The state of Israel feels left out as the United States of America and Iran are nearing a deal that will officially halt the Iran’s nuclear program. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted “Don’t rush to a bad deal with Iran.”. The state of Israel should remember that the America's foreign interests in the world as a global leader and power in this 21st century human universe must come first and foremost. The constitution of America also allows her to enter into foreign treaties with other nations of the world.
America as a nation has remained a loyal friend both militarily and financially to the state of Israel since the formation of that country in 1948. American tax payers' money have supported the national economy of the state of Israel faithfully for 65 years. According to the" If Americans Knew" analysts, particularly Pamela Olson, a President's Scholar at Stanford University 1998-2002 with a major in physics, a minor in political science, and author of a book based on her three years in the West Bank. "Israel receives more of America’s foreign aid budget than any other nation. The US has, in fact, given more aid to Israel than it has to all the countries of sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean combined—which have a total population of over a billion people.
According to the Congressional Research Service , the amount of official US aid to Israel since its founding in 1948 tops $115 billion, and in the past few decades it has been on the order of $3 billion per year. (In 2013, for example, this amounted to over $8.5 million every single day.) But this money is only part of the story. For one thing, Israel gets all of its aid money at the start of each year, rather than in quarterly installments like other countries. This is significant: It means that Israel can start earning interest on the money right away – interest paid by the US since Israel invests these funds in US Treasury notes. In addition, because the US government operates at a deficit, it must borrow money in order to give it to Israel and then pay interest on it all year. Together these cost US taxpayers more than $100 million every year.
Israel is also the only recipient of US military aid that is allowed to use a significant portion annually to purchase products made by Israeli companies instead of US companies. (The costs to Americans caused by this unique perk are discussed below.) In addition, the US gives roughly $1.6 billion per year to Egypt and Jordan in aid packages arranged largely in exchange for peace treaties with Israel. The treaties don’t include justice for Palestinians, and are therefore deeply unpopular with the local populations.
On top of this, the US gives more than $400 million to the Palestinian Authority each year, much of it used to rebuild infrastructure destroyed by Israel and to bolster an economy stifled by the Israeli occupation. This would be unnecessary if Israel were to end the occupation and allow the Palestinians to build a functioning and self-sustaining economy. Yet, there’s still much more to the story, because parts of US aid to Israel are buried in the budgets of various US agencies, mostly the Department of Defense. For example, since at least 2006, the American Defense budget has included between $130 and $235 million per year for missile defense programs in Israel.
In all, direct US disbursements to Israel are higher than to any other country, even though Israelis only make up 0.1% of the world’s population. On average, Israelis receive 7,000 times more US foreign aid per capita than other people throughout the world, despite the fact that Israel is one of the world’s more affluent nations. And that number rises significantly when one considers disbursements to Egypt, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority and Defense spending on behalf of Israel - Reports and Analysis from Sunday Iwalaiye, If Americans Knew the Congressional Research Service and CNN.
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