[jonwachob91]

Isreal may have only 1/4 the population of California (~10M vs 40M), but they have only 1/20th the land (~20k sq/km vs 400k sq/km). That $4B is aid from the US is a drop in the bucket to their ~$500B GDP, and mind you, states get aid packages from the federal government every year too. I don't have any figures about what California received in recent years, but I'm sure it is far more than $4B.

The challenge of the rich owning the land where a desal plant would go is an issue that can be solved in the current legal framework, but they'd rather scream about the problem than solve it. Desal is also not the only solution, there are political solutions too. Lower income folks could even solve the problem too, with their vote. It's not just a problem the wealthy are preventing from being solved. It's a problem the entire population of california is preventing from being solved.