America’s broke yet earmarks $235 million for Israel’s defense system

Israel’s Iron Dome System (credit: Press TV)

Madison Ruppert, Contributing Writer
Activist Post

Despite America having record deficits, a public debt so massive it is hard to comprehend, and record levels of poverty wracking the people of the United States, the geniuses in Washington have declared they will earmark $235 million for Israeli weapons systems, according to Israeli news outlet Ynet News.

These devices are billed as defensive weapons systems which can combat missiles that could possibly be deployed against Israel by Iran or Hezbollah.

Of course, to anyone remotely familiar with geopolitics, the assertion that Iran would preemptively strike Israel is laughable at best, yet our so-called leaders continue to pour billions into Israel’s military.

This is painfully obvious when one considers the fact that any overt military strike against Israel by Iran would bring the full wrath of the United States and others immediately, even though it is arguable that the Israeli Mossad has been conducting covert operations in Iran for some time now.

The majority of the funds will be devoted to the development of a missile intercept system called David’s Sling which is designed to destroy incoming medium- to long-range rockets and cruise missiles.

Aside from David’s Sling, the hundreds of millions of additional military aid – which we obviously can’t afford – will also go towards the Arrow 2 and 3 systems which are designed to intercept long-range ballistic missiles.

Even Ynet News seems to be a bit flabbergasted over this most recent expenditure; “This unprecedented sum comes at an unexpected time, while the American government is dealing with large budget cuts, including at the Pentagon.”

Despite the glaring problems inherent to giving away money when we have none, individuals at the Pentagon were actually the ones who specifically requested that Congress approve a $106 million budget to boost Israel’s military, on top of the Iron Dome project which is yet another missile defense system.

The Iron Dome system was pronounced operational in March of this year by the state of Israel.

Israel has said that the systems will be deployed in southern Israel to protect against “rocket attacks from the occupied Palestinian territories,” according to Press TV.

I honestly find it a bit surprising that they would even call the occupied Palestinian territories by their proper name, given that many ultra-nationalist Zionists refuse to even acknowledge the fact that Palestinian territories are being occupied in defiance of international law.

All of these systems are being heavily financed by the United States, despite the American national debt being over $15 trillion, amounting to over $130,000 per U.S. taxpayer.

Apparently Washington sees no problem with putting Americans on the line for even more debt, getting us even deeper into the black hole of debt with no end in sight.

For some strange reason, Congress decided to more than double that amount and approved a $235 million budget for 2012, all while millions of Americans are living in poverty and are struggling to even get a low-paying job.

Unsurprisingly, Ynet News points out that this budget is actually not even considered to be part of America’s abundant aid to Israel, and instead is being given under the auspices of military cooperation between America and Israel.

Beginning in 2007, Washington has pledged some $3 billion in assistance to Israel – assumedly on top of this “military cooperation” funding – for 10 years.

All of this to a nation that is guilty of gross human rights violations, is constantly breaking international law, and is most importantly guilty of deliberately attacking the USS Liberty in 1967 and killing 34 American soldiers while injuring another 170 and crippling the vessel.

The deliberate nature of this attack is not my opinion; indeed the National Security Agency’s director, Lieutenant General Marshall Carter, later told Congress that the attack on the Liberty “couldn’t be anything else but deliberate.”

Furthermore, Benson Buffham, a former deputy NSA director said, “I don’t think you’ll find many people at NSA who believe it was accidental.”

For those who are unfamiliar with this incident due to it having been systematically marginalized and ignored, a fantastic primer is the documentary “Dead in the Water.”

Why am I bringing up the Liberty? Because it is something that should have severely impacted the ties between the United States and Israel; and, in my opinion, should have ended all aid to Israel completely.

Obviously this is not the case, and the United States continues to pour funds into Israel even when our nation is on the verge of collapse and our economy is in shambles.

This most recent example of the absurd nature of the American-Israeli relationship is just one of many that proves our so-called Representatives have absolutely no interest in serving the people of the United States. 

This article first appeared at End the Lie