Israel Doesn't Need American Soldiers

I am not gladdened, relieved or any positive emotion hearing that there will be an American Base with American soldiers stationed here in Israel. I don't see how that can enhance Israel's security and sovereignty. It will be a dangerous Trojan Horse.

US opens first permanent military base in Israel
Israel and U.S. officials on Monday inaugurated the first permanent American military base in the country, which will house dozens of U.S. troops and a missile defense system.
The base will be located within the Israel Defense Forces Air Defense School in southern Israel, near Beersheba, Defense News reported.

Today the United States has the most sincerely pro-Israel President in the History of American-Israeli Relations, Donald Trump, but he won't be President forever. Once Trump is out of office, it won't matter that he and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu got along great and that Trump appointed the very Zionist David Freedman as Embassador.

It's always possible The odds are that subsequent US Presidents will be more like Obama, Carter or a Bush who felt animosity towards Israel and Likud Prime Ministers and tried to do everything to facilitate the establishment of a new Arab state they'd call "Palestine." Donald Trump is an exception. And you should never make decisions according to something as impermanent as a "President Trump."

The United States has been trying to get its military into Israel for decades. That was the plan of Nixon and Kissinger during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Their "help" was aimed to orchestrate a "tie," which would weaken Israel. And in that weakened state, the Americans had hoped to move in. Of course that would have weakened us even more, very much like the so-called military aid, which is really "buy in America" shopping coupons. Israel's military industries have been seriously weakened and restricted because of all the "strings" attached to the so-called aid.

Young people weren't around during Israel's great military victories in 1967, 1973, and even I wasn't alive during our War for Independence. We had no foreign ally fighting with us then. And even weapons, tanks etc were hard to purchase, while the enemy Arab armies were well supplied. So, how did we win? This may sound corny, but the truth is, that our victories were miracles. Yes, Gd helped. That's how it works for the Jewish People.

I'd like to thank US President Trump for his friendship and the excellent Ambassador he has in the United Nations, but I'd really prefer that he keep his troops at home.

American -Obama- Antisemitism, Anti-Israel is REAL

There are many of us here in Israel who do not consider the American aid, sic, to be aid for Israel. We look at the bottom line and see it as a way of weakening the Israeli economy especially our military industries. Because the truth is that it's really just a way for the American Government to strengthen and subsidize its own military industry.

Americans Burning Israeli Flags

When the USA give "aid," it doesn't give money, it gives BUY ONLY IN AMERICA SHOPPING COUPONS. A small amount/percentage may be used in Israel. But if Israel produces anything that has even one small American screw, we're screwed if we sell it to another country without American approval.

And now, Mr. lame duck POTUS Barack Hussein Obama has made it clear that he's out to destroy Israeli military industries by restricting all the shopping coupons to American businesses.

Obama to Israel: Our Tax Dollars Won’t Go to Your Defense Contractors

If successful, the administration’s push to remove the clause would inflict some real pain on Israel’s growing security sector, which already exports more arms overseas than almost any other country apart from the United States. On the flip side, the change would mean a potential windfall for American defense contractors scrambling to sell their wares abroad to make up for declining sales at home. The Middle East and Asia are now driving growth for major U.S. contractors, with about a quarter of revenue coming from international sales, compared with 15 percent in 2008.
The proposed shift “could be very good news for the U.S. defense industry,” said Loren Thompson, a longtime consultant for American military contractors, because “domestic defense spending is flat as a pancake and Israel is a consumer of high-end military technology.”

Yes, he considers Israel to be a competitor not an ally. And Obama's aim is to weaken us, not to help us.

I think that the time has come for Israel to quit these deals cold turkey and, as complicated as it seems at this point, stop accepting this shopping coupons. The "tweaking" our experts and engineers do in requesting changes to the arms bought with the coupons help the Americans to upgrade their products, without actually having the brainpower and skills to do it on their own. It's time for us in Israel to use our talents to promote our own military industry!!

Obama to Israel Aid Will Damage More Than Help

The strings attached to the large aid package the Obama Administration has offered the State of Israel is more like a noose designed to strangle Israel's military industries.

That's it in a nutshell.

PHOTO: US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu meet in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington DC, USA, on May 20, 2011. (Michael Reynolds/EPA)

And the really bad news is that Prime Minister Binyamin "Bibi" Netanyahu is rumored to be ready to sign.

Washington sees Netanyahu accepting aid package
According to various reports, Israel had begun the negotiations with a request to increase aid to $50 billion in 10 years, about 5$ billion annually, from the current annual $3.1 billion aid. This would have constituted a 60% rise (separate from the missile defense program aid). Gradually, Israel decreased its demand to $40 billion in ten years - that is annual aid of $4 billion.
The Obama administration currently proposes slightly less ($3.8 billion annually, according to some estimates), but subject to two conditions: 1. Merging the separate aid for Israel's missile defense program into the general aid package, forfeiting the various additions the congress used to provide for these programs annually. 2. Plus-ups Israel will have to spend all aid funds on procurement from US companies. In the current MoU, Israel was permitted to spend about 25% of the aid on procurement from Israeli companies and several hundreds of millions of dollars on aircraft fuel a significant boost accelerating defense industry growth. (Globes)

Israel is like a drug addict when it comes to American aid, claiming that on one hand the country is independent and sovereign, but on the other hand, it can't manage without.  This new package seems like a sure-fire OD overdose very tempting but powerful enough to close down vital industries in Israel.

IMHO it's time for Israel to quit-- detox cold turkey! 

Not only had the so-called aid been no more than "Buy American Only" shopping coupons, but the American military industry has benefited greatly from the "tweaking,"suggested/requested "improvements" by Israeli experts/engineers.

We in Israel have the knowhow to make top of the line equipment, and if we no longer have to get American permission, frequently denied, to sell our military products with time we will have one of the strongest military industries in the world. That is probably why Obama's people have devised and insisted on the new stricter restrictions.

The time has come to just SAY NO!!

JUST SAY NO!

Caroline Glick, Michael Oren and Barack Hussein Obama

Michael Oren and the cover of his new book, "Ally."
Credit: Anne Mandlebaum and Random House.

Ever since MK Michael Oren came out with his book based on the time he was Israel's Ambassador to the United States, I've wondered where he really stands on the political spectrum. As far as I know, he's considered a Leftist, because he isn't for Israeli sovereignty and Jewish settlement in Judea/Samaria. But it's pretty clear that he's not naive about the reliability of the United States as a true friend and ally of the State of Israel. Too bad he's so confused.... Oren has aligned himself with the centrist aka Right, sic, but really Left Moshe Kahlon's Kulanu Party and represents them in the Knesset.

I highly suggest reading Caroline Glick's latest article, Obama’s money and Israel’s sovereignty, which mentions them all.

Obama’s money and Israel’s sovereignty
Friday, June 24th, 2016

This week, MK Michael Oren stood up to his boss in the Kulanu party, Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, to the political Left, including hundreds of retired security brass, and to the IDF General Staff. The former ambassador to Washington urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to sign the multi-year security assistance deal that US President Barack Obama demands Israel accept.
The problem isn’t the money. By all accounts, Obama’s multi-year military assistance package is generous.
The problem is that in exchange for the expanded military aid, Obama is demanding that Israel surrender its diplomatic and military independence to the White House.
For more than 40 years, every US administration – including the Obama administration – that has sought to harm Israel in any way has hit up against an unmovable obstacle. Whether the White House wanted to enable the UN Security Council to pass an anti-Israel resolution, place an embargo on military exports or bureaucratically slow them down to force Israel to stand down during wartime; whether the White House wanted block expanded trade deals, crowd out Israel’s military industries, or sell game changing weapons systems to Israel’s enemies, the US Congress has always stopped it in its tracks.
Israel-haters in the US speak endlessly about the supposedly all powerful and malign “Israel lobby,” which controls US foreign affairs. But the simple truth is that it wouldn’t matter all that much if AIPAC were to shut down tomorrow. Even without AIPAC, Israel would enjoy the support of Congress.
It would continue to enjoy that support because the vast majority of Americans support Israel and expect their representatives in Congress to support Israel.
In other words, the “Israel lobby” is none other than the American people.
As Oren warned, Obama’s military assistance package would disenfranchise the American public when it comes to US policy toward Israel. The agreement bars Israel from asking that Congress augment the assistance that Obama has offered and bars Congress from acting. So if a future administration chooses to breach the agreement, or to suspend it, or if conditions change and Israel requires other assistance, Congress would be barred from stepping into the breach. Then there is the assistance agreement’s assault on Israel’s military independence.
Israel’s military industries are the primary guarantor of its independent capacity to fight and win wars.
Successive administrations have sought to restrict the activities of Israel’s military industries and have used the military assistance to achieve their goal.
Israeli critics of US assistance note that Israel’s military industries are the primary casualties of the aid.
Currently, the US allows Israel to use a mere 25 percent of its assistance at home. As a consequence, the main beneficiary of US military assistance to Israel are US defense contractors.
Critics of the US aid argue that if Israel stops receiving military assistance, far from harming the economy, the move would strengthen Israeli industry and expand economic growth. The thousands of jobs at US defense contractors that are created through US military assistance to Israel, will move to Israel, and go to Israelis.
Moreover, whereas Israel gives the US its technology for free as part of the security assistance package, if it stops accepting the assistance, it will be free to sell its technology to other partners such as India, which will eagerly partner with Israel in weapons development and production projects.
Strategically, canceling the US military aid package would massively expand Israel’s military independence of action.
On the other hand, the deal that Obama is now trying to coerce Netanyahu to sign will require Jerusalem to give up the 25 percent of the military assistance it is now allowed to spend at home. Oren noted that such a concession will cost thousands of Israelis their jobs.
But even worse, an Israeli agreement to spend all future US military assistance in the US would be tantamount to an Israeli agreement to concede its military independence to the White House for a fistful of dollars. Without the independent capacity to develop and produce defense systems, spare parts and munitions, Israel will be unable to take military action without White House approval.
Obama’s own record makes clear what Israel would be risking.... continued

If Americans Love Israel so Much, Why Do Their Leaders Make Dangerous Demands?

phone case

Yoram Ettinger has an interesting article in the Jewish Press detailing Israeli popularity among Americans especially versus that of Arab countries.

According to a February 18, 2014 Gallup Poll, Israel is the MVP (most favorite player) in the Middle East – 72% very/mostly favorable –  leading all other Middle East countries by a dramatic margin: Egypt – 45%, Saudi Arabia – 35%, etc. Israel’s popularity is at the highest since 1991, when Gallup first polled Americans on foreign countries, compared to 2009 (63%), 2010 (67%), 2011 (68%), 2012 (71%) and 2013 (66%). Israel is more popular than most Western democracies, while the Palestinian Authority is ranked among the least favorable (19% favorability), along with North Korea (11%), Iran (12%), Syria (13%) and Iraq (16%). 
Read more at: http://www.jewishpress.com/indepth/opinions/americans-israel-is-the-mvp/2014/02/23/

That fact doesn't really surprise me. When I'm in the states to visit family and shop, I'm always asked to sign up with the various stores' credit cards/membership.  I always decline by explaining that "I live abroad."

"Where?" The clerk usually asks.
"Israel," I answer.

And then they generally say one of two things:

"I've always wanted to visit Israel." or
"I visited Israel once.  It's wonderful."

These are the responses I've gotten in Tempe, Scottsdale, AZ, Miami, FL, Atlanta, GA and also New York. The clerks/salespeople aren't Jewish, not by a long shot.  It's very rare for my admission of being Israeli to be greeted with a blank stare, and bli eyin haraa, I've never encountered any hostility.

Most Americans may, like their politicians, be ignorant of facts and history.  And I must admit that even many Jews in Israel have no idea where my hometown Shiloh is located. That has me even more worried than what Americans may think or not think.

The fact that polls show that Israel is a popular country with American citizens is one of the reasons I have absolutely no fear of bucking American policy.  Actually, I think that Israel would become even more popular if our government would tell the Americans to leave us alone and take care of its own problems.  I have no doubt that if Israeli officials would refuse to continue with those dangerous so-called "peace" sic negotiations and simply state that since the Arabs we're supposed to be making peace with envision their "peace" as a world without the State of Israel, we say "NO."

The State of Israel owes nothing to the United States.  It's just a myth, total fiction that the United States has always contributed to Israel's survival.  History shows the opposite.  I don't call shopping coupons for American military industries to be good for Israel or its economy. Our own industrial development and economy have suffered because of these "gifts."

Israel's greatest victories, the 1948-9 War for Independence and the 1967 Six Days War were when we fought totally on our own.  We almost lost the 1973 Yom Kippur War, because we kept on consulting with the Americans, who were also helping Egypt.

And to answer my question "Why Do Their Leaders Make Dangerous Demands?"  The reason is that the State of Israel hasn't had the guts to tell the USA to leave us alone.  In classic bully vs victim mode we will continue to be bullied by the United States until we stop the cycle.  It's up to us, to Israel.

Will The U.S. Stop This Deal?

Hat tip IMRA

Israel's military industry has great potential. However over the years, the United States has succeeded in quashing, or choking it with alternate love/hate rulings.

That's all I can think of when reading Russia confirms spy drone deal with Israel.

IMHO, The United States and Israel have a classic abuser-victim relationship. The Jewish People are so used to being persecuted that most can't tell the difference between love and sadistic-masochistic abuse.

American politicians all profess "love and support" for Israel, but at the same time they insist of supporting and even training the very terrorists who aim on destroying us. And very few Jews and Israelis can see it.

To cripple Israel's military industry, the United States offers Israel "military aid," a euphemism for American military products. Israel jumps at the bargain, and our own competing industry loses out. Then to make matters worse, we "refine" the American products, making them even better. The United States reaps the benefits, and we're prevented from profiting.

When Israel produces something with American parts, then the United States vetoes Israel's selling the new products.

So, yes, right now it looks like Russia will be buying some drones from Israel, but I wouldn't "spend the money" yet.