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Comment by tkahn6 | Hacker News Reader

I'm not sure where you're getting your numbers from. At $30 billion over the next 10 years, per year, US aid to Israel is $412 per Israeli [1]. And of course, that will go down with population increases.

And another thing to note is that that money is in the form of military contracts with American companies. It is not used to pay for Israeli infrastructure or social services AFAIK beyond a separate chunk of money ~$40 million to help pay for Israel's immigration problem [2].

1. http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=3+billion%24+%2F+popula...

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:US_aid_to_Israel.gif (note that economic aid to Israel was stopped in 2007)

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"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.

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...

> 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/

The problem with WP was the way it was used in Gaza:

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

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...

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.

I got my numbers from the bottom of this page which shows that US Aid to Israel is increasing through til 2013:

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/foreig...

I got my population number of Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Israel

So to sum up... my comment above is correct.

It appears you are correct, though my second point still stands.

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