to meet its threat environment.
–The $500 million in annual missile defense funding under the MOU exceeds the average level of non-emergency support the United States has provided to Israel for missile defense over the last five years.
Most importantly, President Peace Prize secured a key provision that terminates Israel’s ability to spend 26.3 percent of Uncle Sam’s annual gift “within Israel on non-U.S. products.” In other words, all of the tax dollars Uncle Sam sends over there now have to come back here and be spent in Uncle Sam’s Club — a.k.a. America’s Supermarket of Military Hardware.
The Needy Military Industrial Complex
In fact, the White House stated with detectable pride that “Israel will spend more funding, as much as $1.2 billion per year, on the advanced military capabilities that only the United States can provide.” So, Israel’s big win also cornered a part of their market for those American corporations that lead the world in developing new and exciting ways of killing people.
President Barack Obama uncomfortably accepting the Nobel Peace Prize from Committee Chairman Thorbjorn Jagland in Oslo, Norway, Dec. 10, 2009. (White House photo)
And it comes none too soon for America’s defense industry. As a “longtime consultant for American military contractors” recently told Foreign Policy, the already wildly profitable defense industry is looking for some assistance because “domestic defense spending is flat as a pancake and Israel is a consumer of high-end military technology.”
And nothing is more “high-end” (and more in need of aid) than Lockheed Martin’s bloated boondoggle — the F-35. As it turns out, the biggest win of all might be for Lockheed’s embattled, trillion-plus dollar weapon system.
So far, the “next generation” fighter injures its pilots, just suffered “another engine fire” from tailwinds, probably cannot beat the F-16 or European Typhoon in a dogfight and is still hampered by a panoply of “serious problems,” according to the “Pentagon’s top weapons tester.” But fear not, Lockheed shareholders … here comes military aid to the rescue!
As Eric Pianin detailed in The Fiscal Times, Israel was an early-adopter of the “ill-fated, long overdue and far over budget” fighter jet. In 2006, they slated an “augmented version” of the jet as a replacement for yet another profitable weapon system purchased from Uncle Sam’s Club — their fleet of 300 F-16s.
The problem is that they’d budgeted $5 billion to buy 100 F-35s. That works out to a bargain price of $50 per plane. But now “the price tag has ballooned to $15 billion – or about $200 million per plane,” writes Pianin.
So, it’s quadrupled in price over the last decade … and it hasn’t even been delivered yet! But the first souped-up Israeli model is supposed to arrive on Dec. 12, 2016. And that’s where the $38 billion deal comes in. The “aid” is going to help the Israelis make up the difference.
So, thanks to the American taxpayer, they’ll be able to afford to receive the plane from Lockheed, which has only been able to build the plane because of an ongoing subsidy also provided by the U.S. taxpayer in the form of the Pentagon’s own haphazard effort to get the “most expensive weapons system in history” off the ground here in the United States.
Can’t you just hear the money flushing down the drain … and into the already-flush bank accounts of the executives and shareholders who are perennially enriched by the world’s biggest weapons-maker and the U.S. government’s biggest contractor?
Investment in Lobbying
Not coincidentally, Lockheed has spent over $7 million on lobbying thus far this year. And that’s why it’s worth considering that the Israel Lobby is not, as Mearsheimer and Walt claimed in 2006 and many believe today, the apex predator among the herd of special interest groups feasting on U.S. foreign policy.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaking to the AIPAC conference in Washington D.C. on March 21, 2016. (Photo credit: AIPAC)
The vaunted American-Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has spent $1.8 million on lobbying so far this year. Its high-water mark was during last year’s scrum around the Iran nuclear deal when it spent $3.88 million, according to OpenSecrets.org.
And Lockheed’s high water mark? They hit $16.1 million in 2008, when the profitable, but ever-more catastrophic Global War on Terror came under a great deal of election year scrutiny. That year was a high-water mark for the industry as a whole with a whopping $153.3 million spread around the political process by Profiteers of Doom.
Lockheed also leads the defense industry pack in giving to Congressional candidates of both stripes. So far this year they’ve doled-out $3.1 million while the entire industry has dropped a cool $22 million around Capitol Hill, according to OpenSecrets.org’s latest numbers. It’s enough to (almost) make Sheldon Adelson blush.
So, here’s the question: Is Israel’s $38 billion windfall really yet another example of how Washington, DC is “Israeli Occupied Territory”? Or it is just a continuation of a decades-long defense industry money-laundering scheme dating back to the start of the Cold War with the Mutual Defense Assistance Act of 1949?
That’s when the so-called Iron Curtain officially became a cash cow for the Military-Industrial Complex and President Harry Truman created one of the industry’s most reliable slush funds — foreign military assistance. Some of that aid was used to send U.S. weapons directly to allies. Some of it was direct aid (a.k.a. money) used to buy U.S. weapons. Some of it financed the purchase of U.S. weapons. And some of was used to buy from other dealers — particularly as Europe built-up its own, NATO-stoked defense industry.
But mostly it’s been a tidy little loop that cycles U.S. tax-dollars back to the corporate arms-dealers back in the United States. And it still is. That’s why contractors are touting Cold War 2.0 to investors and why the State Department deploys de facto salespeople to push arms around the Middle East and why the Israelis always get their way in spite of what would seem to be America’s larger national interests.
Frankly, the $38 billion “aid” package is as much of — if not more of — a gift to the Military-Industrial millionaires who’ve made a killing off of the Middle East’s woes. And now that Obama nixed Israel’s use of aid on its own industry, it is really just the middleman through which the money passes on its way back to America’s defense industry.
A Money-Laundering Scheme
The stark truth is that America’s so-called ‘’national interests” reflect the wishes of the Military-Industrial Complex far more than they do Israel or any foreign power. That’s why military aid so often laundered tax dollars through a rogue’s gallery of strongmen, counterproductive military juntas, brutal anti-Communist regimes and, since the advent of the Global War on Terror, through those snazzy little coalitions cobbled together out of nations willing to aid in overthrowing governments, to abet in torture and, thereby, to create an endless supply of enemies around the world.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton addressing the AIPAC conference in Washington D.C. on March 21, 2016. (Photo credit: AIPAC)
Really, once you view U.S. foreign policy as a vast money-laundering scheme, America’s frustrating (perhaps even immoral) policies toward Israel and Saudi Arabia and Eastern Europe and practically everywhere else suddenly look a lot more rational.
So, it isn’t ideology or stupidity or some Svengali-induced trance that has America looking the other way in the Occupied Territories or supporting the carnage in Yemen or fueling the largest military build-up in Europe … since the last largest military build-up in Europe.
Rather, there is a simple profit motive at the heart of U.S. foreign policy. Always has been. Maybe there always will be. To wit, America isn’t just the world’s biggest spender on its own military, but it also accounts for one-third of all foreign military sales worldwide.
Uncle Sam’s Club services “at least” 96 countries. That’s nearly half of the world’s nations. And 40 percent of those weapons end up in the Middle East. Like Israel, Saudi Arabia is among its most reliable customers and Uncle Sam is keeping them supplied with everything they need to turn Yemen into a humanitarian catastrophe.
Just like Israel, many point to the pernicious power of Saudi influence in shaping U.S. policy. And like Israeli policy, Saudi policy seems counterproductive to U.S. interests. Perhaps even more so since Saudi-exported jihadism helped set the conditions for the Global War on Terror. But that means the Saudi Government is not just a great customer, but they even open up new markets!
And that’s the real reason Saudi Arabia, just like Israel, always seems to get away with (literally) murder. It’s not because they “control” the United States. It’s because U.S. taxpayer-funded defense spending in a “dangerous world” is the most reliable source of income in human history.
Like Listerine needs “chronic halitosis” to sell mouthwash, the post-Cold War defense industry needs lotsa “bad breath” in Russia, in the South China Sea, in Africa and, of course, in the Middle East. And who leaves a more bitter taste in the mouths of their neighbors than Israel and Saudi Arabia?
Even better, here in the U.S. they’ve become big glaring targets of disdain and suspicion despite the fact that the biggest beneficiaries of U.S. policy toward both are the U.S. corporations that sell them big bangs for big bucks … and profit even more off the collateral chaos they spawn.
So, it’s not influence. It’s really about customer service. And the customer is always right.
JP Sottile is a freelance journalist, radio co-host, documentary filmmaker and former broadcast news producer in Washington, D.C. He blogs at Newsvandal.com or you can follow him on Twitter, http://twitter/newsvandal.
ps for consortium,
I posted once in reply to the antisemitism comment and was given and duplicate prompt. There is no way I entered it 4 times
Something is odd here in your Algorithism. Just a note for your site. Thanks
Even this not to you received a duplicate warning. Go figure. Cheers
I’ll change a word: to be or not be that is Verdamptnochmal
Still didn’t work. Sigh
ps for consortium,
I posted once in reply to the antisemitism comment and was given and duplicate prompt. There is no way I entered it 4 times
Something is odd here in your Algorithism. Just a note for your site. Thanks
Even this not to you received a duplicate warning. Go figure. Cheers
I’ll change a word: to be or not be that is Verdamptnochmal
ps for consortium,
I posted once in reply to the antisemitism comment and was given and duplicate prompt. There is no way I entered it 4 times
Something is odd here in your Algorithism. Just a note for your site. Thanks
Even this not to you received a duplicate warning. Go figure. Cheers
I’ll change a word: to be or not be
ps for consortium,
I posted once in reply to the antisemitism comment and was given and duplicate prompt. There is no way I entered it 4 times
Something is odd here in your Algorithism. Just a note for your site. Thanks
Even this not to you received a duplicate warning. Go figure. Cheers
ps for consortium,
I posted once in reply to the antisemitism comment and was given and duplicate prompt. There is no way I entered it 4 times
Something is odd here in your Algorithism. Just a note for your site. Thank.
Lockheed Martin and Obama have a history. After all didn’t Pharaoh and Lockheed make sure sensitive technology was sent to Cuba which was then undoubtedly sent on to China? https://waitforthedownfall.wordpress.com/oops-did-i-just-say-that/
“A nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious.
But it cannot survive treason from within.
An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly.
But the traitor moves amongst those within the gate freely, his sly whispers rustling through all the alleys, heard in the very halls of government itself.
For the traitor appears not a traitor; he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he wears their face and their arguments, he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation, he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of the city, he infects the body politic so that it can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear.” ….
Marcus Tullius Cicero
The article notes the sufficiency of US aid feedback via the MIC to bribe Congress to keep the aid coming. But that doesn’t explain the almost exclusive focus of military activity and aid upon implementing Israel’s demands.
The aid certainly comes back via US corporate campaign bribes, but they are motivated directly by subservience to Israel, because those corporations are controlled by zionists and their opportunist supporters, or gain business that way. It is a business deal they can’t refuse.
It is not coincidence that the Dems give $38 billion to Israel in the peak election season weeks: it is coming right back to their campaign funds, both directly and indirectly. They are acting as agents of a foreign power, stealing US funds and accepting bribes to put the US military under the command of Israel, even give away its services for a pittance in campaign bribes already paid to them a hundred times over in “aid”. It has probably cost Israel nothing to put the US to many trillions of debt for military operations demanded by Israel, that have severely damaged the US and its security for generations, and have killed countless innocents. With friends like Israel, who needs enemies?
My heart goes out to those suffering the death and destruction this game of corporate america. Unfortunately americans do not have a clue what it is like to live under constant threat and as such they condon/subsidize this carnage.
To bad instead of weapons aid the U.S. doesn’t do a infrastructure, climate change, products orientated Marshall Plan. If the U.S. were to promote good will instead of war, why this would enhance our stature in the world to a point where every nation would be begging to become our friend. Instead of young Middle Eastern people becoming terrorist they could become workers in this new 21st Century endeavor. In fact with all of the devastation and damage that we have been a part of in the Middle East for over the last twenty five years, it may come down to this anyway, so why not do it now. When you blow it up there is nothing left, when you build it up there’s always something left to do.
You are an anti-Semite. If there was no Israel you would be writing smart-alecky pieces on why the Jews are so off putting. Fortunately,this is not 1938 and we Jews have a strong country that looks after Jews worldwide. What a difference it makes in dealing with anti-Semitic a______s like you.
The use of the term anti-semite to refer ONLY to Jews, makes YOU a Racist Anti Semite YOURSELF…..because the Arab speak a Semitic Language as well. Amharic, Aramaic, Syriac among others are all Semitic Languages……….Next time use “Anti-Jewish” instead………..Unless of course you do not consider all these other people to be worthy of consideration in which case you become a RACIST ANTI SEMITE yourself which is exactly my point…….See the list of books I recommend above to another person like you.
It sure is easy for you zionists to fool everyone. You’re the only ones who demand a special word for discrimination against your version of fascism, anti-semitism, and suddenly everyone who catches on to your fascism is a fascist! What a great idea! But what if someone invents a word for anti-palestinianism or anti-arabism, that sounds nice and clinical and psychiatric? Then you will automatically be guilty upon saying anything critical if they take everything you have. But that isn’t necessary because the Semitic group includes many of them, so zionists are anti-semitic already. They are also discriminating against Jews, most of whom don’t want the burden of injustice that the zionists have imposed upon them.
An excellent example of mind-reading. The author may be an “anti-Semite”, but it surely isn’t on display here. His generally excellent piece has the shortcoming only of being incomplete.
Yes, the F-35 is an overpriced piece of crap. Yes, Obama is kissing Holy Israel’s ass. And yes, Lockheed is going to make out like bandits.
What isn’t mentioned is that the F-35 charity deal to the murderous little shithole of a nation state is Obama’s Parthian Shot at Iran. Here is a relevant little tidbit about another stealth airplane:
The F-34 is a much improved airplane compared with the F-117. It’s still a specialized airplane, and still has lots of flaws, but it has a much longer range, flies faster, and has all the latest and greatest technology in the cockpit. Israel is getting the airplane for free, and despite all the known problems with the airplane, with a little work it’ll be invincible against a second-rate power like Iran. But what about those warts? Turns out that Israel has gotten Special Dispensation to fix them. That’s something nobody else can do!
hXXps://www.wired.com/2016/05/israel-can-customize-americas-f-35-least-now/
This is not an insignificant boon, for even the US Government has to kiss Lockheed et. al. heiny to tinker with it’s own airplane!
http://www.nationaldefensemagazine.org/blog/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=2293
There are some obvious ‘fixes’ for the F-35 to turn it into a dedicated weapon for Israel’s next sneak attack. Personally, I’d fly the things straight to Iran across Iraq, refueling over the latter nation. With full fuel tanks it would then run amok among Iranian installations, smashing air defense installations, command centers, and the few air-worthy planes Iran owns. The second wave of non-stealth Israeli planes would be completely unopposed, and God’s Favorite Air Force could “pull a Gaza” on Iran by destroying everything it pleased with unlimited and unopposed repeat attacks.
Before getting the F-35s Israel had put off attacking Iran because it didn’t have the horses to do the job. Obama’s generosity with US Taxpayer Money means they really will be able to pull it off quite soon now.
Will President Hillary do anything except cheer? I really do doubt it. Hell, the woman may send in some USAF airplanes to help finish the job. To stop the horrible war and to save Iranian lives, of course. She’s such a GOOD person, you know.
What this freebee deal to Israel does is add an extra fuse to start WW3. Which ought to tickle the End-Timers to no end.
Israel has lost it’s moral core and become what it’s great prophets despised.
Too bad you can’t speak or write English! What is your native tongue, slander?
If Jews have a strong country, why do they need record yearly handouts from the American taxpayers?
Surely they could take care of themselves, without the need of this massive aid in both money and military hardware from the squeezed us tax payer who can hardly afford proper medical care for himself and for his family.
As stated before, to accept the death and killing created by Israel, even at its terrorist beginnings is not any where near your definition of anti- semitimism. It’s to easy and to throw out buzz words without definition to appeal to your presumed masses.If one were to see the history of its bloodshed in the area it is worth trying again without such emotional appeal.Try again.
Do yourself and this site a favor. Prove to the world Israel does not have nuclear weapons, and define for the world what Israel means when it “mowes the grass in Giza” by killing thousands of innocents.
While you’re at your version of definitions, define the settlements and the encroachment into Palensinian terririory and the land after the 6 day war, and the water souces it stole and the oil soon to be stolen which does not belong to the them.
To be simple here: define anti-semitism when Israel is the aggressor and stealing Palestinian land please. To use a term simply throw the illinformed off the very aggressisiness of the state of Israel who learned that such a term makes people pause when people should instead be the aggressor against the wars and stealing of property that doesn’t belong to them. Find another word and my suggestion is a state depleted of morals, ethics, and war is all they have to distract which plays right into the ethics of the USA. They are two birds in harmony, full of lies and disingenuous falsehoods. It has nothing to do with anti- Semiticism.
As stated before, to accept the death and killing created by Israel, even at its terrorist beginnings is not any where near your definition of anti- semitimism. It’s to easy and to throw out buzz words without definition to appeal to your presumed masses.If one were to see the history of its bloodshed in the area it is worth trying again without such emotional appeal.Try again.
Do yourself and this site a favor. Prove to the world Israel does not have nuclear weapons, and define for the world what Israel means when it “mowes the grass in Giza” by killing thousands of innocents.
While you’re at your version of definitions, define the settlements and the encroachment into Palensinian terririory and the land after the 6 day war, and the water souces it stole and the oil soon to be stolen which does not belong to the them.
To be simple here: define anti-semitism when Israel is the aggressor and stealing Palestinian land please. To use a term simply throw the illinformed off the very aggressisiness of the state of Israel who learned that such a term makes people pause when people should instead be the aggressor against the wars and stealing of property that doesn’t belong to them. Find another word and my suggestion is a state depleted of morals, ethics, and war is all they have to distract which plays right into the ethics of the USA. They are two birds in harmony, full of lies and disingenuous falsehoods. It has nothing to do with anti- Semiticism.
Cons news: not a duo comment. Your algorithms need a tweak
As stated before, to accept the death and killing created by Israel, even at its terrorist beginnings is not any where near your definition of anti- semitimism. It’s to easy and to throw out buzz words without definition to appeal to your presumed masses.If one were to see the history of its bloodshed in the area it is worth trying again without such emotional appeal.Try again.
Do yourself and this site a favor. Prove to the world Israel does not have nuclear weapons, and define for the world what Israel means when it “mowes the grass in Giza” by killing thousands of innocents.
While you’re at your version of definitions, define the settlements and the encroachment into Palensinian terririory and the land after the 6 day war, and the water souces it stole and the oil soon to be stolen which does not belong to the them.
To mick,
To be simple here: define anti-semitism when Israel is the aggressor and stealing Palestinian land please. To use a term simply throw the illinformed off the very aggressisiness of the state of Israel who learned that such a term makes people pause when people should instead be the aggressor against the wars and stealing of property that doesn’t belong to them. Find another word and my suggestion is a state depleted of morals, ethics, and war is all they have to distract which plays right into the ethics of the USA. They are two birds in harmony, full of lies and disingenuous falsehoods. It has nothing to do with anti- Semiticism.
Cons news: not a duo comment. Your algorithms need a tweak
As stated before, to accept the death and killing created by Israel, even at its terrorist beginnings is not any where near your definition of anti- semitimism. It’s to easy and to throw out buzz words without definition to appeal to your presumed masses.If one were to see the history of its bloodshed in the area it is worth trying again without such emotional appeal.Try again.
Do yourself and this site a favor. Prove to the world Israel does not have nuclear weapons, and define for the world what Israel means when it “mowes the grass in Giza” by killing thousands of innocents.
While you’re at your version of definitions, define the settlements and the encroachment into Palensinian terririory and the land after the 6 day war, and the water souces it stole and the oil soon to be stolen which does not belong to the them.
To mick,
To be simple here: define anti-semitism when Israel is the aggressor and stealing Palestinian land please. To use a term simply throw the illinformed off the very aggressisiness of the state of Israel who learned that such a term makes people pause when people should instead be the aggressor against the wars and stealing of property that doesn’t belong to them. Find another word and my suggestion is a state depleted of morals, ethics, and war is all they have to distract which plays right into the ethics of the USA. They are two birds in harmony, full of lies and disingenuous falsehoods. It has nothing to do with anti- Semiticism.
Cons news: not a duo comment. Your algorithms need a tweak
“…bad sign of things to come for the Palestinian people.”
Why would the IDF having defensive capabilities be bad for the Palestinian Arabs unless it foiled unprovoked attacks against Israel and its civilian population? And conversely, why would a defenseless Israel be good for them unless their perception of their future success pivots on the destruction of the Jewish state?
May I suggest reading the following:
– The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. Ilan Pappe.
– Goliath- Life and Loathing in Greater Israel. Max Blumenthal.
– The General’s Son. Miko Peled.
– The Invention of Israel. Shlomo Sand.
– Why I Stopped Being a Jew. Shlomo Sand.
– The Wandering Who? Gilad Atzmon
– http://www.deiryassin.org/
All by Jewish Authors……..
Gosh, you fooled us all so easily, into forgetting the little matter of Palestine being stolen to create Israel, and the enslavement of Palestinians in Bantustans and as non-citizens. Gosh you Israelis must be so smart – all you have to do is subvert our democracy and we’re convinced that you deserve everything there is! Amazing that no one is history ever thought of such a thing, well, except for Hitler, and then there was … oh, well.
In talking about our military spending, there is a point that is often missed. As large as it is, we need to remind ourselves that our spending triggers a spending response by our chosen enemies, notably China and Russia. Then in the case of China, their increased spending triggers increased spending by India and Japan. All that money down the military sink hole that could be used for useful purposes.
The author is informative about lobbying but using dollars to compare defense lobby spending with AIPA spending is simplistic. Spending by AIPAC is but a portion of spending by Jewish groups and individuals in support of the Israeli state, nor accounts for the lobbying efforts of committed Zionists where their personal actions substitute for dollars.
Which is more effective? They are both very effective and in both cases, the interests of our citizens and those in the Middle East and Southwest Asia are given the short end of the stick.