Saturday, November 30, 2013
On Israel and Foreign Aid
Yes, Israel does get foreign aid. But does anybody really think that Israel is affluent because of this foreign aid, and that doesn't have much more to do with the fact that Israel also has a) private property, b) a fair and impartial judiciary, c) enforceable contracts, d) a stable currency, e) a relative ease in starting up new businesses, f) a free press, g) a limited amount of corruption, h) a sane level of regulation, i) a sensible trade policy and j) democracy? I mean, I know that foreign aid to Israel is a contentious issue and all (and I'm certainly willing to revisit it - as is Daniel Pipes, believe it or not) but to draw any sort of causal connection here is a little bit, off in my opinion.
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8 comments:
did someone just question this?
BB. I thought that I'd do a separate post on it.
The people of Israel should be admired. In under 70 years they have transformed a desert into a viable country....all the while surrounded by a bunch of maniac's who are still living in the 6th century and want to destroy them.
It doesn't hurt that they also have a sizable voting block here in the states.
Rusty: chalk it up to the decency if the American people.
If they are affluent, they do not need aid. The crux of the matter, IMO, hinges on two things:
clearly they need to maintain a very strong military-most of US
aid is in that area.
Internally, Israel has two problems- Israeli Palestinians and unltra-orthodox jews. The former are poor as are the latter.
The Palestinians are a separate
part of society, while the orthodox by choice do not work, have large families, will not serve in the armed forces and harass secular Israeli women and children. (read fundamentalists).
Israel spends about 6% GDP on defense, which is high but not
enough to maintain. So, IMO, the
$120 billion we've sent them from
our taxpayers over the years may
be a wise thing to do. If, as some argue, they are successful
economically,...then we wasted our money.
I think that we have to make a distinction between then and now. Initially, I don't think that it was a waste of money in that a lot like Europe was after WW2, Israel already had the appropriate Democratic institutions and infrastructure to benefit from the aid and, like dmarks says, they were kinda outgunned at first. Now, I think that a strong case could be made to end the aid to the tune that even Daniel Pipes thinks that enough is enough.
As for the Palestinian internal problem, the only reason that that exists is because the Palestinian leadership said screw you in 1937, 1948, 1993, 2000, and 2007.
Will: in the 1940s, the Palestinian leadership even allied itself with the Nazis (who praised the Palestinians for their Jew-killing zeal). The current Palestinian leadership is still ideologically connected to this.
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