of The Trump administration expects American taxpayers to fund not only his military adventurism, but Israel’s as well.
Ending US subsidies for Israel’s wars is one reason why Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Peter Welch (D-Vt.) recently filed Joint Resolutions of Disapproval opposing the $659 million in bomb sales approved by President Donald Trump for Israelwith many of the bombs coming directly from US stocks.
“Given the terrible destruction that Israel’s extremist government has caused Gaza, IranAND Lebanonthe last thing in the world American taxpayers should be doing right now is providing 22,000 new bombs to the (Benjamin) Netanyahu government,” Sanders said in a statement.
Van Hollen added that “Congress must use all tools at our disposal to end Trump’s war, including stopping the transfer of taxpayer-funded bombs to the Netanyahu government.”
Still, US taxpayers funded $17.8 billion in arms sales to Israel under President Joe Biden — $11.9 billion government-brokered and $5.9 billion commercial — 81% of the $22 billion in sales from 2021-2024.
The senators are right to point out the role of the American taxpayer in these arms deals. Which are reported as sales belies who is paying for them. Americans, not Israelis, pay for the vast majority of US arms sales to Israel.
Who Really Pays for US Arms Sales to Israel?
US arms sales to Israel are not really sales, at least not in the typical sense. Israel’s position as buyer in these arms deals is not synonymous with financier. This is made clear in the gun sales announcements themselves.
Consider the four most recent reported arms sales to Israel, published in the Federal Register: $740 million for armored personnel carriers, $1.98 billion for tactical vehicles and accessories, $3.8 billion for attack helicopters and similar weaponryAND $150 million for helicopters and utility parts.
After “Potential Buyer,” all of these notices list the Government of Israel. After “Funding Source,” all list Foreign Military Financing—or FMF, US military aid program through which Israel receives at least $3.3 billion a year.
In practice, the FMF functions as a gift card for Israel to spend on weapons. American taxpayers are stuck paying for the gift card. The only trace of Israeli funding in those $6.7 billion in arms sales is in the tactical vehicle agreement, where the National Funds follow the IMF in the funding source line.
What about the two sales, including 22,000 bombs, disputed by Sanders, et al.? both deal are funded by the IMF, or in other words, the American taxpayers.
This is, of course, a small sample size. But four years of arms sales data tell the same story: Israel doesn’t pay for most of the weapons the US sells to it — American taxpayers do.
This fact undermines the economic justification of these arms sales. Barring any claim that they bring significant foreign investment to the US, the case for these sales collapses on the same flaws. the argument of job creation that many hawks use to defend lavish government spending on the military.
The jobs argument is itself a tacit admission of a weak national security justification. A policy that was really about the very existence of the nation should not be sold in such banal terms as job creation. The security rationale alone would be convincing enough.
Military spending IS less efficient how the government can create jobs. Using military aid to boost employment is like buying a plane ticket to see a movie: Yes, there’s an in-flight movie; no, this does not justify the expense.
Even this analogy is generous. The relationship between military spending and jobs is not self-evident. In 1985, the US military bUDGET it was $295 billion—$746 billion in today’s dollars—and there were 3 million worker in the American arms industry.
By 2021, the US military budget had grown by $132 billion in real terms – to $879 billion – while the number of arms industry workers had increased fallen in 1.1 million. Despite the increase in military spending by 18% above inflationthere was a 63% drop in employment in the arms industry.
Under Biden, US taxpayers funded $18 billion in arms “sales” to Israel
US arms sales are either brokered by the US government (“Foreign Military Sales”) or commercial (“Direct Commercial Sales”).
I collected data on both through the Defense Security Agency (DSCA) and Defense Directorate Historical Sales Books Trade Section 655 Controls (DDTC) reports, respectively. Both annual publications estimate the value of authorized gun sales.
of The Biden administration authorized $22 billion in arms sales to Israel, including more than $13.2 billion in US government-brokered sales and over $8.7 billion in commercial sales.
According to the DSCA report, 90% of government-brokered deals were financed with US military aid. The DDTC report does not specify the funding source, but 68% is a reasonable estimate based on the annual average share of IMF funding that Israel reportedly spends on commercial sales.
Still, US taxpayers funded $17.8 billion in arms sales to Israel under President Joe Biden — $11.9 billion government-brokered and $5.9 billion commercial — 81% of the $22 billion in sales from 2021-2024. That’s nearly $18 billion in subsidies disguised as sales.
American taxpayers deserve a refund, not more from Trump.
Stephen Semler is a non-resident senior fellow at the Center for International Policy and a contributor to the Polygraph newsletter at Substack.
Originally published by Shared dreamsthis article is republished under a Creative Commons license. Read the original here.
