It is a well known fact that the Israeli AIPIC is the second most powerful lobby in the United States. Congressman who have voted against this lobby's forces can quickly find themselves out of a job.
Jewish interests control 90% of the media outlets in the U.S. which does indeed make them a force to recon with.
"There are two main reasons why the United States has traditionally supported Israel. First, early American sympathy with the plight of Jewish refugees and Holocaust survivors produced a desire to support the fledgling democratic state, with which Americans could easily identify. The hostility of Israel's Arab neighbors (Arab armies invaded Israel the day following the declaration of the new state, sparking the first Arab-Israeli War, also known as the War of Independence) reinforced the need for Israel to be supported from abroad. Second, Israel played a significant role in the U.S.'s Cold War containment policy. Israel's military and intelligence capabilities and strategic location were valuable assets in this struggle. The economic and military cooperation that has developed over the years between Israel and the United States is extensive. American aid to Israel was limited to economic support until 1962, when the first, small military loans were made.(3)
The aid relationship has evolved over the years, and since the mid-1980s total annual economic and military aid to Israel has averaged $3 billion-$3.5 billion, with aid in the last half century totalling $81.3 billion in real terms, far more than to any other country. American aid has been absolutely crucial to Israel's existence: Israel is not economically self-sufficient, and relies on such foreign assistance and borrowing to maintain its economy. Beginning in the mid-1980s, Israel's aid package generally consisted of approximately $1.2 billion in economic support funds (ESF) from the State Department and $1.8 billion in foreign military financing (FMF) from the Department of Defense (DoD) per year. This continued for over a decade, but over the last several years more and more of Israel's aid has been delivered in the form of FMF. (4)
The FMF program, which is administered by the Pentagon, allocates funds to foreign governments for the purchase of American-made arms, which serves U.S. interests in three distinct ways.(5)
First, it serves American strategic interests. Only countries that are friendly to the U.S. receive FMF funds and are subsequently armed with advanced American weaponry, and the level of funding (and hence arming) is generally decided by American strategic determinations with respect to the country in question.
Second, it supports the American defense industry. All countries are required to spend their FMF funds in the United States - with the notable exception of Israel, which is allowed to spend a portion of its FMF money each year (approximately $475 million) to procure arms from its own firms - which benefits U.S. firms and protects American jobs in the labor-intensive defense industry.
Third, a strong export market allows the U.S. to maintain a very large defense base - deemed important to American national security in the event that the U.S. needs to quickly and significantly increase defense procurement in a time of crisis . The large export markets supported by FMF allow American defense firms to extend production runs (and hence keep open these production lines), lowering unit costs and achieving economies of scale.
In the last decade the United States has sold Israel approximately $7.2 billion in weaponry and military equipment, with more than $750 million coming from direct commercial sales (DCS) and over $6.5 billion from foreign military sales (FMS). The Israel Defense Force (IDF) is loaded with American military equipment. The world's largest fleet of F-16's outside the U.S. belongs to the Israeli Air Force, which possesses over 200 of the jets and has another 102 on order from Lockheed Martin. Israel has also ordered thirty F-15Is, produced by McDonnell Douglas (which in 1997 merged with Boeing), which will be outfitted with new and unique weapons, avionics, electronic warfare and communications capabilities. In total, close to 400 American-made fighter planes are currently in use by IAF. Over 150 American-made helicopters - from makers including Boeing, Bell Textron and Sikorsky - are employed by the Israeli armed forces. An assortment of advanced missiles and countless smaller weapons and defense systems from American companies and the Pentagon fill out the IDF's arsenal.(6) The bulk of American arms sales to Israel is comprised by military aircraft. In fiscal year 1999, Israel spent over 60% of its FMF money to purchase American planes. Other important areas include sophisticated military electronics and command, control and communication equipment.
The exemption to the "buy American" rule is not the only peculiarity of Israel's aid package from the U.S. In 1973 President Nixon asked Congress for emergency aid for Israel following the Yom Kippur War. Congress granted the request, and the package included loans for which repayment would be waived. This was the beginning of a trend, and since 1974 much of U.S. military aid to Israel has been in the form of loans for which repayment has been waived by Congress.
This arrangement means the best of both worlds for Israel: it does not have to repay the money, making it more like a grant, but it also does not have to tolerate the presence of a U.S. military contingent in Israel overseeing a grant project, as would be customary. From Fiscal Year (FY) 1974 through FY 2001, Israel has received almost $40 billion in waived loans, and Israel has had every cent of its loans waived since FY 1985.(7) The net effect of this arrangement is that the U.S. has been furnishing Israel with direct budgetary support. One inevitable consequence of this, due to the fungibility of money, is that it is practically impossible for the U.S. to say exactly what Israel does with the American dollars it receives, meaning that Israel has virtual carte blanche in deciding how to use its U.S. aid.
As mentioned above, Israel is the only country that is permitted to spend American FMF funds outside the United States, which it instead spends in Israel. The reason for this exemption is, that Israel, facing constant external threats, can't afford to become solely dependent upon the American defense industry for equipping its military, as would be the case if Israel agreed to spend all of its FMF money on American-made arms. Spending some FMF money in Israel is an insurance policy against either a sudden worsening of the bilateral relations, or asymmetries between the needs of the IDF and what American defense firms are producing.
Three of the biggest players in the Israeli armaments industry are the state-owned enterprises Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI), Israel Military Industries (IMI), and the Rafael Arms Development Authority. All in all, Israeli defense companies generated a turnover in excess of $3.6 billion in 2001, with over $2.5 billion coming from exports.(8) These proportions are just the opposite of other countries with significant defense industries, who generally do the bulk of their business with their own government and export a relatively small fraction abroad.
Lacking the financial and technical base to compete on an even footing with the larger American and European aerospace defense firms, Israeli defense contractors have had to find their niche in the defense export market, specializing in products they make especially well and pursuing joint ventures with the larger foreign firms. For example, IAI's unmanned air vehicles (UAV) are state of the art technology. Israeli companies are also active in the production of sophisticated electronic warfare equipment. Joint ventures with the U.S. include the current development of the Arrow anti-ballistic missile system and the Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL), and in the recent past the Lavi attack aircraft.
The net effect of Israel's special FMF status is that the United States is essentially underwriting what has become a robust Israeli arms industry in terms of export competitiveness."
bits.de
James |
