Is U.S. going above and beyond for Israel?

[Scurrilous]

<snip>

"Should the United States put solving Israel’s budget problems ahead of its own?

When it comes to defense spending, it appears that the United States already is.

Ehud Barak, Israel’s defense minister, will meet Thursday in Washington with Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta to finalize a deal in which the United States will provide an additional $680 million to Israel over three years. The money is meant to help pay for procuring three or four new batteries and interceptors for Israel’s Iron Dome short-range rocket defense program. The funds may also be used for the systems after their deployment, according to the report of the House Armed Services Committee on the fiscal 2013 Defense Authorization bill.

The Iron Dome funds, already in legislation before Congress, will be on top of the $3.1 billion in military aid grants being provided to Israel in 2013 and every year thereafter through 2017. That deal is part of a 10-year memorandum of understanding agreed to in 2007 during the George W. Bush presidency."

“Those funds are already committed to existing large-ticket purchases, such as the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, C-130J transport planes and other items,” according to George Little, spokesman for Panetta. He also said the Israelis had increased their own spending on Iron Dome this year and the U.S. funds are to “augment” their funding.

And there’s more money involved. The House committee version of the defense authorization bill, up for debate on the House floor this week, includes another $168 million “requested by [the] Government of Israel to meet its security requirements,” according to the panel’s report. This money is to be added to three other missile defense systems that have been under joint development by the United States and Israel. The $168 million is in addition to another $99.9 million requested by the Obama administration for those programs."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/is-us-going-above-and-beyond-for-israel/2012/05/16/gIQAJhikUU_story.html

[HeiressofBickworth]

1. In order to avoid allegations of anti-semitism, one MUST

separate the religion of Judaism from the government of a country called Israel.

In my opinion is it time for the government of the US to tell its government allies that we are broke and can't afford to be giving them money for a while until we get back on our feet. Best wishes, good luck.

PS: no, I'm not a PaulBot (but like that broken clock, he can be right occasionally but only for a minute), but giving away money when we can least afford it is just adding to our problems.

[azurnoir]

2. Interesting article as it points out that the US will have to borrow the money to give to Israel

in order for Israel to make up for the 5% cut it made to defense budget mean while the Republicans in the US House are willing to reduce food and medical aid for the poor and elderly to help make up for our spending

[Scurrilous]

3. Pentagon says US plans to give Israel $70 million more for missile defense this year

<snip>

"The U.S. plans to give Israel the extra $70 million that Jerusalem asked for this year for short-range missile defense, officials said Thursday.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said President Barack Obama had directed him to fill Israel’s request for the extra money for the Iron Dome system, designed to intercept short-range rockets and mortars.

The U.S. already has provided $205 million for the system and annually gives Israel roughly another $3.1 billion in overall security assistance, the most for any foreign country.

Panetta met Thursday morning with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, then issued a statement saying he had told Barak of the U.S. intention to provide the additional help for Iron Dome."

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