Thread by @GREENESJ333

Roger Froikin @rlefraim wrote, "IT SEEMS THAT SOME MAGA PEOPLE & SOME DELUSIONAL TRUMP HATERS ARE ALL UPSET ABOUT THE US - ISRAEL AID PROGRAM, MOSTLY BECAUSE THEY KNOW NOTHING ABOUT IT & IN THEIR IGNORANCE THEY CHOOSE TO SCREAM LIKE THE INFANTILE PEOPLE THEY ARE.
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HERE IS AN EXPLANATION

WHAT IS THE US-ISRAEL AID DEAL

Whether you listen to Bernie Sanders and the Squad in Congress or Neo-conservatives like Tucker Carlson, or the pro-Hamas demonstrators, you hear the same refrain. END US AID TO ISRAEL.
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This demand stems from gross ignorance of what the USA-Israel Aid is and what it does and what it does not do, so here is something to think about.
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A. It is a false assumption that the USA has always provided aid to Israel. The first Aid to Israel from the US Government was authorized by Congress and President Johnson in 1967, almost 20 years since Israel became an Independent Republic.
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Before that, the only aid that came from the USA was private - by American Jews and Christians.

B. The US-Israel Aid Program came about and was designed to benefit both the USA and Israel.
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It stipulates that 85% of the funds provided be spent in the USA providing American jobs. It also locked Israel in to being a customer for American military products first during the Cold War.
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The USA also gained leverage over Israeli policy - that Israel could use American weaponry and US technology considering US interests and policy, and as Israeli technology development grew and
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became a worldwide phenomona, items jointly produced with US and Israeli developed technologies, could only be sold to third parties with consent of both the USA and Israel.
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The USA found that Israel could provide Research and Development at a small fraction of the cost that such efforts would cost in the USA, saving the US a lot. In fact, ending the Aid program has been estimated to actually increase costs for the USA more...
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than the cost of the program. So, this deal has been eminently good for both sides.

C. When Netanyahu was Israeli Finance Minister, he proposed that both sides consider ending the Aid Deal. At the time, the Deal was 7.5% of Israel’s GDP.
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Netanyahu theorized that this deal was not all that good for Israel’s economy, that in some ways, it limited Israel’s growth. Today, the Deal amounts to 0.8% of Israel’s GDP, so it would be much easier for Israel to cancel the deal now,
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which would free Israel to sell technologies it develops to third countries and make deals with third nations for volume production of some items. Consider that crucial components of many US systems are Israeli technology today.
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D. The USA has made a commitment, since the Nixon Administration to provide emergency supplies to Israel in war situations, simply because a small country has a difficulty in producing large volums of some items fast.
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In exchange, Israel has a commitment to listen to the USA in terms of what it does that might affect US policy.

E. Somethings to Consider:
A good argument can be made, and has been made, that Israel has shown enormous restraint in some situations,
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where a more definitive military solution might have been more effective both short and long term but held back at the behest of the USA. Hamas is a good example.
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Israel has refrained from making some choices to end Hamas years ago or to destroy Hezbollah because of US pressure.
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In 1973, when attacked by Egypt and Syria, when Israel was threatened with extermination, there were plans for devastating retaliation against Israel’s prime enemies, but those plans were put aside when US supplies came.
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Today, Israel is faced with an Iranian threat, using surrogates Hamas, Houthi forces, and Hezbollah, and if pushed into a corner, what do you think Israel might do to remove the threats — but Israel has decided to take some direction from the USA.
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That may not always be the case if Bernie Sanders, BLM, Antifa, the Squad, and Tucker Carlson have their way."
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