President Trump complained about how much the U.S. gives Israel, during a briefing with reporters in Iraq last night:
Q. About the criticism that, by leaving Syria, you might increase jeopardy for Israel, how do you respond?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I don’t see it. And I spoke with Bibi. I told Bibi. And, you know, we give Israel $4.5 billion a year. And they’re doing very well defending themselves, if you take a look.
But we’ll be there for Israel. We’ll always be there for Israel. I’m the one that moved the embassy to Jerusalem. You know, nobody was willing to do that. All these Presidents came and went. They all said they will do it. They never did it. Many, many Presidents said they were going to move the embassy to Jerusalem. They never did it; I did it. Big difference.
So that’s the way it is. We’re going to take good care of Israel. Israel is going to be good. But we give Israel $4.5 billion a year. And we give them, frankly, a lot more money than that, if you look at the books — a lot more money than that. And they’ve been doing a very good job for themselves.
It appears Trump is confused about the number. The U.S. gives Israel $3.8 billion a year in military aid. Though Israel had sought $4.5 billion a year, per the Times.
This is not the first time Trump has complained about all the money we give Israel. During the 2016 campaign, he said that Israel should pay for American defense, just as he had called on South Korea, Japan and Saudi Arabia to do. “I think Israel will do that also, yeah, I think Israel do—there are many countries that can pay and they can pay big league.”
Bret Stephens of the New York Times differs with Trump’s assessment. In his column yesterday he wrote that Trump has been very bad for Israel because he’s brought on neo-isolationist policy with his withdrawal of troops from Syria.
If you think the gravest immediate threat to Israel is jihadist Hezbollah backed by fundamentalist Iran backed by cynical Russia, the answer is no [he is not good for Israel]…
if you think that the ultimate long-term threat to Israel is the resurgence of isolationism in the U.S. and a return to the geopolitics of every nation for itself, the answer is more emphatically no.
(Stephens also says it’s an “invidious myth” that neoconservatives put Israel first.)
Stephens treats the tearing up of the Iran deal and the move of the embassy as, What have you done for me lately? This is another example of Israel lobbyists and neocons getting jaded with overindulgence. Last month Ido Aharoni, a former Israeli ambassador, said it was nice that Trump moved the embassy, but that hasn’t changed any Israeli’s quality of life. What Trump really needs to do is waive the visa requirement for Israelis to the U.S. That would make a flight to the U.S. like a “domestic flight.”
P.S. I have heard a number of mainstream reporters characterize the Syria plans as “isolationist.” As if the only way of being engaged globally is to have troops in a Muslim country, for years, and naturally prompting calls to end our occupation.
Thanks to Terry Weber and Yakov Hirsch.
Santa Trump:
“As you know, I put $4.5 billion dollars under Israel’s Christmas tree every year, and what do we get for it? Nothing!
Then, I moved the Nativity to Jerusalem, and what did we get for it? Nothing.
They invented the Hamburger with tomoato slices over there…a lot of people don’t know that, and after everything I’ve done for them they never even sent me one burger.”
RE: “But we give Israel $4.5 billion a year. And we give them, frankly, a lot more money than that, if you look at the books — a lot more money than that.” ~ Trump
SEE: Israel “free” trade agreement delivers $144 billion deficit to US | by Grant F. Smith | Institute for Research: Middle Eastern Policy (IRMEP)
LINK – https://www.irmep.org/05122016_IsraelFTA.asp
Suddenly, Trump is seeing our top recipient of charity and aid, in figures, and a waste of dollars. He must be ranting about it privately. He is mentally translating it to how much wall he can build with all that money…ha ha. I find it really funny.
I don’t see a complaint in the quoted remarks.
A reminder:
https://israelpalestinenews.org/media-ignore-largest-foreign-military-aid-package-in-us-history/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=59d03773-62f0-4b72-ad9e-ac7d1b3cf729
“Media Ignore Largest Foreign Military Aid Package in US History” If Americans Knew Blog, Nov. 29/18 By Alison Weir
EXCERPT:
“Congress is about to legislate the largest military aid package to a foreign country in U.S. history, but U.S. media aren’t telling the American public.
“Israelis know about the money, and Israel partisans are pressuring the one lone Senator opposing it, but apparently U.S. news organizations don’t think the general public needs to know…”
“In an astounding case of media negligence, U.S. news media are failing to tell Americans that Congress is about to enact legislation for the largest military aid package to a foreign country in U.S. history.
“This aid package would likely be of interest to Americans, many of whom are cutting back their own personal spending.
“The package is $38 billion to Israel over the next ten years, which amounts to $7,230 per minute to Israel, or $120 per second, and equals about $23,000 for each Jewish Israeli family of four. A stack of 38 billion one-dollar bills would reach ten times higher than the International Space Station as it orbits the earth.
“And that’s the minimum – the amount of aid will likely go up in future years.
“The package was originally negotiated by the Obama administration in 2016 as a ‘memorandum of understanding (MOU),’ which is an agreement between two parties that is not legally binding.
“The current legislation cements a version of that package into law – and this version is even more beneficial to Israel. Among other things, it makes the $38 billion a floor rather than a ceiling as the MOU had directed.”
___________________________________________________________
“Congressional Research Service, U.S. Foreign aid to Israel, Jeremy M. Sharpe, Specialist in Middle East Affairs, April 10, 2018.”
“Israel is the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. foreign assistance since World War II. To date, the United States has provided Israel $134.7 billion (current, or non inflation-adjusted, dollars) in bilateral assistance and missile defense funding. Almost all U.S. bilateral aid to Israel is in the form of military assistance, although in the past Israel also received significant economic assistance. At a signing ceremony at the State Department on September 14, 2016, representatives of the U.S. and Israeli governments signed a new 10-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on military aid covering FY2019 to FY2028. Under the terms of the MOU, the United States pledges to provide $38 billion in military aid ($33 billion in Foreign Military Financing grants plus $5 billion in missile defense appropriations) to Israel. This MOU replaces a previous $30 billion 10-year agreement, which runs through FY2018.”