And it breaks down like this: From report U.S. Foreign Aid to Israel by Jeremy M. Sharp Specialist in Middle Eastern Affairs published April 11, 2014 “For FY2015, the Administration is requesting $3.1 billion in FMF to Israel and $10 million in Migration and Refugee Assistance. The Missile Defense Agency’s FY2015 request for joint U.S.- Israeli programs is $96.8 million. The Administration also is requesting $175.9 million for Iron Dome.” In 2007, the Bush Administration and the Israeli government agreed to a 10-year, $30 billion military aid package for the period from FY2009 to FY2018. During his March 2013 visit to Israel, President Obama pledged even more. The FY2014 Consolidated Appropriations Act (P.L. 113-76) provides President Obama’s full $3.1 billion request in FMF for Israel. In addition, it provides another $504 million in funding for research, development, and production of Israel’s Iron Dome anti-rocket system ($235 million) and of the joint U.S.-Israel missile defense systems David’s Sling ($149.7 million), the Arrow improvement program (or Arrow II, $44.3 million), and Arrow III ($74.7 million). Since 1973, Israel has received grants from the State Department’s Migration and Refugee Assistance account (MRA) to assist in the resettlement of migrants to Israel. Funds are paid to the United Israel Appeal, a private philanthropic organization in the United States, which in turn transfers the funds to the Jewish Agency for Israel. Between 1973 and 1991, the United States gave about $460 million for resettling Jewish refugees in Israel. Since 1972, the United States has extended loan guarantees to Israel to assist with housing shortages, Israel’s absorption of new immigrants. Loan guarantees are a form of indirect U.S. assistance to Israel, since they enable Israel to borrow from commercial sources at lower rates. Congress directs that subsidies be set aside in a U.S. Treasury account for possible default. As of 2014, Israel is still authorized to issue up to $3.8 billion in U.S.-backed bonds. This program also boosts the country’s fiscal standing among international creditors in capital markets. Through Foreign Operations appropriations legislation, Congress has funded the ASHA program as part of the overall Development Assistance (DA) appropriation to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). According to USAID, institutions based in Israel have received the most program funding in the Middle East region. There is also the The BSF Foundation (U.S.-Israel Binational Science Foundation). The U.S Congress helped establish BSF’s endowment with appropriations of $30 million and $20 million U.S. taxpayer dollars. Cooperative Development Grant: Three programs are in the cooperative development category: Middle East Regional Cooperation (MERC) intended for projects that foster economic growth and economic cooperation between Israel and its neighbors; Cooperative Development Program (CDP); and the Cooperative Development Research (CDR), both of which fund Israel’s foreign aid program. Israel received about one half of the $94 million MERC, and all of the $53 million CDP and $39 million CDR money. In 1971, the United States provided Israel with military loans of $545 million, up from $30 million in 1970. Also in 1971, Congress first designated a specific amount of aid for Israel in legislation (an “earmark”). Economic assistance changed from project aid, such as support for agricultural development work, to a Commodity Import Program (CIP) for the purchase of U.S. goods. In effect, the United States stepped in to fill the role that France had relinquished when French President Charles de Gaulle refused to supply Israel with military hardware to protest its preemptive launch of the Six Day War in June 1967. In late 1998, Israel requested $1.2 billion in additional U.S. aid to fund the movement of troops and military installations out of areas of the West Bank as called for in the October 23, 1998, Wye Agreement. The Clinton Administration requested this amount for Israel despite the fact that the Wye Agreement’s implementation had stalled. The full text of the 1998 Wye River Memorandum, a U.S.-brokered Israeli-Palestinian security agreement, is available at mfa.gov.il/NR/exeres/EE54A289-8F0A-4CDC-93C9-71BD631109AB.htm. According to a March 2013 Gallup poll that measured Americans’ sympathies toward the disputants in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, 64% said their sympathies lie with the Israelis and 12% said their sympathies lie with the Palestinians. According to Gallup, the 64% favorable response toward Israel “ties the highest Gallup has recorded in a quarter century, last seen in 1991 during the Gulf War.” “Every time we do something you tell me Americans will do this and will do that. I want to tell you something very clear, don’t worry about American pressure on Israel. We, the Jewish people, control America, and the Americans know it.” ~ Ariel Sharon October 3, 2001. In his book, former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin said that the Israeli government is in fact responsible for the design of American policy in the Middle East, after June 67. As for religious ferment in Egypt and the relations between Copts and Moslems, Jews were instructed to see the series of articles published in the Kuwaiti paper, El Qabas, 9/15/80. The English author Irene Beeson reports on the rift between Moslems and Copts, see: Irene Beeson, Guardian, London, 6/24/80, and Desmond Stewart, Middle East Internmational, London 6/6/80. For other reports see Pamela Ann Smith, Guardian, London, 12/24/79; The Christian Science Monitor 12/27/79 as well as Al Dustour, London, 10/15/79; El Kefah El Arabi, 10/15/79. Israel has also become a global leader in arms exports. Israel’s customers include Germany, Spain, France, Canada, Australia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Singapore, South Korea, Brazil, India, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Romania. Israel is also reportedly seeking to expand arms exports in Latin America. “China is now Israel’s third-largest destination for exports,” reported the Jerusalem Post, November 24, 2011. According to one report, bilateral trade reached a record high of $7.5 billion in the January-November period of 2011, surpassing the $6.8b. recorded for the full year of 2010. See, “Israel and China - Toward the next 20 years,” Jerusalem Post, January 24, 2012.
Posted on: Sat, 26 Jul 2014 22:42:16 +0000