Tsvi Bisk – ISRAEL MUST DECLINE AMERICAN “AID”
The perception that Israel is dependent on American aid is modern Jewry’s greatest nemesis. Antisemitic rantings on social media invariably refer to the billions American Jews squeeze out of the American taxpayer while sucking the US into wars for the benefit of Israel – sending the patriotic all-American goy to die for the manipulative sneaky Jew. A mixed political bag of antisemitic rightists, leftists, and self-hating Jews dwell on the American aid package constantly.
As an Israeli citizen, I am embarrassed by the fact that Israel still accepts American aid. It is undignified. It represents one half of one percent, 0.5%, of Israel’s $720 billion GDP and 1.4% of its $271 billion operating budget. Sums that could easily be covered by eliminating inefficiencies that Israel’s bureaucracies should be making in any case; inefficiencies that paper over the incompetence and corruption of the current Israeli government. In fact, if Israel became as corrupt as the United States, it would be moving up six places on the corruption scale, from 35 to 29, as determined by Transparency International’s Corruption Index. If its bureaucracy became as efficient as the United Arab Emirates, it would also be moving up six places, from 31 to 25, as determined by the Government Effectiveness Index. And if it became as easy to do business as Kazakhstan it would be moving up ten places, from 35 to 25, as determined by the World Bank. Israel is doing well economically despite its rotten and incompetent government; a tribute to the creativity and energy of its people. A space-age, high-tech economy somehow flourishing despite the moral and intellectual bankruptcy of the political class leading the country.
Since Israel can produce or purchase much of this weaponry on its own, it must decline the aid cold turkey, immediately (not in stages), with a warm thank you to the American people. This would give Israel an excellent opportunity to educate people about the true nature of the so-called aid it has just forgone. Few are aware that the money is not even sent to Israel. It is deposited in American banks and used to purchase US military equipment. “3.8 billion in; 3.8 billion out” to buy American equipment, supporting 20,000 American jobs. Israel functions as a giant R&D laboratory and marketing tool for the American arms industry, underpinning its $117.9 billion arms exports industry and supporting hundreds of thousands of American jobs. Israel’s battle-tested improvements of US military systems enhance the efficiency of the American military. Perhaps most important to American mothers and fathers are the various Israeli battlefield innovations, such as the Israeli Emergency Bandage (the Izzey), that have saved the lives of American soldiers.
According to The Hudson Institute, Israel’s defense contribution saves the US an additional $15 to $20 billion annually by eliminating the need for a permanent American military presence in the region, similar to the ones it maintains in Europe and Asia. General George Keegan, former Chief of US Air Force Intelligence, has speculated that intelligence shared by Israel is equivalent to an additional five CIAs. (The CIA budget is $15 billion annually). In fact, the $3.8 billion annual aid to Israel has been negligible compared to America’s $170 billion annual defense aid protecting Muslim Persian Gulf countries from 1976 to 2007 and the $10 billion annual aid to Muslim countries in the Middle East and North Africa between 2014 and 2024.
AIPAC is certainly aware of these numbers and if they had been doing their job properly, representing the real needs and interests of the Israeli people, they should have pressured the Israeli government years ago to forego the aid. Congress (both parties) is getting sick and tired of AIPAC, representing one of the most economically and technologically developed countries in the world, lobbying them for money. As for the Anti-Defamation League, they should cease their obsequious efforts to make Jews objects of sympathy. When Jews get sympathy, it means we are being slaughtered. Proud Jews have no need for sympathy or approval or even admiration. Proud Jews demand respect. And in 2026, proud Jews certainly don’t need foreign aid.
Tsvi Bisk is an Israeli Social Theorist. His most recent book is Cosmodeism: A Worldview for the Space Age.
