When It Comes To Israel, Even The Lives Of American Citizens Are Secondary

By Diana Buttu, Special to Gulf News
Published: 16:46 May 1, 2016

Last week, 83 of 100 US Senators signed a letter urging United States President Barack Obama to increase military aid to Israel before the end of his presidency. Although the senators did not specify an amount, Israel is currently seeking $4.5 billion (Dh16.55 billion) annually, an increase from the $3.1 billion it currently receives from the US in a 10 year arrangement that is due to expire in a year. Obama, in order to appease Israel for the Iran deal, has indicated that he will once again renew military aid to Israel.

With a per capita gross domestic product of $36,000, higher than that of several US states, Israel is hardly in need of foreign assistance. And yet, as it currently stands, Israel is the largest recipient and the largest cumulative recipient of US foreign military assistance since the Second World War, with the US providing Israel more than $125 billion since that time and, last year alone, more than 52 per cent of the US military assistance budget.

The outrageous sum provided to Israel is not the only repugnant aspect of US foreign assistance to Israel: Unlike other beneficiaries of US assistance, Israel is the only country that is allowed to use a significant portion of its military aid to purchase its own weapons. In other words, an estimated 25 per cent of the money that the US gives Israel is used for Israel to buy Israeli-made weapons. And while US legislation requires that each nation certify that the arms that they receive are used for legitimate “self-defence”, when it comes to Israel, such checks and balances are always ignored.

Over the lifetime of the constant supply of weapons to Israel, only once was a challenge lobbied against Israel’s use of American-funded weaponry — during the brutal Israeli attack on Gaza in 2009 — when it was conveniently ignored. Of course, Americans have also been killed at the hands of Israelis using American-funded weaponry, most notably Rachel Corrie, but when it comes to Israel, the lives of American citizens are secondary.

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http://gulfnews.com/opinion/thinkers/when-it-comes-to-israel-even-the-lives-of-american-citizens-are-secondary-1.1816118