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Foreign Aid

Bad News Rahm

‍‍יא סיון תשסט - Jun 2nd, 2009
by LB.
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Rahm Emanuel has been serious trouble from the start. Although adored by his hometown Jewish community, and of strongly Zionist lineage, he seems to be working overtime to dispell any potential rumors of dual loyalty.

As Obama’s right-hand man, the White House Chief of Staff is arguably the second most powerful in America. It is no secret that the U.S. enjoys an enormous amount of power in Israel, for which it continues to pay in the form of large annual bribes.

It is also no secret that Emanuel dislikes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and would prefer to deal with a left-wing government in Israel. Rumors over personal disagreements between the two have been surfacing for some time, leading some to question whether Obama would even Netanyahu if the Israeli premier visited Washington (that specific rumor was dispelled, when they actually did meet). On the other hand, today, Obama surprised Defense Minister, and Labor Party chairman, Ehud Barak, at a meeting with National Security Advisor Jim Jones.

Just last month Emanuel tried to push his way further into Israeli affairs by promoting a link between Iranian threat and the “Palestinian issue” saying movement on Iran “depended on the ability to make progress on the Palestinian front.” The picture becomes clearer when one taking into consideration the American administration’s anger at Avigdor Lieberman’s statement that Israel is not obligated to follow a non-agreement, all the while declining to even state its position on a binding commitment to Israel.

Meddling in internal affairs on any level is bad enough, but there are now rumors of deliberate intransigence on the part of Rahm Emanuel, with the intent of preventing cooperation between Obama and Netanyahu. If this is indeed intended to cause Netanyahu’s government to fail, then Emanuel is not only representing a White House whose attitude towards Israel is questionable, but a clearly negative influence in his own right.

To paraphrase Lord Palmerston, states do not have friends, but only interests. It appears the United States is behaving in light of its interests, without considering any so-called “friends.” Israel, on the other hand, seems to still be operating under the misconception that is such a thing as a U.S.-Israel friendship.

Oren on Existential Threats – Sovereignty

‍‍ט אייר תשסט - May 21st, 2009
by LB.
1 comment

As I mentioned yesterday, Jerusalem is slipping out of Israel’s hands, and unless something is done soon, Israel will be in big trouble. This leads to another threat Oren brings up, Israel’s “Hemorrhaging of Sovereignty.”

Israel has long avoided enforcing the law in many areas under its control. In the eastern part of Jerusalem, Israel-proper by law, Arabs (who have permanent resident status) have built hundreds of illegal houses, in violation of building codes. After decades of turning a blind eye, Israel finally decided to demolish a small number of illegally built houses. However, sovereignty has never been strongly asserted over all of the city, and the U.S. felt it can get involved in this domestic matter.

The situation is similar in the Galil and the Negev. In addition to building codes, taxes are routinely evaded by large swaths of the population. In response, widespread discrimination against the Arab community is alleged. While de facto equality may not be the situation today (infrastructure and education are poor in the Arab sector), perhaps some of the problems would be alleviated if the residents funded their local municipalities, as well as other entitlements they receive from the state on a regular basis.

Oren also mentioned the Haredim and the Jewish population in Judea and Samaria. It is projected that by 2012, one third of Israeli schoolchildren will be Haredi, the overwhelming majority of which will not be serving in the army. Over the Green Line, confrontations between Israeli residents and the IDF are on the rise. There are many reasons for this (unequal enforcement and capitulation to foreign demands, to name a few), but the fact is that violence between the army and the state’s citizens is clearly a problem that needs to be addressed.

And in the Knesset, numerous members not only disavow the legitimacy of the state they serve, “[t]hey actively call for its dissolution.” Free speech is an important value, but certain elected officials have abused that right for years. Running to the High Court every time an illegal party is disqualified is counterproductive, wrong, and does not allow Israel to assert its sovereignty. Freedom of speech is not an absolute value. Yes, many Arab citizens are not happy with the state, but allowing supporters of the enemy to sling mud at the state they have sworn to serve is not acceptable.

Sovereignty is bleeding out of another gaping hole – the famed “U.S.-Israel relationship.” It is an uneven relationship, in which America pays for the “right” to intervene in issues that are distinctly Israel’s business. As I’ve said in the past, accepting these funds renders Israel beholden to the U.S., and is extremely harmful to Israel’s image. Anti-Israel “activists” believe that ending American aid will bring Israel to its knees and “end the occupation.” This is an argument that needs to be proven false. This so-called aid must end immediately.

Israel’s economy, even in this day and age, will collapse as a result of pursuing true independence. On the contrary, it will spur economic activity, and allow Israel to pursue its own policy decisions, without the State Department breathing down its neck. In any case, if Israel is a sovereign nation, then it needs to stand on its own two feet.

Financial Crisis to Inadvertently Help Israel?

‍‍ל תשרי תשסט - Oct 29th, 2008
by LB.
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Maybe something good can come out of the financial crisis that has ravaged stock markets everywhere. According to Aluf Benn the crisis “will force Israel to give up some of the aid it receives from the United States.” Benn suggest that in order to “prevent embarrassment and pressure, Israel would do well to initiate an aid reduction itself.” A reduction is only a step in the right direction. But Benn is wrong in characterizing such a move as a punishment for Israel. As I have said more than once, this aid is harming, much more than it is actually aiding, Israel.

Other than the seemingly valid justifications of American aid (economic assistance and US commitment to Israel and the IDF), Benn is of the opinion that “it is important for Israel to be at the top of the chart of recipients of American aid” as “a component of Israeli deterrence.” Absolutely not. In order for Israel to build up its deterrence effectively it needs to develop its own military industry, stop relying on this American crutch and eliminate any international perception of Israel as an American puppet.

Yes, “Israel’s critics in the United States argue that the military aid distorts the allocation of resources,” favoring “the most aggressive army in the Middle East…and indirectly deepening the Muslim world’s hatred of America.” Why contribute to their arsenal of lies, especially when we would be better off being truly independent? While making no judgment about American financial priorities, the aid does distort the allocation of resources – in Israel. It allows the Israel to be financially negligent and maintain a wasteful defense budget.

Benn adds that “there will also be an incentive to become more efficient.” I don’t understand. Why does one need an incentive to become efficient? American aid is a disincentive to become efficient, however, and the Israeli public sector is already much too wasteful. Providing an additional incentive to be inefficient is just not smart.

Saying that as a result of a reduction, or even an end, to American aid, the “IDF will need to pull long-term projects and put off equipping new planes and ships” is a misrepresentation of the big picture. While that might be the case in the short-term, in the long run the Israeli security forces will be much better off. We will be doing the research and development ourselves, promoting the domestic defense industry and the economy overall, we will be supplying ourselves, ending Israel’s reliance on the capriciousness of the U.S. Government.

Head Back on Shoulders?

‍‍כד תשרי תשסט - Oct 23rd, 2008
by LB.
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Efraim Sneh, former Deputy Minister of Defense, who recently resigned from the Knesset and from the Labor party, in order to form the new “Strong Israel” party had an opinion piece in Ynet the other day. Oddly enough, it actually appears to make some sense.

The op-ed’s lead reads: “US efforts to prevent Iran strike by lavishing us with gifts come with a price.” Wow, speaking truth to power? By an Israeli politician?

I am generally not a fan of members (and former-members) of the Israeli left-wing establishment, but Sneh is right on target here.

The gist of the op-ed is that, in order to prevent an Israeli strike in Iran, America is bribing Israel with presents such as the early warning system, recently installed in the Negev. But, in Sneh’s words “it limits our freedom to act both operationally and diplomatically.” In return, America wants Israel to sit tight and basically ignore Iran, regardless of the existential threat a nuclear Iran presents to Israel.

American politicians love to brag about how much the U.S. helps Israel (’tis the season now), its ally, the only democracy in the Middle East, etc etc (and many other phrases coined by AIPAC). However, that is far from true – America only helps Israel insofar as the U.S. benefits from helping Israel. Such as  making money for American defense corporations. So much for helping the American defense industry – Israel has not been approved to purchase defense systems that would improve the Israeli Air Force long-range capabilities. However, U.S. continues the sale of weapons to, and the training of Israel’s enemies. And what do we do? We shut up, lest we offend Uncle Sam.

Moreover, the Pentagon’s approval of the F-35s sale to Israel is worse than previously thought. “Israel has not yet been granted the option of installing Israeli-made systems in the plane.”  Unbelievable. If Israeli politicians weren’t completely spineless, they would have taken the same stand as the U.K. did and would have “refused to purchase the F-35 before…granted the authority to use it.”

Yet It doesn’t stop there. Recently, the Israeli Air Force carried out a long-range exercise over the Mediterranean. Thanks to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who has come out against an Israeli strike in Iran, though, this was leaked. Thank you, friend.

This is the same country who gives us green and red lights to act in our self-defense. Why do we heed these “instructions”? If we are to be a sovereign nation, we need to act in our self-interest, and no one else’s. The only way to do so, as I have said in the past, is to be beholden to no one, which means accepting no bribes. Israel must cease to accept American money NOW.

Sneh ends with a strong warning: “The current government, as well as the next one, does not have the moral right to reconcile itself to a nuclear Iran…No compliance with external pressures will absolve it of the responsibility for a failure that is a thousand times worse than Golda [Meir] and [Moshe] Dayan’s rejection of Chief of Staff David Elazar’s request for a preemptive strike in the morning of Yom Kippur in 1973.”

מילים כדורבנות

Overpaying for American Money

‍‍ד תשרי תשסט - Oct 2nd, 2008
by LB.
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Apparently, in accepting American military and economic aid, not only is Israel paying too much for the F-35s in terms of political capital, but in real terms already.

A Dutch Newspaper, NRC Handelsblad, is reporting that Israel is paying twice as much as the Netherlands is for these Joint Strike Fighters. Unfortunately, the article is in Dutch, and since I don’t understand Dutch, I have to rely on Ynet for its translation and report (in Hebrew).

Eight countries, the Netherlands among them, participated in the research and development of the Joint Strike Fighter, also known as the F-35. According to the report, the Dutch invested $5.67 billion in the project and is expected to receive 85 aircraft, in return. This would mean that the Dutch government is paying approximately €66 million per aircraft. In the deal that has been recently finalized with the U.S., on the other hand, Israel is going to pay approximately €142 million.

Israel is the first country, outside of the original eight nations that were original participants in the project, to purchase an F-35, and so this is the first time the Pentagon is giving a binding price quote. NRC Handelsblad also says that it is possible that Israel is purchasing more expensive versions of the F-35, since it is interested in installing its own equipment on board the aircraft.

This, in my view, is unacceptable. I am no expert on defense systems or on pricing and sales of such systems, and so I am not saying that Israel isn’t getting a fair deal, or that the F-35 aren’t actually worth these prices.

What I am saying, as I have said before, is that if Israel were to rely on its own R&D, without having American money to spend on American projects, it would be much better off. Money spent would remain within Israeli borders, bolstering the Israeli economy, odds are the actual costs would be lower, and maybe its just arrogance, but the product would be just as good as not better.

Laziness and greediness is keeping Israel from progress. American “aid” is simply not aiding Israel.

In Support of Israeli Independence

‍‍ב תשרי תשסט - Sep 30th, 2008
by LB.
1 comment

Ha’aretz (online) reported today is that the IDF has decided to forgo buying American made cluster bombs and rely instead on Israeli Military Industries (IMI – also commonly referred to as Ta’as) for future purchases. According to the article, two years ago, during the Second Lebanon War, when Israel relied heavily on American made bombs, “between 30 percent and 40 percent of the bombs failed to explode on impact”. In addition to the obvious operational drawback to weapon that is effective only just over half of the times, unexploded cluter bombs have remained all over southern Lebanon have contituted a pretty significant risk to civilians in the area, and have even caused more than a few deaths after the end of the war. IMI, on the other hand, claims that its cluster bombs have a less than 1 percent rate of unexploded bombs.

Apart from these advantages, this is also a positive move on Israel’s part because it is relying on local industry for the state’s needs. Free trade notwithstanding, Israel purchases most of its weapons from the U.S using the extensive financial suport Israel receives in the form of military aid. Israel also receieves a few billion dollars every year as economic foreign aid.

While a nice gesture on America’s side, from an Israeli standpoint this is bad. Very bad. There was once a time Israel’s future was insecure and much of that was due to economic instability. That time is no more. By accepting foreign funds it has become, de facto, a patron state and is constantly beholden to the U.S. Israel cannot make foreign policy decisions, trade agreements or even determine its own domestic policy without requesting permission from the rich uncle on the other side of the ocean.

Also today, Ha’aretz reported that the U.S has approved the sale of 25 F-35 stealth fighter jets to Israel. From a military standpoint, I’m sure the top brass in Israel thinks this is great news. They are the experts, and in the short-term, they are probably right. However, if Israel were not reliant on America, and did not spend 75% of its aid in the United States, it would be forced to come up with solutions of its own. This is not to say that the U.S.-Israel relationship is of no use, or that it should be weakened. It should, however, be a relationship of equals. Not a patron-client relationship.

The Israeli economy is strong enough today to survive on its own. American aid to Israel needs to end now. A truly independent Israel would develop its own military technology and would not be reliant on the permission of foreign bodies to purchase items it deems necessary for its defense. It would develop them on its own. Israel has, after all, developed a superior tank, the tank. If actually forced to, Israel would be able to come up with a superior fighter jet as well. We are no longer in the era of the Lavi.

With a 21-year low employment rate of 6.1%, the 2007 inflation at 3.4% and the Shekel constantly strengthening against the US Dollar (even lately, when the Dollar has been doing better agains the Euro and the British Pound), Israel’s economy is not the flailing economy of a fledgling state any longer. If given the opportunity, we would be able to supply our military ourselves and make policy decisions without hypocritical American threats.

Traditionally, what happens on Rosh HaShana is a sign of what will happen throughout the coming year. Nevertheless, I hope this year does not follow this trend, and true Israeli independence will finally be a reality.