Stephen King criticizes Marjorie Taylor Greene’s claim that not a single American dollar was spent on the war between Israel and Hamas
Rep. decided to tweet her own facts about US spending in Israel on Sunday. She wrote“Israel is literally dominating the war with Hamas, having been brutally attacked and killing thousands of innocent people, and not a single US dollar has been spent on this war yet.” Just think about it.”
Predictably, many people were quick to correct her, including acclaimed horror novelist Stephen King. He answered, “Are you tripping? We have given them aid and armaments for decades.”
Greene was also corrected by X’s own Community Notes. A community-approved note on the service formerly known as Twitter, posted at the end of her original post, reads: “‘And not a single American dollar’ is wrong, the US has had Israel since World War II, roughly.” $260 billion in aid was given, a lot of which went to the military. Plus another $10 billion for their Iron Dome defense system (which they are currently using in this war). The grants make it possible to purchase American technology.”
American aid to Israel has become a hot topic as the war between Israel and Hamas continues. In 2022 alone the The United States is committed More than $3.3 billion in foreign aid to Israel, and a full 99.7% of that amount went to the country’s military.
There is a wealth of information when it comes to breaking down the aid Israel has received from the United States since the end of World War II. Israel was the “largest cumulative recipient of American foreign aid.” The United States has sent Israel at least $158 billion in “bilateral assistance and missile defense funding.”
The countries signed their third 10-year memorandum of understanding (MOU) in 2016, securing this funding until 2028. In this new agreement, the US will provide at least $38 billion in military aid.
Israel was also able to purchase 50 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, the Defense Department’s fifth-generation stealth aircraft, becoming the first other country to do so. The purchase was financed with US support. Also the United Arab Emirates expressed great interest when buying the jets.
For fiscal year 2023, the United States has already approved $520 million for a joint U.S.-Israeli defense program (the approval came long before the current conflict).
The American Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and Christians United for Israel (CUFI) are considered two of the most active organizations in the US supporting funding for Israel. A third, more liberal organization, J Street, also supports funding for Israel as long as it is not used to “trample Palestinian rights.”
Israel also exports defense equipment to the United States, but most of these exports go to India, Azerbaijan and Vietnam. In 2019, the US purchased $1.5 billion worth of such equipment.
The Congressional Research Service reports that the primary purpose of U.S. military funding for Israel is to support its “qualitative military edge” over other countries in the region.
When it comes to the equipment used in the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Israel is there with Merkava tanksdeveloped by the IDF, as well as those of the country Eitan APC. Israel also uses the American F-35 jets it previously purchased and is also likely to use the US Patriot missile defense system.
The free trade agreement between the United States and Israel was signed In 1985, it was also the first free trade agreement that the United States signed with another country. Both nations benefit from the agreement; In 2016, trade between the two totaled $49 billion.
The Hamas attack on October 7 brought US aid to Israel into focus. President Biden asked for it an additional $14.3 billion for the country, which was included in a total request of $106 billion to be divided among multiple countries and purposes.
It is hard to deny that Israel has been able to develop its military largely thanks to financial support from the United States. It is also hard to deny that at least some of those billions of dollars were spent on the current conflict.
Funding from the USA has been added in recent years accounted for 15% of Israel’s entire defense budget.
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