Israel's cost to the American people estimated at $2 trillion and growing

If anyone wants to know why the government almost defaulted on its debt obligations in 2011 they might want to start with its highly questionable commitment to Israel.

The current ten-year aid package between the U.S. and Israel calls for American taxpayers to cough up $3 billion a year. That's on top of the $2.4 billion-a-year fleecing stipulated by the previous 10-year aid package that ended in 2008. That's $54 billion that the government has either already forked over to Israel or committed itself to just since 1998. On top of that you can add the tens, perhaps hundreds, of billions of dollars the government forked over prior to 1998 going back decades.

That money doesn't include the additional money that the president can ask for at anytime on top of the current aid package - like the extra $200 million President Obama asked Congress for in 2008 for a missile system for Israel. All tallied up, a conservative estimate for the total amount of either direct or indirect aid that we've given to Israel to date would be well over $100 billion.

Although an obscene amount to some, we're sure there's still a lot of people who won't be too fazed by it. Well, maybe what follows will get their attention.

When adding up the total cost to American taxpayers for the government's never ending commitment to Israel, you can't just tally direct aid. You must also tally any tax money that's spent as a ramification of that commitment. That's when the figures really start to get ugly.

For instance, what do you think is the main reason why terrorists want to kill us? How about: the government's deeply troubling commitment to Israel - it was one of the reasons bin Laden gave for declaring war on the United States. The fact is there can be no question that increased risk of terrorist attacks is a ramification of the government's commitment to Israel. How much tax money do you think the government has spent trying to keep us safe from people who want to kill us because of that commitment?

According to the National Priorities Project, adjusted for inflation the United States has spent $635.9 billion on homeland security since 2001. But to come up with the real total you need to also include whatever the government spent on security before 2001 because a significant portion of that money was also a ramification of the government's commitment to Israel.

Supporters of Israel can be expected to argue that the entire amount the government has spent on security can't be solely attributed to its commitment to Israel. Maybe not, but certainly the vast majority of it can. They can also be expected to argue that there are other reasons why terrorists want to kill us besides the government's commitment to Israel. Maybe. But the government's love affair with Israel is and has been the main catalyst for terrorism directed at the United States. For instance, if terrorists didn't have those other reasons they'd still have the government's commitment to Israel.

And then there's the little matter of Afghanistan.

The government launched the war in Afghanistan in direct response to the 9/11 attacks which in turn were a ramification of the government's commitment to Israel. Well, according to the National Priorities Project, the cost of that war reached $459.8 billion by the end of the fiscal year which ended September 30, 2011. You must also add that money to the total.

But even if you didn't count the money the U.S. has spent on security and war, the costs still wouldn't stop there. You would still have to throw in the tens upon tens of billions of dollars the government has had to throw at neighboring countries like Egypt to appease them for its arming Israel with the military hardware it needs to wipe all of them out. Going back to the 1970's that total alone could approach $200 billion.

And then there's also the matter of the Arab oil embargo of 1974. In 2002, David R. Francis of the Christian Science Monitor estimated the total cost to the U.S. of that to be $870 billion. And there can be no question that it was a direct result of the U.S. government's commitment to Israel.

This has just been a cursory examination of what the government's stupid, goofball commitment to Israel has cost the American people but we don't think it takes a genius to see that the amount of money we're talking about approaches the obscene - perhaps as much as $2 trillion and still growing.

The figures are all the more disturbing when you consider that we're talking about a country that doesn't have anything of significance to offer the United States, has never done a damn thing of significance for the United States, brings this country nothing but worldwide scorn and condemnation and whose association with significantly increases the risk of terrorist attacks.

Unless we're missing something here, this is just plain, flat-right-out nuts!

On a recent visit to the United States, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahua said the United States had no better friend than Israel. However, we think part-time friend full-time hanger on would be more like it.

What did the American people ever do to deserve this mess? No American taxpayer should feel any obligation for Israel's security whatsoever. They're not our responsibility. Nor do we deserve all the negative ramifications that tag along with this deeply troubling comittment.

Our advice to the government would be to cut Israel loose. The United States doesn't owe that country anything. By all means, cut it loose before it either bankrupts us or gets us sucked into yet another war. Indeed, there's significant reason to believe that Israel is in the planning stages for an attack on Iran. The first week of November, 2011, it tested another ballistic missile, this one with the capability to go nuclear. If war breaks out between it and Iran you can bet your bottom dollar it's going to suck the United States in.

We need to start openly questioning the wisdom of the people who lead this country for bestowing such a ridiculous situation on us. Indeed, these people have become somewhat of a laughingstock around the world. Just type "lapdog for Israel" into your favorite search engine and see how many links come up that pertain to the U.S. government or U.S. government officials.

If these people can't see the stupidity in such a disastrous policy how could they possibly have a lick of a chance of dealing with the serious issues facing this country going forward?

Third World status here we come.


Copyright C 2011 Unintimidated Press

Recently leaked documents confirm Israel the main obstacle to peace in the Middle East

Peace concessions made by the Palestinian Authority to Israel in private went far beyond any that were revealed in public. Leaked documents recently published by Al-Jazeera show just how far. Behind the scenes Palestinian negotiators offered to let Israel annex all except one of the settlements that it built in East Jerusalem - an area occupied by Israel during the 1967 war - and to limit the right of return for Palestinian refugees driven off their land at the time Israel was formed to 100,000 - only a tiny fraction of the total number of Palestinian refugees scattered around the Middle East who could reasonably claim a right to return.

If anyone believes the concessions were insignificant, consider this: Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority, issued a statement at the time the concessions were first leaked saying that the disclosure would put his life in jeopardy. And just a few weeks later cheif Palestinian negotiato Saeb Erekat resigned from the role as a result of the leaks.

Apparently Israel didn't think they were all that significant, though. It rejected them outright.

That begs the question. If such profound compromises on the part of the Palestinians aren't adequate then what in the hell would be? The fact is Israel cares little what the Palestinian position is when it comes to a final peace settlement, as evidenced by its continued expansion of settlements on illegally occupied Palestinian land. It has its own uncompromising, unilateral, take-it-or-leave-it vision of peace and that's that.

The problem is the arrogant Israeli vision of peace isn't, and never will be, acceptable to the Palestinian side or its Arab League allies, nor should it be.

It takes two parties at the negotiating table willing to negotiate to achieve a lasting peace settlement. Israel's arrogance means there's currently only one - the Palestinian side - reaffirming once again that the biggest obstacle to peace in the Middle East is the state of Israel.