[News] Hamas Victory in Gaza Means More US Military Aid for Zionist Regime

[Anti-Imperialist News]

*Hamas Victory in Gaza Means More US Military Aid for Zionist Regime*

Franklin Lamb

*
http://www.almanartv.com.lb/english/adetails.php?eid=168078&cid=41&fromval=1&frid=41&seccatid=101&s1=0*

Ein el Helwe camp, Lebanon

It's anyone's guess if the just announced "latest ceasefire" between the 
Palestinians under siege inGaza and the colonial regime still occupying 
Palestine after 66 years, will hold.But on 8/25/14 the White House 
agreed to meet the latest Zionist ceasefire conditions precedents. They 
include substantial aid demands from President Obama's nemesis, Israeli 
PM Netanyahu.

protestWhether or not the latter stays in office given the widespread 
anger among the Zionist settler population over the regimes loss to the 
Resistance, US military and economic aid is being increased.

According to a recent Congress report, Israel has received more 
cumulative American aid than any other country since the end of World 
War II. Depending on which sources are credited and various aid amount 
calculations, since 1962, American military aid to Israel has amounted 
to nearly $200 billion.

For the past decades the United States has been regularly transferring 
aid of about $3 billion annually, but an equal amount via special 
'surplus' weapons grants, excused loans and other arrangements. In 
addition, the U.S. has been funding Israeli projects that AIPAC claims 
are important both to it and to Israel without any evidence offer as to 
how America benefits.

According to John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen M. Walt in their volume, 
The Israel Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy", "Since the October War in 
1973, Washington has provided Israel with a level of support dwarfing 
the amounts provided to any other state. It has been the largest annual 
recipient of direct U.S. economic and military assistance since 1976 and 
the largest total recipient since World War ll. Total direct U.S. aid to 
Israel amounts to well over $140 billion in 2003 dollars. Israel 
receives about $3 billion in direct foreign assistance each year, which 
is roughly one-fifth of America's entire foreign aid budget. In per 
capita terms, the United States gives each Israeli a direct subsidy 
worth about $500 per year. This largesse is especially striking when one 
realizes that Israel is now a wealthy industrial state with a per capita 
income roughly equal to South Korea or Spain."

In the 1950s, America gave Israel only civilian aid, for economic 
purposes, and this was doled out in loans and small grants. In 1951 the 
United States refused to help Israel advance the reparations agreement 
with Germany, which was signed the following year and gave Israel some 
economic breathing room. The change began during Lyndon Johnson's 
administration (1963-1969), when the United States began transferring 
more significant civilian aid to Israel, which increased over the years. 
Between the establishment of the state and 1962, the United States under 
Presidents Harry Truman and Dwight Eisenhower imposed a total arms 
embargo on Israel. The first president to lift the embargo was John 
Kennedy, who in 1962 allowed Israel to pay in full for surface-to-air 
Hawk missiles. In 1965 America sold offensive weapons -- Patton tanks -- 
to Israel for the first time. In the 1960s, France was Israel's major 
arms supplier, until the turnaround after the Six-Day War, when the 
United States became its main supplier.

Zionist armyIn 1984, following the 1982 invasion and occupation of 
Lebanon and the Sabra-Shatila Massacre, the Cranston Amendment stopped 
loans to Israel while increasing the grants in order to put an end to 
past debts. Senator Cranston, a long time agent of Israel, called it a 
'reward' for Israel's willingness to withdraw from Beirut.From 1985 on, 
in the framework of the plan to stabilize the economy, American aid was 
pegged at a grant of $3 billion annually. In that year Israel also 
received another grant of $1.5 billion.

For the past quarter century, under the American-Israeli agreement, the 
grants from the United States are used for the purpose of purchasing 
arms for the Zionist war machine. One of the most expensive arms 
transfers were 20 F-35 fighter planes for $2.7 billion. Like much other 
US taxpayers largesse it will be financed entirely by aid money. The 
deal was signed towards the end of 2010 and the first planes are slated 
to be delivered to Israel next year.

Israel uses approximately 25% of this military aid to purchase equipment 
from Israeli manufacturers. According to CRS, "no other recipient of 
U.S. military assistance has been granted this benefit." As a result of 
indirect U.S. subsidies, Israel's arms industry has mushroomed and has 
become one of the largestin the world.CRS: "Between 2001 and 2008, it 
was the 7th largest arms supplier to the world with sales worth a total 
of 9.9 billion."

According to the CRS report, the President's request for Israel for FY 
2015 will encompass approximately 55% of total U.S. foreign military 
financing worldwide. According to the CRS report, "[a]nnual FMF grants 
to Israel represent 23% to 25% of the overall Israeli defense budget."

The Obama administration has sent some weak messages to Netanyahu over 
its current slaughter in Gaza. Shortly after the launching of the most 
recent Zionist aggression, "Operation Protective Edge" the White House 
ordered the Pentagon to cancel a shipment of Hellfire missiles for 
Israel's US supplied Apache helicopters. This had zero effect of 
Israelis bombing campaign.

Under a special agreement, the United States maintains in Israel caches 
of $1 billion worth of emergency munitions, including rockets, artillery 
shells and armored combat vehicles. The project is operated by the 
European Command of the U.S. Army. During the July 2006 aggression 
against Lebanon, the United States delivered to Israel armaments from 
these caches.

Earlier this month the White House also promised Netanyahu that the US 
will up its cash grants for Israel's multi-layered defense system that 
includes Iron Dome, Magic Wand and the Arrow. The cost thus far has been 
about $3.5 billion, including more than $1.5 billion for Iron Dome. In 
May 2010 Netanyahu asked for and received a special allocation of $205 
million for the Iron Dome project above and beyond the regular American 
military aid. Subsequent requests for funding for the project have also 
been approved, including $351 million that Israel requested for 
purchasing additional Tamir interception missiles for Iron Dome in the 
third week of July, during the current aggression against Gaza.An 
additional aid package of $225 million for purchasing more Tamir 
missiles was approved this month. Only two weeks intervened between the 
time the request was submitted and its passage -- which shows that the 
case of the Hellfire missiles was a mere slap on the wrist.

The ceasefire tentatively agreed to by Hamas and the Netanyahu regime 
assures that the American taxpayers will up the current $ 9 million per 
day military aid to Israel. They will have little voice in objecting.

Meanwhile, the Palestinians will continue to receive zero dollars in 
military aid from the US but will likely get more funds for its police 
agencies to keep West Bank Palestinians under control and out of 
Resistance activities against their occupiers.

-- 
Freedom Archives 522 Valencia Street San Francisco, CA 94110 415 
863.9977 www.freedomarchives.org
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