Wednesday, May 17, 2006
5/17/2006 04:55:00 PM | 
Posted by
JoeSettler
I was listening to Bibi Netanyahu on the radio yesterday and learned something new.
Years ago when he was Prime Minister (around 1996) Bibi said he was going to put an end to US (non-military) economic aid to Israel. If I recall correctly he even stood in front of the Congress and said it too.
U.S. aid was in the range of $3 billion dollars. $1.8 billion of those dollars is in military aid that can only be spent at authorized U.S. firms (basically that money stays in America, but the products go to Israel – such as US weapons, software, uniforms, etc.).
Bibi said it was time for Israel to mature, and I agreed with him (I also think we should get rid of the military financial aid too).
The radio host, as usual was trying to denigrate Netanyahu and said that he couldn’t even get rid of the US economic aid when he was PM, so why would he think he deserves to be PM again (or something like that).
Netanyahu pointed out that he created a phased plan to reduce the aid into nonexistence. The plan was to take place over 10 years, and guess what? This is the last year and the last handout.
He considers that a success (and so do I).
The radio host quickly changed subjects.
Years ago when he was Prime Minister (around 1996) Bibi said he was going to put an end to US (non-military) economic aid to Israel. If I recall correctly he even stood in front of the Congress and said it too.
U.S. aid was in the range of $3 billion dollars. $1.8 billion of those dollars is in military aid that can only be spent at authorized U.S. firms (basically that money stays in America, but the products go to Israel – such as US weapons, software, uniforms, etc.).
Bibi said it was time for Israel to mature, and I agreed with him (I also think we should get rid of the military financial aid too).
The radio host, as usual was trying to denigrate Netanyahu and said that he couldn’t even get rid of the US economic aid when he was PM, so why would he think he deserves to be PM again (or something like that).
Netanyahu pointed out that he created a phased plan to reduce the aid into nonexistence. The plan was to take place over 10 years, and guess what? This is the last year and the last handout.
He considers that a success (and so do I).
The radio host quickly changed subjects.
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5 comments:
does this mean we are not getting the 3 Bil$ anymore only 1.8?
We arent supposed to be getting anything at this point. But Olmert is going to Washington to beg for not only a continuation of American aid but a major increase.
Israel doesn't even get the $1.8 B either.
The money goes as far as the Ministry of Defense offices in the States and they can only buy from authorized U.S. companies.
What Israel does get is the products the MoD purchased, while the U.S. military contractors get the money.
Bibi mistake is he is too American. Israelis hate having an American who knows more then they do. Israel loses.
Mike
Have you seen the recent post on Scott Adams (Dilbert)'s blog:
http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/
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