File spoon-archives/postcolonial.archive/postcolonial_2000/postcolonial.0012, message 20


From: "shahira al-turkmani" <sheesha70-AT-hotmail.com>
Subject: Fwd: Fw: The Cost of Israel
Date: Fri, 08 Dec 2000 04:20:28 +0300
To: undisclosed-recipients:;




>
>
> > "Israelis need to understand that they're not the 51st state, and they
> > certainly don't want to be treated like America's stepchild. Continued
> > economic assistance when they're doing quite well is demeaning." --
> > Representative (now speaker of the House) Bob Levigston at a press
>conference
> > in Jerusalem as part of a congressional delegation to celebrate Israel's
>50th
> > birthday (Quoted in Ha'aretz 11/10/1998).
> >
> > (Zeros intentionally left). The official, on-the-table U.S. aid to 
>Israel
> > --rarely, if at all, addressed in the mainstream media-- is 
>$3,000,000,000
> > (40% economical and 60% Military) since 1984 and $2,500,000,000 since
>1973.
> > Add to that $1,271,000,000/yr for special gifts and programs subsidized 
>by
> > the U.S., such as the Arrow missile and the Lavi fighter, plus the loan
> > guarantees of $10,000,000,000 over 5 years, plus the interest
> > ($500,000,000/yr) the U.S. must pay on money borrowed to pay for the
>grants
> > to Israel. The total for the past five years (1993-1997) was around
> > $6,300,000,000/year ($6.3 BILLION) or over $17 Million/DAY. This is more
>than
> > what the U.S. spends on domestic drug enforcement.
> >
> > Perspectively, the total U.S. foreign aid to the whole world (6 Billion
> > people) is about $18 BILLION, so, the one thousandth (1/1000) of the 
>world
> > population living in Israel --with life expectancy higher than that of 
>the
> > U.S.-- gets one third of US aid. Also, in 1990 Israel GNP is $24 
>Billion,
> > i.e. a quarter of Israel's income comes from the U.S. The Aid to Israel 
>is
>in
> > the form of loans, which are typically forgiven by the AIPAC-dominated
> > congress.
> >
> > The above figures do not include:
> >
> > the tax-deductible donations, mostly by American Jews and Christian
>Zionists,
> > to Israel totaling over $1,000,000,000/year.
> > the lumps of money Israel usually demands from the U.S. upon each
>withdrawal
> > from the occupied territories during the current Peace Process, (for
>example,
> > Netanyahu is planning to ask the U.S. for about $1,200,000,000 for the 
>13%
> > withdrawal of mid-1998, to cover costs).
> > Israel Bonds sold in the U.S. for $500,000,000/year
> > the $1,000,000,000/year U.S. commercial banks lend to Israel
> > the $2,100,000,000/year the U.S. rewards Egypt for signing peace with
>Israel
> > The fact that unlike other countries, Israel gets its US aid in one 
>chunck
>at
> > the beginnging of the distribution year, instead of quarterly 
>instalments.
> > This allows Israel to further make interest on that money over other
> > aid-receiving countries.
> > (For source on the above see the Washington Report magazine and A & L
> > Cockburn's Dangerous Liaison 1991). These figures are interesting
>considering
> > that Israel has a life expectancy and infant mortality HIGHER than the
>United
> > States'.
> >
> >
>

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