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Appropriating land from people who have a grudge against you (and have for centuries) seems poorly thought out at best.
But here we are. Now what?
There seems to be no chance that the Palestinians are going to just give up. Ditto the Israelis.
The U.S. is pouring money down the drain to create more terrorists to threaten us. Though to be fair, Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan didn't help matters any.
Perhaps it is time to tend to our own knitting. Let the Israelis figure this out without our billions and bombs.
... Let the Israelis figure this out without our billions and bombs.
I think they already have since the US requires that Israel must use US supplied funds in the US. Buying subs from Germany with a base sticker price of $1 Billion each, shows that they can afford to shop somewhere else.
I think they already have since the US requires that Israel must use US supplied funds in the US. Buying subs from Germany with a base sticker price of $1 Billion each, shows that they can afford to shop somewhere else.
Actually, they can spend at least 25% of the money we send on arms manufactured in Israel and this has subsidized their arms manufacturing operations.
We send aid through a variety of agencies such as the Department of Commerce, the U.S. Information Agency... that is not spent in the U.S. on planes and guns.
More than $1.5 billion in private U.S. funds go to Israel annually in the form of $1 billion in private tax-deductible donations (costing U.S. taxpayers $280 million to $390 million a year in uncollected taxes) and $500 million in Israeli bonds.
Apparently, all total, about 10 billion/year makes it way from the U.S. to Israel every year.
It was a bad idea but now what is the solution? I don't think we have a right to move them now. At the same time, the Arabs ire is understandable but unfortunately, they have a religion that seems to justify killing people indiscriminately. I see no solution that doesn't have disastrous consequences for one side or both.
Just asking why we do this. There must be a reason.
Does not seem to be for humanitarian purposes as they are perfectly capable of feeding the people within their borders. And it appears they are also perfectly capable of purchasing their own weapons.
So in lieu of snarky comments and eye rolling emoticons, do you have an explanation that makes sense?
Actually, they can spend at least 25% of the money we send on arms manufactured in Israel and this has subsidized their arms manufacturing operations.
We send aid through a variety of agencies such as the Department of Commerce, the U.S. Information Agency... that is not spent in the U.S. on planes and guns.
More than $1.5 billion in private U.S. funds go to Israel annually in the form of $1 billion in private tax-deductible donations (costing U.S. taxpayers $280 million to $390 million a year in uncollected taxes) and $500 million in Israeli bonds.
Apparently, all total, about 10 billion/year makes it way from the U.S. to Israel every year.
All of this for a comparatively prosperous nation.
Why are we doing this?
The money Israel gets is per the Treaty it penned between Egypt and Israel. It is paid out via USAID, but it is not part of their budget and thus not Aid. Israel had to give something rather large to Egypt to get it. Egypt gave up nothing to get their free money.
How Americans donate their personal funds is their business. They worked for it and its their decision what to do with it. Americans in general donate around $320 Billion yearly to miscellaneous organizations. Yet you don't pick out the other $318 Billion as costing the US taxpayer anything. Makes one wonder about your agenda. Your Palestinian based link shows us your agenda.
Since creating Israel all we've managed to do is continually **** off just about every other nation in that area. Had Israel never been created would we have better relations with those people in the middle east?
I get that Israel is supposed to be the "Jewish home" or what have you, but is it really worth it when just about all of your neighbors would love nothing more than to see you dead?
Personally, I think it would've been better for everyone had we given the Jews their own little Jewish island, like Madagascar for example. They get their own little island to call their own and we don't have to deal with everyone and their mom in the middle east wanting to kill us and fly planes into buildings.
As an American it has really bothered me how we have to suffer just because Jews have made enemies wherever they've gone. When 9/11 happened the terrorists should have been in Israel not America. Israel can be hit by a nuke sent by mecha-Hitler for all I care, I just hate how ever since WWII all the Jews' problems have become ours!
And no, since there is no such thing as a "god" Jews do not have a "right" to any land. I am very convinced that creating Israel was one of the worst mistakes in human history.
So what do you think? If Israel were to never have existed would we be on better terms with other ME countries?
The problem with this is that Europeans and Americans feel that they have the right to take someone else's land/country and decree it to someone else... If the US, the UK, or any other country feels the need to create another country they should volunteer their own land to give up.
How Americans donate their personal funds is their business. They worked for it and its their decision what to do with it. Americans in general donate around $320 Billion yearly to miscellaneous organizations. Yet you don't pick out the other $318 Billion as costing the US taxpayer anything. Makes one wonder about your agenda. Your Palestinian based link shows us your agenda.
Americans can, of course, do whatever they want with their personal funds. It's just that in certain cases you get a tax advantage from doing so.
As far as I'm aware, there is no other country on earth that U.S citizens can donate tax-deductible money other than Israel. People can donate it to the Red Cross or United Way or other 501 3c organizations, but not other countries.
I had no idea this was a Palestinian based link. I just googled looking for information to explain why we do this.
The creation of Israel was forced by what was occurring without permission anyway, mass Jewish migration to the Levant, as well as rising tensions among Jewish/Arab populations across the Middle East (Pre-Israel, there was a large population of Jews spread out across the ME/North Africa). There was active conflict on both sides.
So to say that if you didn't create Israel that you wouldn't have had these problems is false. You would almost certainly still have had a lot of conflict in the area. The Jews would have been more likely to be on the losing side with a more dispersed population.
The current state of the Palestinians is as much the fault of the Palestinian leadership and the Arab countries in the region as it is the Israelis. Jordan is about the only Arab state who has treated the Palestinians remotely decently. (And ironically, is the country the PLO tried to overthrow in Black September).
As for US funding to Israel, as another poster mentioned, we provide aid to both Israel and Egypt as an aspect of their peace deal. US Government aid to Israel is about 20% of their military budget, and a few % of their overall budget. Cutting it would not suddenly change Israeli strength, but it would certainly make them go looking to other countries for backing. As for private donations/funding. Expats sending money home and people donating to foreign charities are both common behaviors, I see no issue with it. Many billions of private money flow out to both every year from the US.
And no, since there is no such thing as a "god" Jews do not have a "right" to any land. I am very convinced that creating Israel was one of the worst mistakes in human history.
Not only that, but gentiles did not owe Jews anything. After WWII, Jews were no longer being persecuted. Nazi-ism came to an end, and Jews could've stayed put where they were. In fact, to this very day, you can still find many thousands of Jews living in the countries where they once experienced persecution (Germany, Poland, Russia).
The whole idea that modern-day Jews were "entitled" to live in Palestine because ancient Jews lived there 2,000+ years ago is absolutely insane. Interestingly, genetic studies done in recent years seem to reinforce the Khazarian hypothesis about Ashkenazi Jews.
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