by Chris Black
The actual cost of US aid to Israel is in fact closer to $23 billion annually, not $3 billion as claimed by government figures.
The Congressional Research Service estimates that the US has given the so-called “State of Israel” 150 billion US dollars between the years 1948 and 2022 (sgp.fas.org/crs/mideast/RL33222.pdf).
This report mentions that not only has there been military assistance but that between 1971 and 2007 Israel received “significant economic assistance”.
Mostly in the form of forgiven loans and grants.
Despite being .001% of the global population and one of the highest per capita incomes, U.S. aid to Israel comprises one third of the U.S. foreign aid budget.
Since 1979, the U.S. has offered Israel an additional $2 billion in loan guarantees, which are loans that Israel takes, guaranteed by the U.S., and then eventually forgiven.
From wmrea.org:
“Since 1992, the U.S. has offered Israel an additional $2 billion annually in loan guarantees. Congressional researchers have disclosed that between 1974 and 1989, $16.4 billion in U.S. military loans were converted to grants and that this was the understanding from the beginning. Indeed, all past U.S. loans to Israel have eventually been forgiven by Congress, which has undoubtedly helped Israel’s often-touted claim that they have never defaulted on a U.S. government loan. U.S. policy since 1984 has been that economic assistance to Israel must equal or exceed Israel’s annual debt repayment to the United States. Unlike other countries, which receive aid in quarterly installments, aid to Israel since 1982 has been given in a lump sum at the beginning of the fiscal year, leaving the U.S. government to borrow from future revenues. Israel even lends some of this money back through U.S. treasury bills and collects the additional interest.”
But wait! There’s more!
“In addition, there is the more than $1.5 billion in private U.S. funds that go to Israel annually in the form of $1 billion in private tax-deductible donations and $500 million in Israeli bonds. The ability of Americans to make what amounts to tax-deductible contributions to a foreign government, made possible through a number of Jewish charities, does not exist with any other country. Nor do these figures include short- and long-term commercial loans from U.S. banks, which have been as high as $1 billion annually in recent years.”