SOON TO BE EX-PRESIDENT Obama reminds everyone how many billions of dollars “he” arranged for Israel over the next 10 years (in excess of US$38 billion) to counter the pro-Palestinian/anti-Israel UN Security Council resolution he initiated.
What no one talks about is that MOST of those billions come back to the U.S.; the “catch” for Israel is that it must buy U.S.-made war materials, e.g., F-35s from Lockheed Martin. Israel MAY be able to add/substitute a few Israeli-made components in the plane, but 90% of the aircraft will be at least “assembled in the U.S.A.”
Obama is not the first president to give Israel presents with not just “strings” but "hawsers". I discovered this while working in Israel’s defense industry “back in the day.”
While it LOOKS good on paper -– “Obama authorizes $38 billion deal for Israel” — in reality — a reality the general media conveniently ignores — is that it is a way for the U.S. government to subsidize its OWN defense industry.
Moreover, it is a way for the U.S. government to test its “Made-in-America” war materials in actual combat without risking American lives. If Russia supplies weapons to one of Israel’s enemies and if the U.S. and Russia can provoke a war — or at least a skirmish — then their weapons’ functionality can be seen in real life (and death) situations.
Crass but reality.
Worse, in some cases, the U.S. provides weapons to BOTH Israel and its enemies; as an example, the PA “police” are outfitted with U.S. made rifles. They also are trained by U.S. instructors paid by U.S. tax dollars.
In the world of “foreign affairs,” everything is muddled, clouded.
There is nothing particularly wrong about propping up your own industries, and there is nothing inherently wrong with attaching “strings” to a country’s largesse.
The problem is that the administration — any and all administrations — claims it gave a nation “n” number of billions in foreign aid when in fact Congress had to authorize the aid and when in fact much of that aid will be coming back to the U.S. as payment for orders for U.S. made — or at least assembled — products.
Moreover, as the Israelis learned, U.S. products cannot be improved upon in Israel and then resold sans U.S. approval. Case in point:
Excerpt from United States-Israeli Relations by Adam Powers (Editor), Clyde R. Mark (Editor), Kenneth Katzman (Editor)
Taken in context, Obama’s legacy vis a vis Israel is a black eye for the soon to be ex-president. His pique that Netanyahu failed to bow to Obama’s wishes — as Obama bowed to Saudi royalty — was expressed many times during Obama’s residence in the White House, culminating with the latest, albeit not expected to be the last, slap at Israel and Netanyahu.
Petty and vindictive easily describes both Obama and Netanyahu — to the disgrace of both the U.S. and Israel. Truly Dilbertian leadership.
