US Foreign Policy in the Arab World

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- A "New" Far Right Policy
- Why Do They Hate Us?
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Today's News...

ccording to the Congressional Research Service, the United States will have spent over $90 billion by the end of this year in foreign aid to Israel. Because this aid program is so substantial, we asked our readers what they thought. Posed simply as the question you see on the right, we offered four bullets from the 2003 Wexner-Luntz research report that support the current U.S. aid package to Israel.

The response has been overwhelming - but more on that in a minute.

What's in a Billion?
First of all, lets look at what $90 billion can buy. With six billion people on the planet, the U.S. government could cut us each a check for $15.

Interested in sports? Well, $90 billion can buy every single team and player in Major League sports: baseball, football, basketball and even hockey. A few years ago, Forbes Magazine put this cost at $22.17 billion, so you sports lovers could actually purchase all of these teams four times over and still have money to spare to make each player wear a jersey with a picture of your face on the front.

Each year, Israel receives $3 billion dollars from the U.S. making it, a country of six million people, the largest foreign recipient of American taxpayer dollars.

According to Save the Children, it takes around $240 a year to save one child in a poor country - with $3 billion you could save 12,500,000 children. Or, if you prefer, $3 billion could buy you over 8,000 Rolls Royce motorcars.

$3 billion is also more than the annual economy (GDP) of fifty-four different countries. This includes Barbados, Rwanda and Armenia, to name just a few. (Source: World Bank statistics 2001)

Tallying the Results
With these figures in mind, let's get back to the task at hand. We asked our readers what their opinions were about aid to Israel and here's what you told us:

Not only are these pretty astonishing results, the
Vested Owl editors who

read through the over 800 responses were quite surprised by how passionate some American taxpayers felt about what their dollars are being used to support overseas.

For example, Joan from Washington, PA writes, "we should examine the morality of subsidizing an entire country, especially when it gives that country such overwhelming military might that it has little incentive to deal with its enemies on a level playing field."

"When it comes to Israel, our foreign policy is exceedingly inconsistent to the measure that we hold other countries to." Douglas, Bernardsville, NJ
read more responses >>

Frankly, the number of responses against the current levels of aid to Israel that did not mention Israel's current mistreatment of the Palestinians were few and far between.

Most who wrote in, like Bea in Lawrence, KS, felt that foreign aid should, "not be used to indemnify Israel from the economic and political consequences of its genocidal war against the Palestinians."

Many readers made reference to numerous international laws that Israel and its leaders have broken. Salim in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, offered, "Israel is currently in violation of multiple resolutions over a span of decades. If Israel doesn't comply with UN resolutions.. we should apply economic sanctions against [them]."

Also wary about the current relationship between Israel and the United States, many writers saw a direct connection between this relationship and current terrorism threats at home.

Brian, writing here in Washington, DC states, "we will never quell the hostility from the Arab World as long as they believe that our money is being used to kill their own people."

Many readers offered domestic programs that are in need of increased funding. Ali, in Raleigh, NC writes, "when about 40 million Americans do not have medical insurance

and when millions among them live a life below the poverty line, our financial gifts to Israel are detrimental to our well-being." Farm subsidies, education and even homeland security were also cited as operating with insubstantial funds.

A Vocal Minority
What about that one percent in favor of continuing U.S. aid in the amount of $3 billion a year? Obviously not all responses were so critical towards the current U.S. relationship with Israel, who is and has been an ally for some time. Robert in Half Moon, NY, writes, "the Israelis undeniably face an extremely hazardous situation, hence the cutoff of US aid without compensatory effective US involvement in Israeli security would be criminal."

Martin in Winter Park, FL questioned why American dollars were attempting to solve a problem better solved in the Arab World, writing, "if they [Palestinians] can emigrate to any established nation, why do they not move and relieve their misery?"

A Vested Interest
So why have we committed so much in aid to this part of the world? And why does the Middle East conflict stir up such heated debate here in the U.S.? After all it is headline news every day.

These are questions we will leave for another day. In the meantime, here is a cross-section of reader comments on the billions in aid to Israel >>

Also in this Issue:
Why Do They Hate Us?

"New" Far Right Policy

Home Demolition

Full List of Articles