Reuters reports on today’s State Department press conference where Deputy Spokesperson Marie Harf said US military aid to Israel could be “hindered” if the U.S. government shutdown continues. At 2:45 in the video above Harf explains that fiscal year 2014 funding for Israel (which began October 1) will be unavailable until a new budget is passed.
From Reuters:
A prolonged U.S. federal government shutdown could delay military assistance to Israel and other American allies, the State Department said on Wednesday.
“The State Department’s ability to provide military assistance to Israel and other allies in the time frame that is expected and customary could be hindered, depending on the length of the shutdown,” State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf told a news briefing.
Harf gave only the specific example of Israel, the largest recipient of U.S. foreign military funding and a country which enjoys strong bipartisan support in the U.S. Congress.
A prolonged U.S. federal government shutdown could delay military assistance to Israel and other American allies, the State Department said on Wednesday.“The State Department’s ability to provide military assistance to Israel and other allies in the time frame that is expected and customary could be hindered, depending on the length of the shutdown,” State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf told a news briefing.
Harf gave only the specific example of Israel, the largest recipient of U.S. foreign military funding and a country which enjoys strong bipartisan support in the U.S. Congress.
Natasha Mozgovaya was the first to report the comment over Twitter:
StateDept Harf: “Not just furloughs, programs get hindered; incl. aid 2 Israel. Nor business as usual” #shutdown
— Natasha Mozgovaya (@mozgovaya) October 2, 2013
Watching the video I wonder if Harf just happens to use aid to Israel as her sole example as a prompt to get AIPAC off the sidelines and pressure Congress to make a deal.
Here is the transcript (emphasis added):
MS. HARF: Yeah, absolutely. So no update on furloughs; we’re in the same place we’ve been on that for the last few days. I know Jen’s talked about it a lot.
In terms of programs that are impacted immediately and one-year funding, I have a couple of examples here. There – and again, as we’ve talked about, these offices do not have the available carryover funds to sustain operations and don’t have other sources of operating funds like fees, as we’ve talked about with passports and visas. Some of these offices include the Office of the Inspector General, the International Boundary and Water Commission. Certain Department of State accounts with only single-year direct appropriations also include contributions to international organizations – not all of them but some of them. There’s also an impact on our foreign military funding. I know we’ve talked a lot about FMF in here. In the absence of a continuing resolution, we have no FY14 Foreign Military Financing, International Military Education [and Training], or Peacekeeping Operations funds to obligate.
So for example – I’ll just give you one example – FY 2014 security assistance funding for Israel will be delayed until a continuing resolution or until full-year appropriation is passed. The State Department’s ability to provide military assistance to Israel and other allies in the timeframe that is expected and customary could be hindered depending on the length of the shutdown. So while there are no furloughs, it’s not just business as usual, and there are programs, certainly, that are affected and which all could be up and running again if Congress could get some business done.
Meh. I took that to mean that the aid itself is not interrupted, but some of the people who actually do the paperwork processing are furloughed, so things might take a little longer to process. Israel isn’t hurt at all, but this makes a nice little bomb for the administration to lob at the pro-Israel Republican base.
It is an ill wind that blows no good.
“Watching the video I wonder if Harf just happens to use aid to Israel as her sole example as a prompt to get AIPAC off the sidelines and pressure Congress to make a deal.”
Bingo!
Its so obvious that this statement is put forward by aipac.
I wonder what Eric Cantor, the US Republican Senator who has the job to bring home the bacon for Israel, is now thinking?
Are AIPAC-ers streaming into his office right now? (Opps, the government is shutting down, how are they going to reach him? A direct line to his home in Virginia?)
Israel is massively dependent upon welfare from the US. A “hindrance” could snowball into a delay. A delay could then turn into withholding as more acute needs here at home move in priority.
All this because the Republicans want to keep on negotiating the Affordable Care Act, which has already gone through the legislative process.
If Cantor is one of the first Republicans to blink, we know why.
So, the Tea Party is responsible for cutting the US subsidies for the Zionist apartheid regime.
Is there any way to donate to the Tea Party to support them in continuing their commendable efforts?