Greenwald writes: "For all the chatter about animosity between U.S.
President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the
Washington Post reports that 'a senior Israeli official will arrive in
Washington next week for a final round of negotiations involving the largest
military aid package the United States has ever given any country and that
will last more than a decade after President Obama leaves office.'"
Hillary Clinton and Benjamin Netanyahu. (photo: Abir Sultan/AP)
As Israel Prospers, Obama Set to Give Billions More in Aid While Netanyahu
Demands Even More
By Glenn Greenwald, The Intercept
02 August 16
For all the chatter about animosity between U.S. President Barack Obama and
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Washington Post reports that
"a senior Israeli official will arrive in Washington next week for a final
round of negotiations involving the largest military aid package the United
States has ever given any country and that will last more than a decade
after President Obama leaves office." The U.S. already transfers $3.1
billion in taxpayer money every year to Israel - more than any other country
by far - but the new agreement Obama is set to sign "significantly raises"
that amount, and guarantees it for 10 years.
In response to this massive windfall, Netanyahu is angry that he is not
getting even more. For some time, "Netanyahu was holding out for as much as
$5 billion a year." Also, Israel has been opposed to efforts to direct more
of that aid to U.S. military contractors rather than Israeli ones (so this
"aid" package is as much a transfer of U.S. taxpayer money to weapons
manufacturers in both countries as it is to Israel itself). Moreover,
"Israelis are also said to be displeased with a U.S. position that whatever
amount of money they agree on will be final and that Israel will not go to
Congress requesting more money."
Usually, when someone hands you billions of dollars in aid, you're not in
much of a position to demand more. But the rules for Israel when it comes to
U.S. policy, as is so often the case, are simply different. Even as Israel
has aggressively expanded settlements of the West Bank (often in a way
designed to most humiliate the U.S.) and slaughtered civilians in Gaza, U.S.
aid simply increases more and more. What's particularly fascinating about
all of this is that Netanyahu originally intended to wait until the "next
administration" to finalize the deal - because, assuming that would be
Hillary Clinton, he believed (with good reason) he would get an even better
deal - but is now worried about an "unpredictable" Donald Trump, who has
spouted standard pro-Israel rhetoric before AIPAC (and worse) but had
previously espoused the need for "neutrality" on the Israel/Palestine
question and has made "America First" the rhetorical centerpiece of his
campaign.
All of this means that the U.S. generally, and Democrats specifically, bear
direct responsibility for the hideous brutality and oppression imposed by
Israel on Palestinians through decades of occupation. That's because, as a
2012 Congressional Resources Service report documented, "Almost all U.S. aid
to Israel is in the form of military assistance. U.S. military aid has
helped transform Israel's armed forces into one of the most technologically
sophisticated militaries in the world. U.S. military aid for Israel has been
designed to maintain Israel's 'qualitative military edge' over neighboring
militaries." And, of course, Clinton herself vowed in a letter to Democratic
Party billionaire funder Haim Saban and her speech to AIPAC to do everything
possible to oppose a boycott of Israel in order to end the occupation.
What's perhaps most shocking of all is how little attention or debate any of
this receives. Would Americans really be supportive of transferring billions
of dollars every year to Israel, and then entering into a new agreement to
significantly increase that amount and guaranteeing it - placing it beyond
debate - for 10 more years? That seems doubtful. To begin with, Israel
enjoys universal health care coverage, while "33 million Americans, 10.4
percent of the U.S. population," remain without health insurance. That
disparity is captured in headlines such as this one:
As The Forward put it in 2012: "Israeli citizens appear to be getting better
care [than Americans] for their lower expenditures." Fortunately for Israel,
the people of that country enjoy a much higher life expectancy than the
citizens of the country that transfers billions to them every year.
According to the most recent CIA statistics, Israelis can expect to live
82.27 years - 11th best in the world - while Americans can expect only 79.68
years, which is 43rd in the world.
Israeli infants also fare much better than American infants. Israel has one
of the lowest infant mortality rates in the world (3.55 deaths for every
1,000 births), while 5.87 American babies die for every 1,000 births. Just
last month, unemployment in Israel fell to the lowest level in decades (4.8
percent, which "is not only low historically but low by international
standards, and by conventional economic definitions there's no unemployment
at all in Israel"), while U.S. workers, despite declining unemployment
rates, continue to struggle when "the underemployed and the discouraged" are
counted.
In sum, U.S. politicians in both parties endlessly pay lip service to how
much Americans are struggling while the Obama administration prepares to
transfer more and more billions of their money to Israel. The U.S. does so
even as Israel pursues with more aggression than ever the very policies that
the U.S. claims to find so objectionable and destructive (just two days ago,
the State Department said Israel "is systematically undermining the
prospects for a two-state solution" by continuing to expand illegal
settlements).
Just compare (a) the rhetoric Democrats love to spout about themselves to
(b) their treatment of Palestinians to see how empty the former is. And just
imagine what would happen if this policy of transferring even more billions
of American taxpayer money to Israel were widely debated instead of ignored
as Bipartisan Consensus.
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Hillary Clinton and Benjamin Netanyahu. (photo: Abir Sultan/AP)
https://theintercept.com/2016/07/31/as-israel-prospers-obama-set-to-give-bil
lions-more-in-aid-while-netanyahu-demands-more/https://theintercept.com/2016
/07/31/as-israel-prospers-obama-set-to-give-billions-more-in-aid-while-netan
yahu-demands-more/
As Israel Prospers, Obama Set to Give Billions More in Aid While Netanyahu
Demands Even More
By Glenn Greenwald, The Intercept
02 August 16
or all the chatter about animosity between U.S. President Barack Obama and
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Washington Post reports that
"a senior Israeli official will arrive in Washington next week for a final
round of negotiations involving the largest military aid package the United
States has ever given any country and that will last more than a decade
after President Obama leaves office." The U.S. already transfers $3.1
billion in taxpayer money every year to Israel - more than any other country
by far - but the new agreement Obama is set to sign "significantly raises"
that amount, and guarantees it for 10 years.
In response to this massive windfall, Netanyahu is angry that he is not
getting even more. For some time, "Netanyahu was holding out for as much as
$5 billion a year." Also, Israel has been opposed to efforts to direct more
of that aid to U.S. military contractors rather than Israeli ones (so this
"aid" package is as much a transfer of U.S. taxpayer money to weapons
manufacturers in both countries as it is to Israel itself). Moreover,
"Israelis are also said to be displeased with a U.S. position that whatever
amount of money they agree on will be final and that Israel will not go to
Congress requesting more money."
Usually, when someone hands you billions of dollars in aid, you're not in
much of a position to demand more. But the rules for Israel when it comes to
U.S. policy, as is so often the case, are simply different. Even as Israel
has aggressively expanded settlements of the West Bank (often in a way
designed to most humiliate the U.S.) and slaughtered civilians in Gaza, U.S.
aid simply increases more and more. What's particularly fascinating about
all of this is that Netanyahu originally intended to wait until the "next
administration" to finalize the deal - because, assuming that would be
Hillary Clinton, he believed (with good reason) he would get an even better
deal - but is now worried about an "unpredictable" Donald Trump, who has
spouted standard pro-Israel rhetoric before AIPAC (and worse) but had
previously espoused the need for "neutrality" on the Israel/Palestine
question and has made "America First" the rhetorical centerpiece of his
campaign.
All of this means that the U.S. generally, and Democrats specifically, bear
direct responsibility for the hideous brutality and oppression imposed by
Israel on Palestinians through decades of occupation. That's because, as a
2012 Congressional Resources Service report documented, "Almost all U.S. aid
to Israel is in the form of military assistance. U.S. military aid has
helped transform Israel's armed forces into one of the most technologically
sophisticated militaries in the world. U.S. military aid for Israel has been
designed to maintain Israel's 'qualitative military edge' over neighboring
militaries." And, of course, Clinton herself vowed in a letter to Democratic
Party billionaire funder Haim Saban and her speech to AIPAC to do everything
possible to oppose a boycott of Israel in order to end the occupation.
What's perhaps most shocking of all is how little attention or debate any of
this receives. Would Americans really be supportive of transferring billions
of dollars every year to Israel, and then entering into a new agreement to
significantly increase that amount and guaranteeing it - placing it beyond
debate - for 10 more years? That seems doubtful. To begin with, Israel
enjoys universal health care coverage, while "33 million Americans, 10.4
percent of the U.S. population," remain without health insurance. That
disparity is captured in headlines such as this one:
As The Forward put it in 2012: "Israeli citizens appear to be getting better
care [than Americans] for their lower expenditures." Fortunately for Israel,
the people of that country enjoy a much higher life expectancy than the
citizens of the country that transfers billions to them every year.
According to the most recent CIA statistics, Israelis can expect to live
82.27 years - 11th best in the world - while Americans can expect only 79.68
years, which is 43rd in the world.
Israeli infants also fare much better than American infants. Israel has one
of the lowest infant mortality rates in the world (3.55 deaths for every
1,000 births), while 5.87 American babies die for every 1,000 births. Just
last month, unemployment in Israel fell to the lowest level in decades (4.8
percent, which "is not only low historically but low by international
standards, and by conventional economic definitions there's no unemployment
at all in Israel"), while U.S. workers, despite declining unemployment
rates, continue to struggle when "the underemployed and the discouraged" are
counted.
In sum, U.S. politicians in both parties endlessly pay lip service to how
much Americans are struggling while the Obama administration prepares to
transfer more and more billions of their money to Israel. The U.S. does so
even as Israel pursues with more aggression than ever the very policies that
the U.S. claims to find so objectionable and destructive (just two days ago,
the State Department said Israel "is systematically undermining the
prospects for a two-state solution" by continuing to expand illegal
settlements).
Just compare (a) the rhetoric Democrats love to spout about themselves to
(b) their treatment of Palestinians to see how empty the former is. And just
imagine what would happen if this policy of transferring even more billions
of American taxpayer money to Israel were widely debated instead of ignored
as Bipartisan Consensus.
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
http://e-max.it/posizionamento-siti-web/socialize
