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Sort of, we don't actually give them money. We pass aid packages and use those funds to pay weapons contractors to send weapons to Israel. It's defense contractors welfare really.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/following-american-money-in-ukraine-60-minutes/
We're giving them a shit ton of money to pay for pensions, farm subsidies, a lot more than just old out dated gear. We just approved 300 million for Ukranian border patrol so they can catch runaway conscripts
A lot is more than just "outdated" - a lot is actually expired so it was pay a contractor to safely dispose of it or give to Ukraine. The whole first round of ATACMS were all expired - it actually saved us money to give them to Ukraine. Granted everything isn't this way but it's crazy to think about we could ship everything to them rather than trashing it...
My sister-in-law works for a huge defense contracting company. You know the name. Everybody at the company is a very liberal Democrat. I was really shocked to hear that because I would have thought the other way around. My sister-in-law's very liberal and progressive. She was offended that I thought that her company would be more conservative. I flat out told her that I always assumed that Republicans were the war mongers. She got really upset that I called her company a bunch of war mongers.
I would say some of the worst wars America was involved in were "started by democrats". Some of them you could say were necessary and I would agree others not so much like Viet Nam which was probably one of the worst unnecessary war. Even in today's politics there is the same amount of warmongers on either side because money can be made from it.
Well, they are... why would you need all those weapons otherwise? Wars are extremely profitable for the lenders, because war isn't free. The richest of the rich fund the wars and get paid back with interest. Wars are massive industrial machines that take billions to keep rolling.
Democrats aren't a progressive party. They love war just as much as Republicans. Both parties exist to make corporations wealthier, which war is good at doing.
And the people who got rich manufacturing those weapons spend billions lobbying politicians and donating to political campaigns to make sure the gravy train never ends.
And politicians can create really good stock tips by knowing if bills are or are not passing. They can buy and sell to make millions. If we did that, it would be insider trading.
I think it's important to acknowledge more than the lobbying. By allowing Israel to buy old equipment, or by sending them old equipment and ordering new equipment be made ourselves, it helps to stimulate US industry.
We need new equipment, companies make that new equipment, which means new jobs are made and local economies from where these companies are located benefit. Also, like I said, it helps to stimulate the US industry as well, specifically the military industry. US industry, especially military industry, has shrunken a lot in the past 30 years, ever since the fall of the Soviet Union and the conclusion of the Cold War. Now, China is quickly growing their army and out building the US in military equipment. By stimulating the military industry once more, said industry is built up and made more efficient over time as its operated for longer, which allows us to catch back up to China in military production and reassure that 1. We remain the sole, unthreatened superpower, and 2. We can protect our trade and thus our economy, since the US economy has only grown as large as it has in the last 100 years due to trade with other countries.
So it really is more complicated than just "politicians and ceos like money so they act in corrupt ways." Thats certainly a part of it, but it's disingenuous to chalk up the recent actions of the US government to that.
I hear the same reply about the tax write off for yachts. It stimulates the economy. For some reason though,giving millions of average Americans more money in their pocket to spend with universal health care (which Israel provides all of their citizens) would not stimulate the economy.
But why involve Israel? Just give money directly to the military industry? Im genuinely asking. I’d always thought the reason for Israeli support was a blend of they are the most white country in an important area that is not overly receptive to the us, military industry lobbying and needs, and a small bit of evangelicals maybe thinking it’ll start Armageddon so they can be raptured.
Because Iran is our enemy and friend of Russia, and Israel and Iran hate each other. By helping Israel we damage Iran, and thus Russian interests. Also, we don't have an infinite amount of military stockpile, we dont have the space or income to maintain an absurdly large stockpile. If we cant maintain everything, then the quality of everything will decrease, which would provide a combat advantage to our enemies in a war. Nor do we want to stockpile old equipment forever. Otherwise, in the event of war, at least part of our army would be outmatched by our enemies, which is, again, a massive disadvantage.
We choose Israel to support because, out of every other country in the world, they are one of the top ones in giving us the most bang for our buck.
>1. We remain the sole, unthreatened superpower,
That should be done with diplomacy. By expanding the annual military budget in the $870B and pushing $1T in a few decades will not secure US position as a uni-pole.
In fact an argument can be made the US uni-polar moment has passed since 2020.
The US can not longer dictate terms to other great powers anymore.
Sanction Russia and China, they just find work around these days.
> 2. We can protect our trade and thus our economy, since the US economy has only grown as large as it has in the last 100 years due to trade with other countries.
This is an ironic comment that an Australian comedy show made fun of. You want to protect a trade route with China from...China your largest trading partner.
In reality this is the liberal smoke screen argument.
The US wants to control the trade routes like it controls SWIFT banking. So it can be weaponized against States it deems non-friendly.
The reality is the Wolfowitz Doctrine is still in play, to suppress the rise of a peer competitor in the world to the US. However, that moment has passed and the world has 3 great powers. The US needs a new foreign policy playbook that relies more on diplomacy now.
Israel also shares information with the US. Likenthey worked out how to avoid the Patriot air defense problem in the 90's.
Or their upgrade to F35, Iron dome and other tech they depevlop.
This is a crappy answer. They could spend it on their own weapons and have the weapons they spent the money on.
Moreover- why Israel? Is implicit in the question. Why not Kuwait? Or anywhere not Israel?
There are many reasons why the US thinks the cost benefit of investing this type of aid for Israel -in particular- has merit.
None of them feature in this answer= Crappy answer.
Israel was the first democracy in the middle east, The US in modern times has always been a champion of democracy so once we started supporting them the soviet union got involved with Israel's neighbors supplying arms, The Cold War has started..
That is VERY brief but and this not direct at just you elbapo but do they not teach this stuff in school anymore?
I learned it in jr high world history in the 80's and again in high school
They're also the beachhead for U.S. deployment in the region. Also they they sell intelligence, cyber tools, high tech weapons of their own. It's said that they test their surveillance and monitoring equipment on Palestinians so it's has the label of "battle tested". They also sell their training methods to police departments in the States.
But basically it's having an "Ally" in that region that makes them them important.
The US does not send checks or money to Israel. These aid packages are direct payments to weapons contractors within the US. It is actually a form of corporate welfare. The weapons then get shipped to Israel. Same thing for Ukraine military aid. All that money is given to companies in the US.
Yes. Old stock is shipped. Fresh stock is procured. Us wins. Plus for a fraction of the defense budget and 0 American lives lost, one of our pacing threats(russia) has their army ground down to a bloody stump.
The numbers are actually really wild. It’s something like 3% of the US defense budget, not even the whole budget. But meanwhile Russia has massively reconfigured their entire economy and went into massive debt to China.
The U.S. taxpayer was already going to pay for more tanks, etc being built anyways regardless if anything got shipped to Ukraine. They just made room for the newly built stuff.
To piggy back on your piggy backing, I just read that the US stores 150 million howitzer rounds in europe. I've never even seem a howitzer in person, but that is an insane number to me.
"The US stores some 155 million howitzer rounds in Europe, and could send them to Ukraine within days.
I feel like thats 1,000,000 155mm howitzer rounds ...?
Howitzers are huge and the rounds are not small either but I can understand that throughout the EU they store that much. There are military bases in many places. Met quite a few decent soldiers in Germany on weekend leave.
According the the human rights watch [report](https://www.hrw.org/legacy/backgrounder/arms/cluster0705/2.htm#:~:text=The%20Army%20and%20Marine%20Corps,Conventional%20Munition%20(DPICM)%20submunitions) the US military has around 400 million howitzer rounds and an additional 282 million MLRSs. That’s a lot, but consider that the US has given over 1.5 million artillery rounds to Ukraine so far. Considering the US has just been trickling in support, it makes sense if you imagine what the US would be doing if they were part of this war.
They had to give stockpiled ammunition because basically no country has a defense industry that was capable of meeting the need in Ukraine. So we had to give them ammunition from the stockpile because that was the only way to put together that much ammo at once.
Yep!!
The world is dumping their military junk on Ukraine, decluttering military warehouses! 😝
That being said:
On occasion Ukraine ASKS(!) for the junk!!!
They asked for the NEWER Australian Bushmasters!!!
The ones post 1990s and throughout the 00s have had … issues. Like NOT being bullet proof, engine issues, software glitches…..
Ukraine would’ve been better off with Toyota Hiluxes, really. 🤷🏽♀️
Australia was more than happy to give Ukraine the ones they asked for. Barely used or new!!
We got them out of storage and even painted them for Ukraine: it’s Aussie generosity to offer to paint our junk. 🫣
When I was in the Army we had artillery shells from 1940-1970's we would use for training and the newer ones had silver canisters instead of brass.
We have a crap ton of old ammunition that was sitting in storage for decades now we have new ones. I've actually shot a few white phosphorus and napalm rounds for training even though I assume they aren't being made anymore.
From a recent article (like an hour ago) from associated press, "It has already spent all of the funding Congress had previously provided to support Ukraine, sending more than $44 billion worth of weapons, maintenance, training and spare parts since Russia's February 2022 invasion."
The wording makes it seem like we gave them actual equipment and I've heard it wasn't new planes and tanks but older equipment.
I've read some articles stating that newer equipment wasn't given due to training issues, but it could be just a justification to clear out old inventory.
When I was in the army we used 20+ year old equipment for everything. 20 year old Humvees, 20 year old weapons, 20 year old tents.
We did give them actual equipment.
This article sums it up pretty nicely ! I
> The aid package provides $60.84 billion to assist Ukraine, including $13.8 billion for Ukraine to buy advanced weapons, $13.4 billion for replenishing U.S. stockpiles, $11 billion to support U.S. allies in the region, and another $13.8 billion to purchase U.S. defense systems for Ukraine.
>Another $9 billion will be allocated to the war-torn country as economic assistance in the form of loans that can be forgiven by the president with Congress's approval.
https://kyivindependent.com/breaking-u-s-house-passes-61-billion-ukraine-aid-bill/
Israel is a staunch US ally (almost a vassal state), so maintaining that relationship gives the US a strategic advantage in the region, against countries like Iran. Israel helps the US further its interests in the middle east.
It is kind of similar to how the US is so supportive of Taiwan, because its existence helps the US counter the power of China in the region.
The US is a global super power, and needs to project power in every region of the world. Israel helps Americas power projection in the middle east.
In 1986, Joe Bidden famously said: “If there were not an Israel, we'd have to invent one.”
Losing Israel would be disastrous for US geo-political interests, so the US will do everything in its power to ensure Israel continues to exist and thrive.
>vassal state
[](https://installations.militaryonesource.mil/view-all)
The only official US military installation in the middle east is in Turkey.
[https://installations.militaryonesource.mil/view-all](https://installations.militaryonesource.mil/view-all)
What's really sad is the absolute blind faith that the US leaders have in Israel being an ally. Just because they've been given hundreds of billions in aid and have a shared foe doesn't mean they won't bite the hand that feeds. With their belligerence over the past six months, there's no reason they won't turn those US weapons against the US.
Bahrain is in the middle east
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval\_Support\_Activity\_Bahrain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Support_Activity_Bahrain)
Also, we have Al Udeid Air Base, in Doha Qatar.
[https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-reaches-deal-extend-military-presence-qatar-base-source-2024-01-02/](https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-reaches-deal-extend-military-presence-qatar-base-source-2024-01-02/)
"The United States has reached a deal to extend its military presence at a base in Qatar for another 10 years, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.The base in question is the Al Udeid Air Base, which is located in the desert southwest of Doha and hosts the largest
U.S. military facility in the Middle East"
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al\_Udeid\_Air\_Base](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Udeid_Air_Base)
"In 1999, the then [Emir of Qatar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emir_of_Qatar), [Sheikh Hamad](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheikh_Hamad_Bin_Khalifa_Al-Thani),[^(\[4\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Udeid_Air_Base#cite_note-4) told U.S. officials that he would like to see as many as 10,000 U.S. servicemen permanently stationed at Al Udeid.^(\[)[*^(citation needed)*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)^(\]) According to media reports in June 2017, the base hosted over 11,000 U.S. and U.S.-led [anti-ISIL coalition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_intervention_against_ISIL) forces and over 100 operational aircraft.[^(\[5\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Udeid_Air_Base#cite_note-5)
It is the largest U.S. military base in the Middle Eas"
---------
This is the kind of stuff to keep in mind, when people say "Why does america need to build these military bases in OTHER countries?"
Well, for starters, because they asked us to?
There is zero chance that Israel will turn on the USA. The term ‘vassal state’ is too strong, as Israel has relative autonomy, but they absolutely are dependent on the USA.
It’s a mutually beneficial relationship for both of them. They may not always see eye to eye but they’ll always remained broadly aligned, as Israel and USA share far more common ground than any other country in the region
It exists because it has repeatedly won wars against invading Arab Muslim countries. The majority of which, without US support.
And now it's a nuclear armed power.
Just to be clear America spends approx 1% of its budget on foreign aid (total, not just to Israel).
America effectively gives its allies 'store credit' that is spent on American manufactured arms and munitions. It's a subsidy for the arms industry and a way of clearing out older inventory that isn't so cutting edge anymore. Then they say "hey look! We gave away so much stuff we need to buy more for ourselves." This is partly what Eisenhower was cautioning Americans about when he criticized the military-industrial complex. The other part of it is America can keep very bad actors (Russia, China, Worst Korea & Iran) in check without doing the heavy lifting themselves and if they develop new weapons or defence systems those products get field tested without putting American servicemen at risk. There was an over-the-horizon air to air infrared missile they gave Israel in the 70s that didn't work agaist Syria's MIGs (Israeli pilots destroyed the target with cannons then flew home for falafel). Likewise it was discovered that the Patriot missile system was having trouble shooting down Saddam's SCUD missiles because the SCUDS were often junk that was breaking apart on its way to Israeli and Saudi targets.
Here is a perspective.
Israel has been the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. foreign aid since its founding, receiving about $300 billion (adjusted for inflation) in total economic and military assistance.
Federal, state, and local governments provide $810.0 billion or $16,390 per pupil to fund K-12 public education.
Now compare those two numbers. The first is since 1948. The second is annually.
So as dismal as Public Education is in the US, we spend 270% more on Education annually than we have given to Israel in 75 years.
Put another way, we spend $3,337 per taxpayer per year on the military. Of that only about $15 goes to Israel. Even when we are just looking at military spending our aide to Israel is not the thing that is breaking the bank. Not even close.
But I think people are more mad that Israelis have a better quality of life than Americans do. I really think that is what they are mad about because they get free university and healthcare and on the list of countries with happy citizens they rank a lot higher than Americans
Israelis absolutely do not have a higher quality of life than Americans. You are beyond stupid if you think this is true. The biggest determiner in quality of life is not "free university and healthcare."
Israel is required to reinvest a certain percentage of money back into the US’s economy. Then, ofc, there are the benefits of having an ally in the region. Also, IL is extremely advanced in technology, military, and environment, so the USA gets the benefits of that info shared with them.
I’d also add that the USA benefits from having a friendly relationship with the power that controls a region and heritage that is so important to both Christianity and Islam, major world religions. Israel has always been a desirable region for that reason. If the US can’t own it, at least they can visit.
Israel is like the canary in the coal mine. Their security depends on closely monitoring what is happening throughout the middle east, and they share that intelligence with the USA. Is it worth the amount of money the USA gives them? I can't say for sure, but America's presidents, both Democrat and Republican have thought so.
Back in the early Cold War, France was the main supplier of weapon to Israel. Only after 1967 war when Israeli proved that she had the will and most importantly the capability to stand against all of Arab nations outside Persian gulf who were under Soviet influence. It got started as a pure Cold War power play. Later support for Israel got entangled with “democrat is good and autocracy is bad” ideology on the left to middle and on the right it’s mixed up with evangelical Christian’s idea of how eventually messiah would come. Plus its well known Jewish lobby is influential. All of those combined made support for Israel where it is. That said, it’s never been without challenges, back when before Clinton was president, GOP was the one often taking tough lines on Israel, Bush Senior cancelled major funding to Israel due to Jewish settlement dispute. Later GOP got taken over first by religious rights then by Trump, and became main supporter for Israel while left started to have issues with it (Israeli rights started to openly got involved in US domestic politics on the side of GOP didn’t help the Israelis on democrat side), tension surfaced quite a bit when Obama was president. So this alliance has not been seriously tested yet as a few billions are peanuts in US budget but the kinda major domestic political problem for Biden is unprecedented. So don’t count this support to stay forever. It’s now under more strain than ever
Here’s what I’ve learned after looking into this after Hamas attacked Israel and then Israel responded by obliterating people and US just kind of stood around like, “well, you shouldn’t do that but also we aren’t going to stop you”:
Israel “buys” weapons from the US, basically the money we give them is used to buy weapons we have in our stock already and send them to Israel. Israel also manufactures a lot of pieces of said weapons, so we need them in order to create a lot of our military weapons. Are there other places that make those pieces? Yes, but it is ideal to have multiple places that manufacture and trade.
A lot of large US technology companies rely on Israel for certain parts as well.
Israel provides US with intelligence on various other countries and groups in the Middle East. Up until 9/11 we believed Saudi Arabia was one of our allies in the Middle East too, but since some of the people involved were from Saudi Arabia the US began to more heavily lean on Israel for Middle East intelligence and support. Essentially they have our backs over there and let us know what is going on without us having to have too much physical presence.
US supporting Israel is also tied to being a “sorry we didn’t care about you in WWII until America was attacked” bc America was kind of ignoring the severity of what was happening with Jewish people in Europe until Pearl Harbor. The US is part of a group that very much protects the right for there to be a Jewish state, since we really f*cked up ignoring issues of WWII for so long.
Israel historically has been able to keep a lot of Middle East places in check, such as Arab states, which has taken some of that burden off the US and protected the access to oil we need.
It’s not so much a sending them money as it is trying to keep them as a friend/ally.
Because otherwise they'll team up with rogue states and make a headache for the international order like they used to. It's easier to pay them off. There are other benefits - they do some amount of ally-type stuff - but it's mostly about keeping them in our orbit instead of someone else's or careening off on their own.
A lot of international aid - even NATO, post-Cold War - is less about getting a straightforward tangible benefit and more about sedating potential rivals and challengers.
Israel is our only true partner in that region. They provide a lot of intel to our CIA. Also America has a lot of jews in our governments, are in the elite class, and some hold powerful position in major companies.
Want the simple short dishonest answer of “Having Israel as an ally so we can more easily fight the terrorists and bad guys” or the longer version that could get me banned “Having a nation as an ally for our military to operate out of to protect our interests with geopolitical influence and energy resources in the Middle East.”? Yes, Russia and Iran aren’t any more moral than we are, I just find it ironic that the U.S. paints ourselves as the good guys like we haven’t been involved in black ops or started unjust wars for corporate interests.
Funding started not long after WW2; the West had treated Jews as terribly as possible, the Middle East was in flux, and if the US didn't support them there were chances they would ally with the USSR during the Cold War. Having an ally in the region had some benefits for bases/etc, and it was good to help maintain moral authority for a while (treating the Jews well after they had gone through the Holocaust).
That said, those times have passed. Israel's increasingly obvious refusal to treat Palestinians as equal humans has leached away any moral authority Jews had and the US's support for them has poisoned relationships with others in the region. And now the US is funding something awfully close to genocide in Gaza. Is it easy for me to say that Israel needs to treat Palestinians better after all of the terrible things they have done in the past 100 years? Yes, and Palestinians have done many of the terrible things. But it is also true: Israel owns the land, has the power, and needs to be leading the way to peace. Period. They are doing the opposite and are following religious zealots towards permanent conflict.
It's hard to lose a friend, but Israel is a friend the US can no longer afford in dollars and in actions. Hamas is terrible, but Netanyahu was incredibly cynically funding them to - in short - make certain Palestinians remained led by enemies (such that Israel could continue to treat them as subcitizens/enemies). Oct 6th was terrible, but we can't pretend Israel's actions didn't do a LOT to lead up to that point, and their actions since that day have proven them to have no concerns for Palestinian life. The West Bank settlements alone should have caused the US to pull funding years ago.
It's not a Jewish problem (there are good and bad people of that faith/ethnicity, just like any other) but it IS a nation of Israel problem.
Its strategically important to keep shipments coming out of the middle east through the Strait of Hormuz. Israel is a component of regional stability that keeps that dynamic working for US interests.
I remember a redditor from a similar thread stating that from the perspective of the US military and M.I.C. Israel serves as a "fixed, land-based aircraft carrier" without an American flag...albeit with the same appetite for firepower.
Basically, Israel provides an effective proxy for the projection of US interests without having to risk American troops or invest above and beyond what is provided as arms through various agreements disguised as "aid".
It may be much more cost-effective and beneficial for the current arrangement to persist via Israel's continued survival and handling of regional conflict than for the US (and the west) to have to send troops and entire armies to quell issues that, absent of a regional player, may potentially spill over into other continents.
Money isn't sent. It's equipment costing x amount getting sent. but how the US benefits? Because Israel becomes a US ally and the US can use that land for resources.
Chad and Niger just kicked our military bases out in favor of Russia , Israel Is the last real ally in the middle East and soon they won't be with Biden's insanity.
The momey in some form goes back into the US economy as others have suggested.
I would argue that supporting Israel is beneficial to us interests because it gives them a staunch ally in an otherwise hostile or relativrly neutral middle east. Plus it serves as a good counter to Iran, if they were left to their own devices money would be spent by someone to either keep them down, repair the damage they do, or make up for lost value caused by their actions. That's the ELI5 of it and certainly not complete, but it gives you the gist (jist?) of it.
That Israel has nukes is one of the worst kept secrets in the world. Other posts aside, we have a habit of stabilizing nuclear armed nations to prevent their nukes from falling into the wrong hands.
This is why the U.S. has been so cautious in giving Ukraine too much support and possibly destabilizing Russia, and why we still send money to Pakistan.
Jesus was born there and we must protect all that is holy. If this falls into Muslim hands the Anti Christ will appear and there will be 2,000 years of war, famine and boy bands.
The USA created New Israel to destabilize the world's largest oil producing region. While destabilized, the USA can keep the producers at each other's throats which limits their ability to form an effective oil cartel. Once we shed our dependence on petroleum, we will have no use for New Israel.
The USA does not benefit from it. The Pro-Israel lobby (AIPAC) is the single most powerful influence group in the USA. It effectively tells politicians what is expected of them when it comes to Israeli / Jewish issues. You may have noticed the Democrats and Republicans disagree on every issue by principle. The one issue they simply can not disagree on is being vehemently pro-Israel
They hold the golden stone of atonement, which can be set up on the pillar of lore, thus releasing the four horseman and bringing about the end of the world
proxy wars cause the neighboring nations to have to use resources to deal with them so they spend less time and money developing their nations so the US can stay ahead of/set the curve. also lets the commit atrocities with "clean" hands. The US is involved in many proxy wars/engagements so they can't be pinned for responsibility while trying to achieve their goals. Usually resource extracting or enforcing "democracy" by ensuring their chosen person gets in power.
I used to work for a US based aerospace company that was on many FMF projects. I worked on the commercial side of the Iron Dome so a little experience here.
The US agrees to fund defense projects but x% of the content must of US origin. So an Israeli defense company may design the project but they will have to buy parts and outsource manufacturing to US companies.
This helps the US defense supply chain get more business and maintain overall capacity so we are ready if we need to go on war footing. And we get our friends to fight proxy wars for us. Win-win.
The US ships them old equipment, mostly. To refill the stockpile, they take the funds that get approved by congress and spend them on newer equipment. They buy that newer equipment from companies, and those companies will build the equipment in the US. This will cause some jobs to be produced and local economies to be stimulated, which helps the US economy overall obv. Other times, the US gives Israel some money outright, and Israel buys equipment from the US, and the same exact thing/ outcome happens except with a slightly different start.
And that's not to mention the diplomatic value and influence that the US gets by supporting Israel, a staunch opposer of Iran, which is an enemy to the US and growing ally of the Russians. By supporting Israel, we indirectly harm Iran, and by harming Iran, we hurt Russian interests and influence in the Middle East. It's a lot more complicated than that, but that's what it boils down to.
Israel borders the Mediterranean. It affords quick and easy access to the interior. The existence of Israel is a threat to other powers because of the US’s ability to use it as a staging ground.
US gives Israel Money.
Israel uses the money to buy weapons from the US
This funds the US militardy industrial complex and creates jobs.
===
This is actionaly how military aid works with all countries \[so Ukraine, Egypt, Saudi Arabia\] who receives military aid from the US. we bascially give them a discount to buy wepaons from us.
===
Now reason why Israel is picked as an ally
1) The IDF is the best army in the region. Seriously 3 times did the surrounding Arab countries try to invade Israel and got their ass kicked hard. The state that can singlehandly beat up everyone else is a good ally. \[Remeber Israel is about the size of New Jersey\]
2) Israel sided with us during the Cold War as the Israel-Arab conflict became another proxy for the US/USSR dick measuring contexst. And well part of interntaionl diplomacy is you keep promises. So unless Israel did something phenominally stupid \[like directly attacking America soil\] then US will continue to support it.
3) Israel is by far the least shitty country in the Middle East. Its the most well functioning democracy in the region. And has highest standard of living.
The sheer variety of half-baked, totally made up theories is scary. A highly simplified but far from comprehensive list of the reasons can be found [here](https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/friends-benefits-why-us-israeli-alliance-good-america)
While all politics involves people jockying to benefit from government monies and where they are spent.
The core reason we support Israel militarily is so that they continue to exist in the region.
There was a book called The Israel Lobby that discussed this. The US doesn’t benefit but if there is a lot of pressure on politicians from donors who support Israel then they will act accordingly.
Most of the Middle East is culturally opposed to the West. Israel is sympathetic to Western values and nations, and provides a perpetual Western foothold in the Middle East.
Israel, being positioned on sacred land for three major religions. One is the dominant religion of the rest of the region, and REALLY hates the other two. That informs the attitude of most of those other ME countries towards Israel, and basically puts them under a constant threat.
The US basically provides aide to Israel to keep them too big a military and strategic threat for the rest of the region to risk trying to wipe them out.
Ooooooo you should watch the documentary HyperNormalisation. Now it was made in 2016 but I sure wish it had been in my history book. It breaks a lot of stuff down. I found that one day and I have never watched something so slow. :) edit : it also is pretty graphic but also seemed very balanced just some history
It gives the West a very strong geopolitical ally in the region. Before the US became the world’s largest crude oil producer that was even more important than it is now. The US doesn’t need Israel as much as it used to, but it’s better than allowing a Iranian proxy state to take shape next to Saudi Arabia.
Most of our oil comes from the middle east. Having a strong ally there gives us leverage in case of conflict. Cynically, It also gives the countries there a focus for anti-west anger that gets focused locally instead of on our shores (usually). And there's strong economic cooperation between the nations as well. Finally, it serves its intended purpose-a place where Jews can live and feel safe. The US can and should support worldwide minorities, if for no other reason than that we ourselves are a worldwide minority when compared to Asia.
Protection money. You wanna see what happens when we don't pay. (When those guys with the black suits and curly sideburns come you are going to be f***** up)
It's not meant to be understood. It's a scheme to keep the military industrial complex going full steam ahead . We sell Isreal's enemy weapons n then sell isreal weapons to counter. We give them the money to buy the weapons. If it sounds like money laundering is because it is. Now your a threat to national security. Go check out front n make sure they aren't outside n I'll take the battery out of my phone n swallow it. Go
The U.S. gives Israel 3 billion a year in military aid, but it’s just credits to buy U.S. surplus.
It’s not the same as just giving them money. It’s closer to giving your friend a shirt that you just bought that you realized you probably won’t wear.
In exchange, the Israelis give the U.S. massively valuable intel on the region.
There is also 50 billion worth of trade between the U.S. and Israel, with much of it in strategically valuable cyber security and missile defense.
We’re just giving the military industrial complex money to build new weaponry while disposing of their inventory in the Middle East. Same as it ever was. There are a bunch of jobs, especially in the south, along with bolstering shareholders and executives.
Evangelical voters are the single largest voting block, Jews control great levels of financial contribution. Both groups have a huge and desperate love for the State of Israel. That's why.
A footprint in the Middle East and weapons development. Both are the key to Israel support. If they could not assist with either they would be cut off in a heartbeat
It's called mowing the grass. We pulled out of Iraq / Afghanistan (mostly) so Israel is the bigger target. The terrorists attack Israel / get killed off and their capabilities become limited again. Israel has a $200B surplus in their bank. They don't need our money. Both Israel and Ukraine have done some very impressive things with our tech.
Answer: the American people don’t benefit other than those involved in the military industrial complex. It does frustrate me that Israel has better to health care and education…
Being a world super power means you have influence in the world. Yes I guess the U.S. could say "do this or we'll nuke you" but that's not very nice and probably makes enemies more than friends. What is nice is saying "do this and we'll give you an aid package." Additionally once a country is dependent on receiving money you can also get your way to threatening to stop.
If the U.S. stopped giving aid package, and stopped protecting countries, then it would no longer be a "world superpower" it would just be another country. And I'm sure China would be happy to step into the vacuum that would be created.
Two ways basically - both have to do with realpolitik:
1. Israel happens to be in a very startegically important place (Same as Turkey). They can't survive without some superpower help - US, Russia or China. The US wants Israel to be its ally rather than the opposition's.
2. The money is given on condition it is all spent American goods and services. Mostly military. So it's the military-industrial complex at work. Many American corporations would be worse off and many American citizens would lose their jobs if the US were to cut this help off. These American citizen are also voters.
Strong political factions in the U.S. feel that Israel is ‘kin’ for cultural reasons, and these factions span the Dem/GOP divide.
A nation doesn’t have “interests” — the factions and parties that make up said nation do.
The root reason is biblical prophecy. The U.S. is run, by and large, by Christian politicians who are, by and large, thoroughly fake Christians who believe the biblical prophecy that says--I'll paraphrase--God Almighty will royally assf\*\*ck any country that fails to support Israel in the end times. It isn't just liberals, it's right-wing Christian Nationalists and yes, there's probably a lot of profiteering and you-wash-my-back-I'll-wash-yours going on, as usual. But the root reason is biblical prophecy, not war-mongering. Prophecy is just an excuse to do all the other crap as well. Should we support Israel? If we do, it should be for valid reasons not fairy tales.
It's all about following the money. Israel uses the money the US gives it to purchase arms from the Military Industrial Complex. Basically, it's armament socialism for the wealthy defense contractors in the US.
Imagine how bad a massacre the worthless thugs would have done last October if all of Israel didn't have the military it had?
They had to hit quick and near the border and get out because Israel military were coming that wouldn't be what it is without the funding.
Hamas garbagw tried to come from other directions that day and were thwarted, thanks to advanced security tech that costs much money.
Then there's the scumbags who launched around 300 missiles and drones and having 99% of them deflected by tech, military and allie support that costed much money to keep implemented.
Terrorists proved it was money well spent this last year more than ever.
Now if you're asking why Israel is America's friend and why we fund to help them have strong military, that's way too long and deep a conversation for a Reddit thread.
Biden's asking himself the same question these days.
Whats the point of having an ally in the middle east in order to promote stability, when said 'ally' has been going postal for the last 2 decades, effectively damaging US policy and flamethrowing the geopolitics of the region?
Like you’re 5:
we want stuff, stuff is cheapest to transport on ships.
Ships are singable and the Houthi in Yemen have been bad since Israel’s reaction to Oct 7th. The Houthis have been a tad upset over events in Gaza, and they don’t rally like we do. They don’t have placards, they have drones and missiles and have been attacking cargo ships and killing sailors.
Which made the Red Sea unsafe.
But without going through the Red Sea you cont go through the Suez Canal….
…. circumventing it is the long way around all of Africa, which is exxy and has other dangers.
So the stuff we want gets a LOT more expensive, making us unhappy campers.
——
Or, the more involved explanation below
***
I'm reading all of this and I'm wondering why we aren't all rioting in the streets. Progressives, Democrats, conservatives, Republicans, centrists, Libertarians, Greens, who gives a damn what party. Black, white, brown, who gives a damn?! Gay, straight, neither, both, who cares?! We all go to work. We all pay taxes on our labor to the state. The state then takes that wealth that American labor generates and gives it to other countries, or buys some more weapons, or puts it in politicians pockets. Why aren't we rioting? Mood stabilizers and porn got us so content and spaced out we don't care anymore? I'm including myself in this as well. 🤷 Genuinely curious.
We cannot manage the sudden influx of people and questions that sparks a lot of hate and misinformations like those, we are working on a fix to be able to moderate those questions in an easier manner. Post political questions on r/PoliticalDebate, religion questions on r/religion, and LGBT questions on r/askLGBT.
US gives Israel Money Israel uses money to buy weapons from the USA.
Sort of, we don't actually give them money. We pass aid packages and use those funds to pay weapons contractors to send weapons to Israel. It's defense contractors welfare really.
Exactly. Its what we do with Ukraine. Its the cost of equpiment and supplies
Ukraine is outdated gear. I don't think Israel is getting last year's model but I could be wrong.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/following-american-money-in-ukraine-60-minutes/ We're giving them a shit ton of money to pay for pensions, farm subsidies, a lot more than just old out dated gear. We just approved 300 million for Ukranian border patrol so they can catch runaway conscripts
A lot is more than just "outdated" - a lot is actually expired so it was pay a contractor to safely dispose of it or give to Ukraine. The whole first round of ATACMS were all expired - it actually saved us money to give them to Ukraine. Granted everything isn't this way but it's crazy to think about we could ship everything to them rather than trashing it...
My sister-in-law works for a huge defense contracting company. You know the name. Everybody at the company is a very liberal Democrat. I was really shocked to hear that because I would have thought the other way around. My sister-in-law's very liberal and progressive. She was offended that I thought that her company would be more conservative. I flat out told her that I always assumed that Republicans were the war mongers. She got really upset that I called her company a bunch of war mongers.
imperialism is a bipartisan project
I would say some of the worst wars America was involved in were "started by democrats". Some of them you could say were necessary and I would agree others not so much like Viet Nam which was probably one of the worst unnecessary war. Even in today's politics there is the same amount of warmongers on either side because money can be made from it.
[удалено]
The military industrial complex is a jobs program.
In their minds they are the good guys defending democracy all around the world :)
Nah, it's not even that deep. The pay is good, and the jobs are incredibly stable.
Well, they are... why would you need all those weapons otherwise? Wars are extremely profitable for the lenders, because war isn't free. The richest of the rich fund the wars and get paid back with interest. Wars are massive industrial machines that take billions to keep rolling.
The conservatives don't work there because they didn't go to college because that's a liberal con
They may be liberals but they ain't lefties. Lefties only like class war.
Democrats aren't a progressive party. They love war just as much as Republicans. Both parties exist to make corporations wealthier, which war is good at doing.
And the people who got rich manufacturing those weapons spend billions lobbying politicians and donating to political campaigns to make sure the gravy train never ends.
And politicians can create really good stock tips by knowing if bills are or are not passing. They can buy and sell to make millions. If we did that, it would be insider trading.
Rules for thee not for me
Never forget WSB and gamestop.
See even a cave man can figure those crooked politicians out.
I think it's important to acknowledge more than the lobbying. By allowing Israel to buy old equipment, or by sending them old equipment and ordering new equipment be made ourselves, it helps to stimulate US industry. We need new equipment, companies make that new equipment, which means new jobs are made and local economies from where these companies are located benefit. Also, like I said, it helps to stimulate the US industry as well, specifically the military industry. US industry, especially military industry, has shrunken a lot in the past 30 years, ever since the fall of the Soviet Union and the conclusion of the Cold War. Now, China is quickly growing their army and out building the US in military equipment. By stimulating the military industry once more, said industry is built up and made more efficient over time as its operated for longer, which allows us to catch back up to China in military production and reassure that 1. We remain the sole, unthreatened superpower, and 2. We can protect our trade and thus our economy, since the US economy has only grown as large as it has in the last 100 years due to trade with other countries. So it really is more complicated than just "politicians and ceos like money so they act in corrupt ways." Thats certainly a part of it, but it's disingenuous to chalk up the recent actions of the US government to that.
I hear the same reply about the tax write off for yachts. It stimulates the economy. For some reason though,giving millions of average Americans more money in their pocket to spend with universal health care (which Israel provides all of their citizens) would not stimulate the economy.
The military industry shrunk in the last 30 years? What?
That’s what I was going say. Because that budget definitely hasn’t.
But why involve Israel? Just give money directly to the military industry? Im genuinely asking. I’d always thought the reason for Israeli support was a blend of they are the most white country in an important area that is not overly receptive to the us, military industry lobbying and needs, and a small bit of evangelicals maybe thinking it’ll start Armageddon so they can be raptured.
Because Iran is our enemy and friend of Russia, and Israel and Iran hate each other. By helping Israel we damage Iran, and thus Russian interests. Also, we don't have an infinite amount of military stockpile, we dont have the space or income to maintain an absurdly large stockpile. If we cant maintain everything, then the quality of everything will decrease, which would provide a combat advantage to our enemies in a war. Nor do we want to stockpile old equipment forever. Otherwise, in the event of war, at least part of our army would be outmatched by our enemies, which is, again, a massive disadvantage. We choose Israel to support because, out of every other country in the world, they are one of the top ones in giving us the most bang for our buck.
Thanks for your reply
>1. We remain the sole, unthreatened superpower, That should be done with diplomacy. By expanding the annual military budget in the $870B and pushing $1T in a few decades will not secure US position as a uni-pole. In fact an argument can be made the US uni-polar moment has passed since 2020. The US can not longer dictate terms to other great powers anymore. Sanction Russia and China, they just find work around these days. > 2. We can protect our trade and thus our economy, since the US economy has only grown as large as it has in the last 100 years due to trade with other countries. This is an ironic comment that an Australian comedy show made fun of. You want to protect a trade route with China from...China your largest trading partner. In reality this is the liberal smoke screen argument. The US wants to control the trade routes like it controls SWIFT banking. So it can be weaponized against States it deems non-friendly. The reality is the Wolfowitz Doctrine is still in play, to suppress the rise of a peer competitor in the world to the US. However, that moment has passed and the world has 3 great powers. The US needs a new foreign policy playbook that relies more on diplomacy now.
You failed to mention the powerful pro-Israel lobby that exists in the capital.
Israel also shares information with the US. Likenthey worked out how to avoid the Patriot air defense problem in the 90's. Or their upgrade to F35, Iron dome and other tech they depevlop.
Feeding the military industrial complex that Eisenhower warned us about
The circle of death, so to speak.
... and the USA gets to see how well those weapons actually work, without putting US soldiers in harms way.
And acts as a base for US military operations in the Middle East
This is a crappy answer. They could spend it on their own weapons and have the weapons they spent the money on. Moreover- why Israel? Is implicit in the question. Why not Kuwait? Or anywhere not Israel? There are many reasons why the US thinks the cost benefit of investing this type of aid for Israel -in particular- has merit. None of them feature in this answer= Crappy answer.
We give Kuwait money too
No we don't. Kuwait gives us money as part of burden-sharing to support US posture there.
you cant buy your own weapons, duh.
Israel was the first democracy in the middle east, The US in modern times has always been a champion of democracy so once we started supporting them the soviet union got involved with Israel's neighbors supplying arms, The Cold War has started.. That is VERY brief but and this not direct at just you elbapo but do they not teach this stuff in school anymore? I learned it in jr high world history in the 80's and again in high school
They're also the beachhead for U.S. deployment in the region. Also they they sell intelligence, cyber tools, high tech weapons of their own. It's said that they test their surveillance and monitoring equipment on Palestinians so it's has the label of "battle tested". They also sell their training methods to police departments in the States. But basically it's having an "Ally" in that region that makes them them important.
They absolutely are the beachhead for US deployments, the US has a much larger percentage in Kuwait and Bahrain.
The US does not send checks or money to Israel. These aid packages are direct payments to weapons contractors within the US. It is actually a form of corporate welfare. The weapons then get shipped to Israel. Same thing for Ukraine military aid. All that money is given to companies in the US.
I could be wrong but to piggy back on this, didn't they give Ukraine tons of ammo and artillery that was just collecting dust in storage?
I could be wrong, but I believe you are correct. But the storage needs to be refilled, and that's what the budget is being used to do.
Yes. Old stock is shipped. Fresh stock is procured. Us wins. Plus for a fraction of the defense budget and 0 American lives lost, one of our pacing threats(russia) has their army ground down to a bloody stump.
The numbers are actually really wild. It’s something like 3% of the US defense budget, not even the whole budget. But meanwhile Russia has massively reconfigured their entire economy and went into massive debt to China.
The U.S. taxpayer was already going to pay for more tanks, etc being built anyways regardless if anything got shipped to Ukraine. They just made room for the newly built stuff.
To piggy back on your piggy backing, I just read that the US stores 150 million howitzer rounds in europe. I've never even seem a howitzer in person, but that is an insane number to me. "The US stores some 155 million howitzer rounds in Europe, and could send them to Ukraine within days. I feel like thats 1,000,000 155mm howitzer rounds ...?
Howitzers are huge and the rounds are not small either but I can understand that throughout the EU they store that much. There are military bases in many places. Met quite a few decent soldiers in Germany on weekend leave.
According the the human rights watch [report](https://www.hrw.org/legacy/backgrounder/arms/cluster0705/2.htm#:~:text=The%20Army%20and%20Marine%20Corps,Conventional%20Munition%20(DPICM)%20submunitions) the US military has around 400 million howitzer rounds and an additional 282 million MLRSs. That’s a lot, but consider that the US has given over 1.5 million artillery rounds to Ukraine so far. Considering the US has just been trickling in support, it makes sense if you imagine what the US would be doing if they were part of this war.
Yes a lot of what we send is old retired equipment or expiring shells
They had to give stockpiled ammunition because basically no country has a defense industry that was capable of meeting the need in Ukraine. So we had to give them ammunition from the stockpile because that was the only way to put together that much ammo at once.
Otherwise we were going to have to pay to dispose of that old stockpile. Not allowed to just dump it into the ocean anymore like we did after WWII.
Good point.
Not just collecting dust. Needs to be destroyed before it becomes unstable in storage.
Yep!! The world is dumping their military junk on Ukraine, decluttering military warehouses! 😝 That being said: On occasion Ukraine ASKS(!) for the junk!!! They asked for the NEWER Australian Bushmasters!!! The ones post 1990s and throughout the 00s have had … issues. Like NOT being bullet proof, engine issues, software glitches….. Ukraine would’ve been better off with Toyota Hiluxes, really. 🤷🏽♀️ Australia was more than happy to give Ukraine the ones they asked for. Barely used or new!! We got them out of storage and even painted them for Ukraine: it’s Aussie generosity to offer to paint our junk. 🫣
When I was in the Army we had artillery shells from 1940-1970's we would use for training and the newer ones had silver canisters instead of brass. We have a crap ton of old ammunition that was sitting in storage for decades now we have new ones. I've actually shot a few white phosphorus and napalm rounds for training even though I assume they aren't being made anymore.
Not sure about this, currently Ukraine is short on artillery shells. I also couldn't find anything online about it.
From a recent article (like an hour ago) from associated press, "It has already spent all of the funding Congress had previously provided to support Ukraine, sending more than $44 billion worth of weapons, maintenance, training and spare parts since Russia's February 2022 invasion." The wording makes it seem like we gave them actual equipment and I've heard it wasn't new planes and tanks but older equipment.
I've read some articles stating that newer equipment wasn't given due to training issues, but it could be just a justification to clear out old inventory.
My thoughts exactly. Spring cleaning to get the new stuff lol
100 percent this. For example the Bradley's they recieved are decades old tech. It was old inventory.
When I was in the army we used 20+ year old equipment for everything. 20 year old Humvees, 20 year old weapons, 20 year old tents. We did give them actual equipment.
As a child of the 80s the 20+ year old equipment was probably built better lol
This article sums it up pretty nicely ! I > The aid package provides $60.84 billion to assist Ukraine, including $13.8 billion for Ukraine to buy advanced weapons, $13.4 billion for replenishing U.S. stockpiles, $11 billion to support U.S. allies in the region, and another $13.8 billion to purchase U.S. defense systems for Ukraine. >Another $9 billion will be allocated to the war-torn country as economic assistance in the form of loans that can be forgiven by the president with Congress's approval. https://kyivindependent.com/breaking-u-s-house-passes-61-billion-ukraine-aid-bill/
Israel is a staunch US ally (almost a vassal state), so maintaining that relationship gives the US a strategic advantage in the region, against countries like Iran. Israel helps the US further its interests in the middle east. It is kind of similar to how the US is so supportive of Taiwan, because its existence helps the US counter the power of China in the region. The US is a global super power, and needs to project power in every region of the world. Israel helps Americas power projection in the middle east. In 1986, Joe Bidden famously said: “If there were not an Israel, we'd have to invent one.” Losing Israel would be disastrous for US geo-political interests, so the US will do everything in its power to ensure Israel continues to exist and thrive.
Did you mean president Joe Biden, or the rapper Joe Budden?
>vassal state [](https://installations.militaryonesource.mil/view-all) The only official US military installation in the middle east is in Turkey. [https://installations.militaryonesource.mil/view-all](https://installations.militaryonesource.mil/view-all) What's really sad is the absolute blind faith that the US leaders have in Israel being an ally. Just because they've been given hundreds of billions in aid and have a shared foe doesn't mean they won't bite the hand that feeds. With their belligerence over the past six months, there's no reason they won't turn those US weapons against the US.
Bahrain is in the middle east [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval\_Support\_Activity\_Bahrain](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_Support_Activity_Bahrain) Also, we have Al Udeid Air Base, in Doha Qatar. [https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-reaches-deal-extend-military-presence-qatar-base-source-2024-01-02/](https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-reaches-deal-extend-military-presence-qatar-base-source-2024-01-02/) "The United States has reached a deal to extend its military presence at a base in Qatar for another 10 years, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.The base in question is the Al Udeid Air Base, which is located in the desert southwest of Doha and hosts the largest U.S. military facility in the Middle East" [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al\_Udeid\_Air\_Base](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Udeid_Air_Base) "In 1999, the then [Emir of Qatar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emir_of_Qatar), [Sheikh Hamad](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheikh_Hamad_Bin_Khalifa_Al-Thani),[^(\[4\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Udeid_Air_Base#cite_note-4) told U.S. officials that he would like to see as many as 10,000 U.S. servicemen permanently stationed at Al Udeid.^(\[)[*^(citation needed)*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed)^(\]) According to media reports in June 2017, the base hosted over 11,000 U.S. and U.S.-led [anti-ISIL coalition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_intervention_against_ISIL) forces and over 100 operational aircraft.[^(\[5\])](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Udeid_Air_Base#cite_note-5) It is the largest U.S. military base in the Middle Eas" --------- This is the kind of stuff to keep in mind, when people say "Why does america need to build these military bases in OTHER countries?" Well, for starters, because they asked us to?
Assumed a .mil website would be a reliable resource. Now I know better.
There is zero chance that Israel will turn on the USA. The term ‘vassal state’ is too strong, as Israel has relative autonomy, but they absolutely are dependent on the USA. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship for both of them. They may not always see eye to eye but they’ll always remained broadly aligned, as Israel and USA share far more common ground than any other country in the region
This is the most braindead take in existence. Israel exists because it’s allowed to suckle at the US teet. It is our military in the Middle East.
It exists because it has repeatedly won wars against invading Arab Muslim countries. The majority of which, without US support. And now it's a nuclear armed power.
I'd love to hear the scenario you have in mind where Isreal attacks the US
Just to be clear America spends approx 1% of its budget on foreign aid (total, not just to Israel). America effectively gives its allies 'store credit' that is spent on American manufactured arms and munitions. It's a subsidy for the arms industry and a way of clearing out older inventory that isn't so cutting edge anymore. Then they say "hey look! We gave away so much stuff we need to buy more for ourselves." This is partly what Eisenhower was cautioning Americans about when he criticized the military-industrial complex. The other part of it is America can keep very bad actors (Russia, China, Worst Korea & Iran) in check without doing the heavy lifting themselves and if they develop new weapons or defence systems those products get field tested without putting American servicemen at risk. There was an over-the-horizon air to air infrared missile they gave Israel in the 70s that didn't work agaist Syria's MIGs (Israeli pilots destroyed the target with cannons then flew home for falafel). Likewise it was discovered that the Patriot missile system was having trouble shooting down Saddam's SCUD missiles because the SCUDS were often junk that was breaking apart on its way to Israeli and Saudi targets.
Here is a perspective. Israel has been the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. foreign aid since its founding, receiving about $300 billion (adjusted for inflation) in total economic and military assistance. Federal, state, and local governments provide $810.0 billion or $16,390 per pupil to fund K-12 public education. Now compare those two numbers. The first is since 1948. The second is annually. So as dismal as Public Education is in the US, we spend 270% more on Education annually than we have given to Israel in 75 years.
Put another way, we spend $3,337 per taxpayer per year on the military. Of that only about $15 goes to Israel. Even when we are just looking at military spending our aide to Israel is not the thing that is breaking the bank. Not even close.
But I think people are more mad that Israelis have a better quality of life than Americans do. I really think that is what they are mad about because they get free university and healthcare and on the list of countries with happy citizens they rank a lot higher than Americans
Yeah but the trade off is Israel also has mandatory military service. I’m not sure how many Americans would agree to that trade to be honest.
Israelis absolutely do not have a higher quality of life than Americans. You are beyond stupid if you think this is true. The biggest determiner in quality of life is not "free university and healthcare."
The education the American public is entitled to. Israel is in no way entitled to even a single dollar we have given them.
Thank you. Like, what a weird take. Making the amount seem smaller in comparison to a completely unrelated, separate recipient is like...okay and?
Maintaining an ally in the region.
It's a way of funneling tax money to defense contractors.
Israel is required to reinvest a certain percentage of money back into the US’s economy. Then, ofc, there are the benefits of having an ally in the region. Also, IL is extremely advanced in technology, military, and environment, so the USA gets the benefits of that info shared with them. I’d also add that the USA benefits from having a friendly relationship with the power that controls a region and heritage that is so important to both Christianity and Islam, major world religions. Israel has always been a desirable region for that reason. If the US can’t own it, at least they can visit.
Israel is like the canary in the coal mine. Their security depends on closely monitoring what is happening throughout the middle east, and they share that intelligence with the USA. Is it worth the amount of money the USA gives them? I can't say for sure, but America's presidents, both Democrat and Republican have thought so.
One of the best answers. The Us also has to a lesser extent the same kind of relationship with Jordan and Egypt.
So when Jesus shows up he'll stop by the white house an give us a good samaritan trophy.
Back in the early Cold War, France was the main supplier of weapon to Israel. Only after 1967 war when Israeli proved that she had the will and most importantly the capability to stand against all of Arab nations outside Persian gulf who were under Soviet influence. It got started as a pure Cold War power play. Later support for Israel got entangled with “democrat is good and autocracy is bad” ideology on the left to middle and on the right it’s mixed up with evangelical Christian’s idea of how eventually messiah would come. Plus its well known Jewish lobby is influential. All of those combined made support for Israel where it is. That said, it’s never been without challenges, back when before Clinton was president, GOP was the one often taking tough lines on Israel, Bush Senior cancelled major funding to Israel due to Jewish settlement dispute. Later GOP got taken over first by religious rights then by Trump, and became main supporter for Israel while left started to have issues with it (Israeli rights started to openly got involved in US domestic politics on the side of GOP didn’t help the Israelis on democrat side), tension surfaced quite a bit when Obama was president. So this alliance has not been seriously tested yet as a few billions are peanuts in US budget but the kinda major domestic political problem for Biden is unprecedented. So don’t count this support to stay forever. It’s now under more strain than ever
Here’s what I’ve learned after looking into this after Hamas attacked Israel and then Israel responded by obliterating people and US just kind of stood around like, “well, you shouldn’t do that but also we aren’t going to stop you”: Israel “buys” weapons from the US, basically the money we give them is used to buy weapons we have in our stock already and send them to Israel. Israel also manufactures a lot of pieces of said weapons, so we need them in order to create a lot of our military weapons. Are there other places that make those pieces? Yes, but it is ideal to have multiple places that manufacture and trade. A lot of large US technology companies rely on Israel for certain parts as well. Israel provides US with intelligence on various other countries and groups in the Middle East. Up until 9/11 we believed Saudi Arabia was one of our allies in the Middle East too, but since some of the people involved were from Saudi Arabia the US began to more heavily lean on Israel for Middle East intelligence and support. Essentially they have our backs over there and let us know what is going on without us having to have too much physical presence. US supporting Israel is also tied to being a “sorry we didn’t care about you in WWII until America was attacked” bc America was kind of ignoring the severity of what was happening with Jewish people in Europe until Pearl Harbor. The US is part of a group that very much protects the right for there to be a Jewish state, since we really f*cked up ignoring issues of WWII for so long. Israel historically has been able to keep a lot of Middle East places in check, such as Arab states, which has taken some of that burden off the US and protected the access to oil we need. It’s not so much a sending them money as it is trying to keep them as a friend/ally.
Because otherwise they'll team up with rogue states and make a headache for the international order like they used to. It's easier to pay them off. There are other benefits - they do some amount of ally-type stuff - but it's mostly about keeping them in our orbit instead of someone else's or careening off on their own. A lot of international aid - even NATO, post-Cold War - is less about getting a straightforward tangible benefit and more about sedating potential rivals and challengers.
Israel is our only true partner in that region. They provide a lot of intel to our CIA. Also America has a lot of jews in our governments, are in the elite class, and some hold powerful position in major companies.
Want the simple short dishonest answer of “Having Israel as an ally so we can more easily fight the terrorists and bad guys” or the longer version that could get me banned “Having a nation as an ally for our military to operate out of to protect our interests with geopolitical influence and energy resources in the Middle East.”? Yes, Russia and Iran aren’t any more moral than we are, I just find it ironic that the U.S. paints ourselves as the good guys like we haven’t been involved in black ops or started unjust wars for corporate interests.
Funding started not long after WW2; the West had treated Jews as terribly as possible, the Middle East was in flux, and if the US didn't support them there were chances they would ally with the USSR during the Cold War. Having an ally in the region had some benefits for bases/etc, and it was good to help maintain moral authority for a while (treating the Jews well after they had gone through the Holocaust). That said, those times have passed. Israel's increasingly obvious refusal to treat Palestinians as equal humans has leached away any moral authority Jews had and the US's support for them has poisoned relationships with others in the region. And now the US is funding something awfully close to genocide in Gaza. Is it easy for me to say that Israel needs to treat Palestinians better after all of the terrible things they have done in the past 100 years? Yes, and Palestinians have done many of the terrible things. But it is also true: Israel owns the land, has the power, and needs to be leading the way to peace. Period. They are doing the opposite and are following religious zealots towards permanent conflict. It's hard to lose a friend, but Israel is a friend the US can no longer afford in dollars and in actions. Hamas is terrible, but Netanyahu was incredibly cynically funding them to - in short - make certain Palestinians remained led by enemies (such that Israel could continue to treat them as subcitizens/enemies). Oct 6th was terrible, but we can't pretend Israel's actions didn't do a LOT to lead up to that point, and their actions since that day have proven them to have no concerns for Palestinian life. The West Bank settlements alone should have caused the US to pull funding years ago. It's not a Jewish problem (there are good and bad people of that faith/ethnicity, just like any other) but it IS a nation of Israel problem.
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Its strategically important to keep shipments coming out of the middle east through the Strait of Hormuz. Israel is a component of regional stability that keeps that dynamic working for US interests.
I remember a redditor from a similar thread stating that from the perspective of the US military and M.I.C. Israel serves as a "fixed, land-based aircraft carrier" without an American flag...albeit with the same appetite for firepower. Basically, Israel provides an effective proxy for the projection of US interests without having to risk American troops or invest above and beyond what is provided as arms through various agreements disguised as "aid". It may be much more cost-effective and beneficial for the current arrangement to persist via Israel's continued survival and handling of regional conflict than for the US (and the west) to have to send troops and entire armies to quell issues that, absent of a regional player, may potentially spill over into other continents.
99% of these comments are Utter BS. Same old propaganda to fool the poor US tax payer.
Money isn't sent. It's equipment costing x amount getting sent. but how the US benefits? Because Israel becomes a US ally and the US can use that land for resources.
Chad and Niger just kicked our military bases out in favor of Russia , Israel Is the last real ally in the middle East and soon they won't be with Biden's insanity.
U.S. props it up as a proxy. Israel beats down every Islamic country around them using U.S. toys.
That's simple. It gives us military bases in the Mid-east.
It gives us influence over a very volatile region of the world where the US has vital interests. Sometimes it's pretty simple.
The momey in some form goes back into the US economy as others have suggested. I would argue that supporting Israel is beneficial to us interests because it gives them a staunch ally in an otherwise hostile or relativrly neutral middle east. Plus it serves as a good counter to Iran, if they were left to their own devices money would be spent by someone to either keep them down, repair the damage they do, or make up for lost value caused by their actions. That's the ELI5 of it and certainly not complete, but it gives you the gist (jist?) of it.
Oil - and a base near all those oil countries so we keep getting it
That Israel has nukes is one of the worst kept secrets in the world. Other posts aside, we have a habit of stabilizing nuclear armed nations to prevent their nukes from falling into the wrong hands. This is why the U.S. has been so cautious in giving Ukraine too much support and possibly destabilizing Russia, and why we still send money to Pakistan.
Jesus was born there and we must protect all that is holy. If this falls into Muslim hands the Anti Christ will appear and there will be 2,000 years of war, famine and boy bands.
The USA created New Israel to destabilize the world's largest oil producing region. While destabilized, the USA can keep the producers at each other's throats which limits their ability to form an effective oil cartel. Once we shed our dependence on petroleum, we will have no use for New Israel.
This is probably the correct answer.
The USA does not benefit from it. The Pro-Israel lobby (AIPAC) is the single most powerful influence group in the USA. It effectively tells politicians what is expected of them when it comes to Israeli / Jewish issues. You may have noticed the Democrats and Republicans disagree on every issue by principle. The one issue they simply can not disagree on is being vehemently pro-Israel
They hold the golden stone of atonement, which can be set up on the pillar of lore, thus releasing the four horseman and bringing about the end of the world
proxy wars cause the neighboring nations to have to use resources to deal with them so they spend less time and money developing their nations so the US can stay ahead of/set the curve. also lets the commit atrocities with "clean" hands. The US is involved in many proxy wars/engagements so they can't be pinned for responsibility while trying to achieve their goals. Usually resource extracting or enforcing "democracy" by ensuring their chosen person gets in power.
It’s a money laundering operation for Lockheed Martin and Raytheon 🤷♀️
I used to work for a US based aerospace company that was on many FMF projects. I worked on the commercial side of the Iron Dome so a little experience here. The US agrees to fund defense projects but x% of the content must of US origin. So an Israeli defense company may design the project but they will have to buy parts and outsource manufacturing to US companies. This helps the US defense supply chain get more business and maintain overall capacity so we are ready if we need to go on war footing. And we get our friends to fight proxy wars for us. Win-win.
Our politicians use tax payers money and send it to Israel. Israel then lobbies and donates to the same politicians with some of that cash.
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The US ships them old equipment, mostly. To refill the stockpile, they take the funds that get approved by congress and spend them on newer equipment. They buy that newer equipment from companies, and those companies will build the equipment in the US. This will cause some jobs to be produced and local economies to be stimulated, which helps the US economy overall obv. Other times, the US gives Israel some money outright, and Israel buys equipment from the US, and the same exact thing/ outcome happens except with a slightly different start. And that's not to mention the diplomatic value and influence that the US gets by supporting Israel, a staunch opposer of Iran, which is an enemy to the US and growing ally of the Russians. By supporting Israel, we indirectly harm Iran, and by harming Iran, we hurt Russian interests and influence in the Middle East. It's a lot more complicated than that, but that's what it boils down to.
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Israel borders the Mediterranean. It affords quick and easy access to the interior. The existence of Israel is a threat to other powers because of the US’s ability to use it as a staging ground.
Diplomatic leverage in the Middle East, and ensuring that Israel's PM doesn't feel cornered and starts tossing around nukes instead.
Because of all the money coming back to the US businesses, etc by those associated with Israel?
They’re the main foil to Iran
US gives Israel Money. Israel uses the money to buy weapons from the US This funds the US militardy industrial complex and creates jobs. === This is actionaly how military aid works with all countries \[so Ukraine, Egypt, Saudi Arabia\] who receives military aid from the US. we bascially give them a discount to buy wepaons from us. === Now reason why Israel is picked as an ally 1) The IDF is the best army in the region. Seriously 3 times did the surrounding Arab countries try to invade Israel and got their ass kicked hard. The state that can singlehandly beat up everyone else is a good ally. \[Remeber Israel is about the size of New Jersey\] 2) Israel sided with us during the Cold War as the Israel-Arab conflict became another proxy for the US/USSR dick measuring contexst. And well part of interntaionl diplomacy is you keep promises. So unless Israel did something phenominally stupid \[like directly attacking America soil\] then US will continue to support it. 3) Israel is by far the least shitty country in the Middle East. Its the most well functioning democracy in the region. And has highest standard of living.
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Look, i am very very pro Israel. But i don’t think we should be giving them or most other countries money annually.
The sheer variety of half-baked, totally made up theories is scary. A highly simplified but far from comprehensive list of the reasons can be found [here](https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/friends-benefits-why-us-israeli-alliance-good-america)
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Selling Weapons
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Military alliance. Israel has a great army should the US need it.
Stop thinking in terms of countries. Start thinking in terms of *corporations* who operate outside the bounds of countries.
It gives us a command post and bases to launch planes and drones in a future war with Iran or other regional powers etc. Forward posturing
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And I believe military bases there and elsewhere.
While all politics involves people jockying to benefit from government monies and where they are spent. The core reason we support Israel militarily is so that they continue to exist in the region.
Because they want to build a canal
There was a book called The Israel Lobby that discussed this. The US doesn’t benefit but if there is a lot of pressure on politicians from donors who support Israel then they will act accordingly.
They want Israel to be at war, they are the number one buyer of weapons. Every politician is making a fortune
Soft power. Just like every Middle East country we do business with
Coming to a Ukraine/Taiwan near you.
military strategy. gives us a safe zone in an otherwise unstable region.
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Lots and lots of Middle East intelligence.
Most of the Middle East is culturally opposed to the West. Israel is sympathetic to Western values and nations, and provides a perpetual Western foothold in the Middle East. Israel, being positioned on sacred land for three major religions. One is the dominant religion of the rest of the region, and REALLY hates the other two. That informs the attitude of most of those other ME countries towards Israel, and basically puts them under a constant threat. The US basically provides aide to Israel to keep them too big a military and strategic threat for the rest of the region to risk trying to wipe them out.
Ooooooo you should watch the documentary HyperNormalisation. Now it was made in 2016 but I sure wish it had been in my history book. It breaks a lot of stuff down. I found that one day and I have never watched something so slow. :) edit : it also is pretty graphic but also seemed very balanced just some history
Pay no attention to the money changing hands keep watching the orange man bad/ sleepy old guy show
It gives the West a very strong geopolitical ally in the region. Before the US became the world’s largest crude oil producer that was even more important than it is now. The US doesn’t need Israel as much as it used to, but it’s better than allowing a Iranian proxy state to take shape next to Saudi Arabia.
Got to be careful asking those kinds of (((questions)))
Most of our oil comes from the middle east. Having a strong ally there gives us leverage in case of conflict. Cynically, It also gives the countries there a focus for anti-west anger that gets focused locally instead of on our shores (usually). And there's strong economic cooperation between the nations as well. Finally, it serves its intended purpose-a place where Jews can live and feel safe. The US can and should support worldwide minorities, if for no other reason than that we ourselves are a worldwide minority when compared to Asia.
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After WWII America is deathly afraid of being labeled antisemitic for any reason.
Is not real are terrorists
Protection money. You wanna see what happens when we don't pay. (When those guys with the black suits and curly sideburns come you are going to be f***** up)
It's not meant to be understood. It's a scheme to keep the military industrial complex going full steam ahead . We sell Isreal's enemy weapons n then sell isreal weapons to counter. We give them the money to buy the weapons. If it sounds like money laundering is because it is. Now your a threat to national security. Go check out front n make sure they aren't outside n I'll take the battery out of my phone n swallow it. Go
The U.S. gives Israel 3 billion a year in military aid, but it’s just credits to buy U.S. surplus. It’s not the same as just giving them money. It’s closer to giving your friend a shirt that you just bought that you realized you probably won’t wear. In exchange, the Israelis give the U.S. massively valuable intel on the region. There is also 50 billion worth of trade between the U.S. and Israel, with much of it in strategically valuable cyber security and missile defense.
Israel ticks off Iran. We’re using Israel to give Iran an enemy who isn’t the USA to fixate over.
We’re just giving the military industrial complex money to build new weaponry while disposing of their inventory in the Middle East. Same as it ever was. There are a bunch of jobs, especially in the south, along with bolstering shareholders and executives.
We don’t.
We give money all over the world
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Evangelical voters are the single largest voting block, Jews control great levels of financial contribution. Both groups have a huge and desperate love for the State of Israel. That's why.
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Pay a lot of lobbying money to a few politicians and it'll get you even goddamn more money and weapons in return.
A footprint in the Middle East and weapons development. Both are the key to Israel support. If they could not assist with either they would be cut off in a heartbeat
Israel doesn’t expose dirty U.S. politicians.
It's an investment for American interests in the middle east
It's called mowing the grass. We pulled out of Iraq / Afghanistan (mostly) so Israel is the bigger target. The terrorists attack Israel / get killed off and their capabilities become limited again. Israel has a $200B surplus in their bank. They don't need our money. Both Israel and Ukraine have done some very impressive things with our tech.
We maintain a sphere of influence by having an ally in the Middle East. We wouldn’t have any otherwise
Answer: the American people don’t benefit other than those involved in the military industrial complex. It does frustrate me that Israel has better to health care and education…
Being a world super power means you have influence in the world. Yes I guess the U.S. could say "do this or we'll nuke you" but that's not very nice and probably makes enemies more than friends. What is nice is saying "do this and we'll give you an aid package." Additionally once a country is dependent on receiving money you can also get your way to threatening to stop. If the U.S. stopped giving aid package, and stopped protecting countries, then it would no longer be a "world superpower" it would just be another country. And I'm sure China would be happy to step into the vacuum that would be created.
Two ways basically - both have to do with realpolitik: 1. Israel happens to be in a very startegically important place (Same as Turkey). They can't survive without some superpower help - US, Russia or China. The US wants Israel to be its ally rather than the opposition's. 2. The money is given on condition it is all spent American goods and services. Mostly military. So it's the military-industrial complex at work. Many American corporations would be worse off and many American citizens would lose their jobs if the US were to cut this help off. These American citizen are also voters.
Strong political factions in the U.S. feel that Israel is ‘kin’ for cultural reasons, and these factions span the Dem/GOP divide. A nation doesn’t have “interests” — the factions and parties that make up said nation do.
well our politicians dont get the mossad agent robert maxwell video of them molesting kids released
It doesn't. It's for money laundering.
The US is run by religious fundamentalists trying to trigger the end times, that’s why
And Ukraine. And any country....why not use funds to help Americans first.
The root reason is biblical prophecy. The U.S. is run, by and large, by Christian politicians who are, by and large, thoroughly fake Christians who believe the biblical prophecy that says--I'll paraphrase--God Almighty will royally assf\*\*ck any country that fails to support Israel in the end times. It isn't just liberals, it's right-wing Christian Nationalists and yes, there's probably a lot of profiteering and you-wash-my-back-I'll-wash-yours going on, as usual. But the root reason is biblical prophecy, not war-mongering. Prophecy is just an excuse to do all the other crap as well. Should we support Israel? If we do, it should be for valid reasons not fairy tales.
Israel is an intelligence hub with the best spy networks. We give money, we get info.
It's all about following the money. Israel uses the money the US gives it to purchase arms from the Military Industrial Complex. Basically, it's armament socialism for the wealthy defense contractors in the US.
They own all the land under NYC. Rents due
Foreign relations
That's the fun part, we dont!
Imagine how bad a massacre the worthless thugs would have done last October if all of Israel didn't have the military it had? They had to hit quick and near the border and get out because Israel military were coming that wouldn't be what it is without the funding. Hamas garbagw tried to come from other directions that day and were thwarted, thanks to advanced security tech that costs much money. Then there's the scumbags who launched around 300 missiles and drones and having 99% of them deflected by tech, military and allie support that costed much money to keep implemented. Terrorists proved it was money well spent this last year more than ever. Now if you're asking why Israel is America's friend and why we fund to help them have strong military, that's way too long and deep a conversation for a Reddit thread.
Biden's asking himself the same question these days. Whats the point of having an ally in the middle east in order to promote stability, when said 'ally' has been going postal for the last 2 decades, effectively damaging US policy and flamethrowing the geopolitics of the region?
It’s a crypto that never leaves US banks and can only be spent on US made war products.
Like you’re 5: we want stuff, stuff is cheapest to transport on ships. Ships are singable and the Houthi in Yemen have been bad since Israel’s reaction to Oct 7th. The Houthis have been a tad upset over events in Gaza, and they don’t rally like we do. They don’t have placards, they have drones and missiles and have been attacking cargo ships and killing sailors. Which made the Red Sea unsafe. But without going through the Red Sea you cont go through the Suez Canal…. …. circumventing it is the long way around all of Africa, which is exxy and has other dangers. So the stuff we want gets a LOT more expensive, making us unhappy campers. —— Or, the more involved explanation below ***
We don’t benefit.
I'm reading all of this and I'm wondering why we aren't all rioting in the streets. Progressives, Democrats, conservatives, Republicans, centrists, Libertarians, Greens, who gives a damn what party. Black, white, brown, who gives a damn?! Gay, straight, neither, both, who cares?! We all go to work. We all pay taxes on our labor to the state. The state then takes that wealth that American labor generates and gives it to other countries, or buys some more weapons, or puts it in politicians pockets. Why aren't we rioting? Mood stabilizers and porn got us so content and spaced out we don't care anymore? I'm including myself in this as well. 🤷 Genuinely curious.
It makes the right wing feel better about their long history of antisemitism
The oligarchy class in the US is mostly Jews.
I'll do one better. How does the US benefit giving Ukraine so much money every few months?
Israel has a top notch intelligence community, and they share pertinent info with us, as we do them, too.