| U.S. policy has been to assist both Israel and Arab states. Between 1947 and 1971, U.S. annual aid to Israel was $60 million, while the Arab States received $170 million. After 1970, the U.S. regarded Israel as a valuable strategic ally and increased its aid. It also continued to aid and/or sell arms to Jordan, Morocco, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, Yemen and the Gulf States.
The U.S. committed $2 billion/year to Egypt and $3 billion/year to Israel after the Israel-Egypt peace treaty of 1979.
The U.S. spends vastly more to protect the security of its other allies than it spends on Israel. This aid is in the U.S. defense budget, not in the foreign aid budget, because U.S. troops are deployed in or near their countries. The U.S. spends billions of dollars a year to keep troops in Europe and East Asia. It grants roughly the same amount of money to Israel each year as it spends for troops to protect South Korea.
Israel uses much of its grant money to purchase military equipment and other items from the U.S., creating jobs in America.
The U.S. has never had to commit its own troops or risk American lives to protect Israel.
As its economy developed, Israel reduced its requests for U.S. economic aid by $120 million a year. They dropped from $1.2 billion (1998) to $360 million (2005).
U.S. aid and grants to Israel comprise only 2 percent of Israel’s $140 billion-a-year economy.
U.S.-Israel partnerships have produced breakthroughs in technology and in biomedical, environmental and agricultural research, saving the U.S. substantial funds in research and development. |
