How shall we get rid of the American aid? - Stealth Fusion

Gretl · #1 (**permalink**) 02-24-2010, 09:43 PM

I translated in the past an article about the American aid to Israel which came to the world as compensation for the oil that Israel could have drilled in the Sinai desert and because of the lost of it as a strategic area.

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Many people in America think that Israel's existence depends on the 3 billion dollars that it gets from USA each year and that the American tax payer is the one who holds Israel on his shoulders. Not only that 3 billion dollars are a tiny percentage of the Israeli GNP but also without Israel the American tax payer wouldn't probably have money to buy his bread.

I translated this very interesting article in the name of "How shall we get rid of the American aid" from June 19 2009 by Dr. Gabi Avital who is a doctor of aeronautics and space engineering and a lecturer in the flying academy of the Israeli air force and in the Technion.

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Quote:

In the air show of Paris in France, were displayed planes, missiles, advanced weapon systems, and in unsurprisingly way, the portion of the Israeli security industry is immeasurably high regarding its tiny geographic size. Its production serves the security systems in Israel in a way that many countries are jealous at, and the security export of Israel is ranked in the 4th place in the world.

From this place it's worthwhile to look a little bit to the past and to examine how did we get to this point. Except for the 42 years old Elbit Systems, the Israeli aerial industry, the Israeli military industry and the Israeli Armament Development Authority are companies in about the age of the country. The 'break-in' of these industries into the world isn't coincidental. The daring, the force of creation and the originality are the characters of the heads of these companies and their workers. But one factor which is related to these very days is little bit forgotten: whenever an embargo was imposed on Israel, a "quantum jump" to the length and to the width of these industries took place.

Amongst the remarkables was the embargo of France (under Charles De Gaulle) of weapons and spare parts a few weeks prior to the 6 days war. Imagine a situation in which the whole air force of those days was made up of planes and aerial arming made in France, and suddenly, even spare parts can't be bought, at the evening of a war. France was called "the greatest friend of Israel" at the time.

The French embargo was applied also on weapons which were already paid, like Mirage 5 and missile boats. 5 missile boats which were designated to Israel, were nationalized, what lead to an operation in which they were smuggled to Israel under the nose of the French. They were called Cherbourg Boats, upon the name of the port in which they anchored. All the drawings of the Mirage 5 were delivered in an honorable way to Israel, under the examine eyes of the French. The beginning development of the IAI Nesher and eventually the IAI Kfir started due to this.

Also Britain joined the embargo celebrations on the Judeans. Also here, new Chieftain tanks which were designated to replace the Centurion tanks, didn't arrive to Israel. The Merkava mark 4 and the ones prior to it wouldn't come to the world if not this embargo.

They need us

And what is the issue of this embargo to these days? In 1980, 16 states were waiting impatiently to know if Israel will buy the spy plane Hawkeye. It bought 4 planes and then the road was paved in front of them to buy it too.

Couple of years earlier USA and French were competed on the heart of the Israeli air force regarding buying the futuristic combat plane. The competition was between the F-16A and the French Mirage F-1. The Israeli choice of the American plane wasn't derive from a shining advantage on its competitor. The differences between them two were negligible and not necessarily to the favor of the American one. The road of replacing the Phantom planes in the air forces of NATO at those days was amazingly short. It was called "The deal of the century" then.

These are few of the examples in which the contribution of Israel to the American weapon industry isn't measured only in direct money. In the day that the deal of buying 102 F-16I planes was signed, it was said above any stage that their cost is on the account of the American tax payer. But there's no bigger mistake than that. The American aid to Israel doesn't cost one cent to the tax payer there. To the decision of Israel to buy planes there's a meaning that invite lots of money. In our days it's called a remarkable sales promotion. In the 2 examples it's possible to see that actually the steps of Israel created thousands of job places in the USA.

Beyond the livelihood issues, Israel is the experiment field of weapons systems that without it (the experiment field) the USA would have spent a huge amount in order to find a proper alternative. Until the end of the cold war, the intelligence information that Israel delivered about Soviet weapons, fighting tactics, defense systems from planes and more, is estimated by senators in huge amounts, 50 billion dollars.

Israeli-American relations are so complex, until it's not possible to solve the aid issue in the wave of an article. But the danger in the too tight connection is the addiction to the aid sums. A common citizen, if will be asked regarding the rate of the aid comparing to the annual GNP, will reply in double-digit numbers such as 30%-40%. Even if the truth is moving between 1%-2%, in the awareness of the citizen and of a significant part of the decision makers there's a total dependence on USA, up to a shameful flaccidity.

But the American aid to Israel doesn't obligate a continuous apology, but a clear awareness that the American interest to the existence of democratic Israeli state in the dictatorial space costs money.

But it's clear that there are roads that must be found how to create a healthy awareness as the ones in the NATO states. They enjoy discounts in buying weapons while Israel is paying for them until the last cent. The definition that Israel is the cheapest mercenary in the world is more than humiliating.

The proven abilities of Israel in the field of the security industries and in many other fields allows it to bargain on the price of the service. Israel can ask, if not demand, a value in Israeli coin and not in circular deals. It's appropriate for it to consider connections with other states, or in more explicit words: there's no necessity to equip the whole Israeli air force in combat planes and helicopters only from USA. In the day that this change will take place, there's a chance that we won't be treated as a doormat.

When the American secretary of defense was asked by some anti-Israel guy why USA funds about 75% of the Arrow missile project he was answered by him that it's due to the fact that the developers of this missile (which will serve both armies) are Israelis. If the developers were Americans it would be 10 times more expensive to develop this kind of missile, because employing an American engineer is much more expensive than employing an Israeli one. In other words, USA doesn't fund this project because of the pretty eyes of the Israelis but because of economic profitability!