It seems strange that Israel gets so much support from the US.?

Question

Is it because:

1) there are Zionists in control of the US and pulling the strings as the Right have always been telling us? or
2) The Christian Right are playing their rapture game and Israel plays an important part in the phrophecy?

By the way, I do not have issues with anyone - I am looking for points of view.

Answer 1

Israel is an outlaw state in violation of numerous UN Resolution and various tenets of international laws. Congress should stop behaving as though we're some kind of Israeli colony bowing to her every whim.

Israel, whose population is 0.1% of the total world population gets roughly one-third of all US foreign aid. In addition to the $5,000,000,000 in aid, Israel enjoys the benefits of a whole lot more US tax payer money. For example, there are special "gifts" like the Arrow Missile and Levi Fighter, totaling $1.3 billion. Tax payers must also pay interest on money borrowed for Israel's grants-- about $500 million per year. Private donations to Israel are tax-deductible and total about $1 billion annually. This does not include the Israeli bonds sold in the US for $500 million each year.

Despite US restrictions on using money to build illegal settlements on Palestinian land, Israel has spent hundreds of millions of our dollars importing Jews from across the world, confiscating Palestinian land and demolishing their homes to make way for brand new settlements for the new arrivals.

That's not all. The US also pays Egypt $2.1 billion/year for signing a peace treaty with Israel and is asked to pay umpteen billions of tax payer dollars every time Israel notions that is will consider a pull-back from occupied territories. For example, during peace talks with Syria, Israel demanded that the US foot a bill of $17 billion for its withdrawal from the Golan Heights, where it has illegally been occupying Syrian land and stealing Syrian resources for over 33 years. Basically, the US taxpayers have to pay Israel in order for Israel to obey international law and respect the sovereignty of other nations.

At the same time Congress cut the welfare budget by $5.3 billions, aid to Israel that year was $5.2 billion. Indeed, as filmmaker Tom Hayes said: "from the mouths of America's poor onto the necks of Palestinians."

The so called "peace process" is sure to cost us yet more tens of billions of dollars in payment for Israel's insatiable appetite for Arab soil and its unrelenting thievery of other's resources. Try getting an iota of that money for your state. You're lucky if you can hold onto school lunch programs.

Of course, some of that money trickles back to the US in the form of campaign funding. These campaign "donations" account for Israel's power over US foreign policies.

So, what has Israel done for us?

Israel has spied on the US. By the way, a contribution to the 'free Jonathan Pollard' fund is tax deductible. According to the CIA, Israel commits industrial espionage against American businesses. They have exported sensitive US technology to other countries, some of which are potentially hostile to the U.S., in direct contravention of U.S. law.

In 1967 Israel attacked the USS Liberty killing 34 American crewmen and wounding 171. Despite thirty three years of unrelenting pleas from the survivors of that ship, Congress will not afford our servicemen the decency of an investigation and has refused to hold a Congressional hearing for an act of aggression against Americans in a time of peace despite astounding evidence. Maybe they will when there are no more survivors to speak and the only testimonies will come from Israeli-chosen "witnesses."

Israel has a healthy economy and gets piles of money and other aid from Germany every year. If this US-Israel marriage is indeed in our best interest then why do they need such a strong well-funded lobby in our Congress?

Continuing to be the lone veto that keeps the international community from investigating Israel's breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention cannot possibly be in our best interest. Patting Israel on the back while the rest of the world condemns it's flagrant violations of human rights does not mesh with the principles on which this country was founded.

Retired Navy Admiral, Thomas Moorer, was quoted in a book by Paul Findley, former congressman from Illinois, as saying "I've never seen an president- I don't care who he is- stand up to [the Israelis]. It just boggles your mind*.If the American people understood what a grip those people have got on our government, they would rise up in arms".

Answer 2

United States supports Israel because its the only Democratic Western style economy in the Middle East.
Most Jews or Israelis are not Zionists. Zionists make up small percentage of the Jewish population. If Israel had as much influence over USA as you claim, they would have continued to bombing Lebanon into the stone age until every last of the Hezbollah terrorist is either dead or dieing.
Taking of Palestinian soil was mentioned previously. There is no such thing, The people known as Palestians are merely Arabs who lived with the Jewish population prior to the state of Israel, The term Palestinians is 20th century fabrication. Palestine is not even mentioned in the Koran.
If Israel was compensated for the lands it returned to Egypt, why not they won the lands in war started by Egypt, I don't get why they had to return them to begin with.

Answer 3

The State of Israel gets support from the US because:

1) They were the only democratic state in the Middle East during the Cold War when Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Libyia, were Soviet Puppet states... while the USSR was attempting to take over Greece, Iraq & Iran.

2) Guilt for our lack of action regarding Hitler's "Final Solution" and a strong Jewish Lobby within the USA.

The extreme Christian Right MAY believe the "Rapture" thing... but they do NOT control US policy or budgets.

The "Zionist-Plot" thing is a tiny movement blow WAY out of proportion by first the Communists, the Nazis, and then the Aryan Right.

Answer 4

Israel is NOT an ally! It's nothing more than a sycophant That takes and gives nothing in return. (Parasite).
AIPAC is the Israeli/American lobby group which had tremendous control over American government and our foreign policy.
"AIPAC's success is due to its ability to reward legislators and congressional candidates who support its agenda, and to punish those who challenge it. ... AIPAC makes sure that its friends get strong financial support from the myriad pro-Israel PACs. Those seen as hostile to Israel, on the other hand, can be sure that AIPAC will direct campaign contributions to their political opponents. ... The bottom line is that AIPAC, which is a de facto agent for a foreign government, has a stranglehold on the U.S. Congress. Open debate about U.S. policy towards Israel does not occur there, even though that policy has important consequences for the entire world."

Answer 5

3) Israel is a Western style democracy like the USA and is the only one in the region and shares many of the same goals/viewpoints as the USA.

And for the record, what do you mean by the "Right has always been telling us"? I wasn't aware that it was a particular political persuation that had anti semetic views.

Answer 6

Israel (a country of 6 million people,smaller than New-Jersey), is surrounded by 22 Arab countries which number approximately 200 million people.
As such, Israel is the only democracy in the region, and America's only ally.
Considering this, do you wonder why the U.S supports Israel???
And how can you claim Zionists control the U.S, when:
a. Most Jews and Christians are not Zionists.
b. Jews are a FRACTION OF ONE PERCENT of the American population!!!!!
You are obviously a Muslim with a grudge who is NOT looking for an answer!

Answer 7

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. addressed this question. He stated:

". . . You declare, my friend, that you do not hate the Jews, you are merely 'anti-Zionist.' And I say, let the truth ring forth from the high mountain tops, let it echo through the valleys of God's green earth: When people criticize Zionism, they mean Jews--this is God's own truth.

"Antisemitism, the hatred of the Jewish people, has been and remains a blot on the soul of mankind. In this we are in full agreement. So know also this: anti-Zionist is inherently anti-Semitism, and ever will be so.

"Why is this? You know that Zionism is nothing less than the dream and ideal of the Jewish people returning to live in their own land. The Jewish people, the Scriptures tell us, once enjoyed a flourishing Commonwealth in the Holy Land. From this they were expelled by the Roman tyrant, the same Romans who cruelly murdered Our Lord. Driven from their homeland, their nation in ashes, forced to wander the globe, the Jewish people time and again suffered the lash of whichever tyrant happened to rule over them.

"The ***** people, my friend, know what it is to suffer the torment of tyranny under rulers not of our choosing. Our brothers in Africa have begged, pleaded, requested--DEMANDED the recognition and realization of our inborn right to live in peace under our own sovereignty in our own country.

"How easy it should be, for anyone who holds dear this inalienable right of all mankind, to understand and support the right of the Jewish People to live in their ancient Land of Israel. All men of good will exult in the fulfillment of God's promise, that his People should return in joy to rebuild their plundered land.

"This is Zionism, nothing more, nothing less.

"And what is anti-Zionist? It is the denial to the Jewish people of a fundamental right that we justly claim for the people of Africa and freely accord all other nations of the Globe. It is discrimination against Jews, my friend, because they are Jews. In short, it is antisemitism."

Just one more thing. An answer here referred to a place called Palestine. The only place in today's world called Palestine is in the American state of Texas.

Answer 8

AIPAC is one of the most powerful lobbies in Washington. When an elected official goes to Washington, they must sign on with AIPAC agreeing that they will support the policies of AIPAC in support of Israel. Don't believe me? It's on their website - check it out.

If the politicians don't sign on, AIPAC will find candidates to support and run against that politician in their next election. It's a powerful organization, and it's a problem that the U.S. funnels billions to Israel every year.

Answer 9

Can I answer your statement with an equally dumb@$$ statement.

It seems strange that the US still provides aid to homeless families. You would think these families (and others like them) would learn it's easier to live in a home than in the street.

It does appear to be a Christian conspiracy to keep these families homeless also...since they too provide aid.

Tip for you:
Let not the mistakes of our forefathers blind you to the historical truth of the past, and the honor bond obligations of current generations. For when you take all the worldly possesions away, the only thing let of value, is a mans honor.

Answer 10

Israel get more free money from the U.S. each year than the U.S. spends on domestic welfare each year.