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by maayank 5478 days ago
"And another thing to note is that that money is in the form of military contracts with American companies"

This.

People are usually oblivious that it's another way of transferring money from the government to the military industrial complex, not just supporting the single democracy in the middle east.
2 comments
imjustatechguy 5478 days ago
Very true.

Most people don't know but the most controversial weapons that Israel has used in recent years, such as the cluster bombs dropped in Southern Lebanon [1] and the white phosphorous used in the Gaza Strip [2][3] were both made by the US and given to Israel through the US Military Aid program.

[1] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/5299938.stm

[2] http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/arti...

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tkahn6 5478 days ago
> and the white phosphorous used in the Gaza Strip [2] were both made by the US and given to Israel through the US Military Aid program.

Also very true. And it should be noted that WP usage is legal under international law provided that it is used as a smokescreen and not a weapon [1]. And the reason it is provided by America is because it is used by NATO.

1. http://www.gonzagajil.org/content/view/194/26/

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imjustatechguy 5478 days ago
The problem with WP was the way it was used in Gaza:

http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/news/israeli-army...

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tkahn6 5478 days ago
Yes forgive me if don't trust Amnesty international on Israel (or any Western country for that matter) [1]. Also, WP is legal when used in a civilian area if that's where the battlefield is (Israel did not choose to fight in an urban area, Hamas did). See my same link above.

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Amnesty_Internatio...

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tkahn6 5478 days ago
It's slightly more complicated than that. No doubt it's a stimulus to defense contractors, but this money also comes with stipulations. For example, Israel is not allowed to sell certain military technologies (of its own invention) to countries like China. It also secures further defense trading with Israel which has about $18 billion allocated per year for defense spending (with $3 billion of that coming from the US). So Israel is encouraged to spend more money beyond that $3 billion on American defense tech and weapons.

Also we give about $1.5 billion to Egypt to spend on American weapons so it's definitely not exclusive to the only democracy in the mid east.

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