would be nice to see some numbers on how much arms and stuff are given away from US to Israel.

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Originally posted by RebeL9 would be nice to see some numbers on how much arms and stuff are given away from US to Israel.

it's funny you mention that. those numbers for both Israel and Egypt are leftover from the Camp David Accords and the adjustments we have made to those agreements over 30 years ago.

of those amounts you see every year, Egypt and Israel are required to use roughjly 2/3rd's of that money to purchase US weapons and weapons systems. the remainder they are allowed to use for whatever else domestically.

so to answer your question, yes the money is "given away" to those two countries for "arms and stuff" but they are literally required to give that money back to us in exchange for our arms and stuff, so...

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Originally posted by Q5echo it's widely known we give substantially more across Arab countries than we do Israel alone

Not according to those figures you don't! Altho to be fair they do miss out Saudi Arabia for some reason which gets a lotta dolla from America (it also does not include Palestine who get American aid)

Either way, it's an irrelevant statement as it means nothing. Israel still gets the biggest chunk of American aid and it's a hell of a lot bigger than the next recipricent. And I don't see American aid to Arab states as any kind of good-will gesture it is purely for the Arab state to use to supress their populations (hence why Islamists don't like America)

As for why America does support Israel, well there's a number of reasons, not just the Zionist Christian factor. True, they do support Israel cos of Biblical prophecies, but are that is not the major factor that affects their voting patterns (more traditional Republican issues are, such as abortion laws etc). Another reason is the strength of the Israeli Lobby (AIPAC). It is the second most powerful lobby behind that one for the old folks. They don't actually have a lot of influence over the Presidency but that's not needed as Congress is the institution that carries the nation's purse, and the Israeli Lobby has them firmly under wraps. An important factor is the importance of the Jewish vote in American elections. Jewish people happen to live in large numbers in important electoral swing states, so even tho compared to the rest of the people they are a small number, because, unlike the Christian Right, they do change their voting patterns depending on what Israeli policies are proposed. This means they can be extremely important in elections and both sides usually agree on only one thing - they both support Israel.

All this is from here: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/ustoc.html

But perhaps the most important factor is American culture in general. Supporting Israel is like eating MacDonalds everyday until you look like Fat Bastard to Americans. It started in the 70s when Amercia saw what a great ally Israel could be in the Cold War following their destruction of several Arab armies. All of a sudden Israel became this outpost of freedom in the battle against Communism. That view grew more prevailant with the help of AIPAC and then it became infected with Christian prophecy meaning that most people in Amercia, in one way or another, have it drilled into them to support Israel

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Originally posted by Q5echo it's funny you mention that. those numbers for both Israel and Egypt are leftover from the Camp David Accords and the adjustments we have made to those agreements over 30 years ago. of those amounts you see every year, Egypt and Israel are required to use roughjly 2/3rd's of that money to purchase US weapons and weapons systems. the remainder they are allowed to use for whatever else domestically. so to answer your question, yes the money is "given away" to those two countries for "arms and stuff" but they are literally required to give that money back to us in exchange for our arms and stuff, so...

so what argument does the US goverment have for giving dictator countries such as Egypt that vast amount of money?
On one hand they are criticizing the middle east for being un-democratic on the other hand they are feeding them.

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Originally posted by venomX \ \ Source? Especially, how does that 3x amount compare proportionally to population/size of the particular countries. Also, how many other countries are we talking about. If the number of countries is anything more than 3, your argument carries very little weight as the US would still be spending a disproportionate amount on Israel. Also, your post implies that all Arab nations act as one and are not different nations. I.e. that all Arabs all the same and therefore we can just lump them together. I would also like to raise the implicit assumption that giving 3x the money or aid to Arab countries is somehow detrimental to US interest. This is important because the main argument in the thread is that giving aid to Israel is detrimental to US interests. Therefore, if we are to compare the amounts given to Israel and to many other nations that have Arabic people inhabiting them (amongst other ethnic groups), both contributions should be detrimental to US interests because of not the comparison is not valid.

Don't worry, no ones going to actually answer any of your questions or counter any points made there. Check out the retarded responses that folloed yours; no substance or context, completely ignoring per capita "donations," and where the money goes, what it's spent on, and how it serves US/Israeli interests, etc etc.

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"First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me— and there was no one left to speak out for me." -Martin Niemöller

The Israeli Occupation of Palestine and US Media

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Originally posted by RebeL9 so what argument does the US goverment have for giving dictator countries such as Egypt that vast amount of money? On one hand they are criticizing the middle east for being un-democratic on the other hand they are feeding them.

So that US goveernment can continue control of oil and natural resources there plus if people in the states are convinced that they are the enemy. Then the government can do pretty much whatever it wants in foreign policy control with the backing of the people.