Looming Sequestration Cuts Cause Split Among Israel Aid Advocates

[Purveyor]

AIPAC Pushes for Special Treatment, Others Fear Backlash

By Nathan Guttman
Published March 13, 2013, issue of March 22, 2013.

In an effort to save aid to Israel from mandatory, across-the-board cuts now being imposed on all discretionary federal programs, pro-Israel activists are opening the door on a dramatic course of action they have rejected repeatedly in the past.

Members of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the largest pro-Israel lobby, are refusing to foreclose any option — including special legislation for Israel, if necessary — to keep aid to the country from being cut.

An official from the lobby explicitly refused to rule out pursuing such legislation, even if that would enable Israel alone to escape the cuts hitting every other foreign aid recipient, not to mention those hitting domestic programs.

AIPAC officials vehemently reject labeling anything they are considering as constituting an “exemption” for Israel. But the lobby’s shift signals a possible break with AIPAC’s years-long policy of firmly embedding aid to Israel, the largest recipient of American foreign assistance, within America’s broader foreign aid program.

Read more: http://forward.com/articles/172785/looming-sequestration-cuts-cause-split-among-israe/?p=all#ixzz2NSPf7wSy

[denverbill]

1. The Israeli welfare queens need to take a hike.

If you so desperately need the money, why don't you cut spending for your country's social safety net, which is VASTLY better than ours. Or give Sheldon Adelson a call. He spent more money on the 2012 election than you're probably losing in foreign aid, all because he's such a big 'supporter of Israel'. If he's such a big supporter, let him pony up.

[Paul E Ester]

2. Whats interesting about sequestration.

For every program exempted, the other remaining programs get cut more. If the total amount of the sequestration is 1.5 trillion and that will be cut from ten programs, then suddenly two of those get exempted. That same 1.5 trillion will then be taken from the remaining 8 programs. It's not like the sequestration amount will change.

Exempting aid to Israel from sequester means even less for Americans, at a time we need it most.

[1-Old-Man]

3. Every day I come closer to understanding just what the word "Hubris" means. Today I've learned much