How can anyone really expect any comments from the US government, whether it is Republicans or Democrats. Israel is that country who gets its yearly "loan" from the US in the form of future grants, and in fact Israel earns interests on theses "loans" that in the end are grants and so it is the American tax payer who pays for Israel's debt as well as their war. This time though the cost will recieve added weight because the price of oil will spike beyond belief and will occur in a time when households in the US have mighty savings rate of zero. So just how will American's finance this rise in their cost of living when they already operate at zero savings? I mean gasoline is rising, healthcare is rising, interest rates are rising and inflation is rising. This somehow looks like next year household savings will be negative. If you like trivia, in the period from 1949 to 1997 the total amount of money given to Israel was 83.205 Billion dollars and if you add to this interest costs borne by American tax payers on behalf of Israel you get an additional 49.937 billion dollars and adding these together yields 133.132 billion dollars. If you do some math, it means that the US has given more to the average Israeli citizen than it has to the average American citizen. Strange don't you think???

Tell me something...I would really like to know if you think that giving money to Israel is worse than all of these several hundreds of billions of dollars that have been spent on wars...from Vietnam and now Iraq. The Jewish people are our brothers and sisters and it is right that kin stick together. 50,000 American soldiers killed in Vietnam and now thousands more in Iraq; get real. Admit it to yourself that you are a Jew-hater, because your ranting and raving against Israel proves that to be so.

Professor Paul Eidelberg has written an article arguing that the US benefits both militarily and economically from the aid it gives Israel in a far greater proportion than the aid himself. Below are his arguments:

1) First of all, about 85% of the money Israel receives in military aid must be spent in the U.S., where it provides jobs for an estimated 50,000 American workingmen.

2) Conversely, total exports from the 50 United States to Israel between 1991and 2005 was $95.4 billion -- more than twice the $45 billion Israel received in U.S. aid during this period. The annual average of U.S. exports to Israel was $6.4 billion, more than twice the average American aid package. In 2005 the total exports to Israel from the 50 states was $18.5 billion -- more than six times the U.S. military-economic aid package!

By the way: the $2.6 billion Israel received from the U.S last year amounts to less than 2% of Israel's Gross Domestic Product -- currently more than $135 billion. Israel could easily dispense with this aid if massive tax evasion were curtailed along with the notorious corruption and inefficiency of Israel's government. But this is only the tip of iceberg of U.S. dependence on Israel.

3) According to Gen. George Keegan, a former chief of U.S. Air Force Intelligence, between 1974 and 1990, Israeli aid to America was worth between $50-80 billion in intelligence, research and development savings, Soviet weapons systems captured and transferred to the Pentagon, and testing Soviet military doctrines up to 1990, when the USSR collapsed. Senator Daniel Inouye recently put it this way: "The contribution made by Israeli intelligence to America is greater than that provided by all NATO countries combined."

Now a few points from a report of Yoram Ettinger, a consultant on U.S.-Israel relations.

4) Every day, Israel relays to the U.S. lessons of battle and counter-terrorism, which reduce American losses in Iraq and Afghanistan, prevent attacks on U.S. soil, upgrade American weapons, and contribute to the U.S. economy. Innovative Israeli technologies boost U.S. industries.

5) The vice president of the company that produces the F16 fighter jets told Ettinger that Israel is responsible for 600 improvements in the plane's systems, modifications estimated to be worth billions of dollars, which spared dozens of research and development years.

6) Without Israel, the U.S. would have to deploy tens of thousands of American troops in the eastern Mediterranean Basin, at a cost of billions of dollars a year.

7) In 1981, Israel bombed the Iraqi nuclear reactor, providing the U.S. with the option of engaging in conventional wars with Iraq in 1991 and 2003 and preventing a possible nuclear war and a terrible price of thousands killed.

8) In 2005, Israel provided America with the world's most extensive experience in homeland defense and warfare against suicide bombers and car bombs. American soldiers train in IDF facilities and Israeli-made drones fly above the Sunni Triangle in Iraq, as well as in Afghanistan, providing U.S. Marines with vital intelligence which saves many American lives.

All this intelligence and technological aid Israel provides the U.S is going to go down the tubes -- and American lives are going to be lost and impoverished -- if the U.S. fails Israel in this Islamic war against civilization. Hezbollah leader Sheikh Nazrallah, who invoked the name of Allah, rightly said this is a conflict between Islam and Zionism -- it's either us or them. It's a war to the death -- a religious war which Israeli leaders lack the courage to assert and thus prompt Americans to face the truth about the enemy.

It's ironic that Israel wouldn't need U.S. military aid were it not for huge American arms sales to Saudi Arabia and Egypt. U.S. aid to Israel creates a demand for, and the purchase of, tens of billions of dollars worth of U.S. weaponry by these and other Arab states. U.S. grants to Israel - far from imposing a burden on the American tax-payer -- actually enriches the American economy!

American Congressmen and corporations know this. They have a vested interest in opposing any sanctions against Israel if its government were to take a more independent and vigorous stand against its enemies.

You can talk, talk, and talk, but you will never ever convience the Jew-haters of the world that they just might be wrong!

You can save all the Sam Huntington mumbo jumbo for another audience. The bottom line here is power and capital, religion being used as a convenient facade.

Check out this link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5207066.stm

The US has recently complied with Israeli pressure to speed up another shipment of bombs to drop on Lebanese civilians and infrastructure. This is in addition to an "emergency shipment" of jet fuel worth over 150 million for the Israelis early last week. It seems Israel receives more aid from the US govt. per person than US citizens do. The US is an 'honest broker' of peace in the M. East.? You will never hear of this sort of thing on CNN or Fox news of course.

This policy only undermines US national interests (not to mention other nations), even if one puts aside the legal and moral issues at stake. Therefore, one can consider this policy as treasonous.

I have been called an anti-Semite (just as Walt and Mearsheimer) for making these types of observations and criticisms of Israeli and US foreign policy, however who are the real racists here? The Israeli right-wing (and many so-called Christians in the US) consider all Arabs sub-human terrorists who don't deserve the same human rights as they do. What is it going to take to solve the issue, shall the US and Israel kill all the Arabs?

An Israeli colleague of mine shares my "extremist" views, does that mean she is a (Jewish) anti-Semite?

The US public has been intimidated into equating criticism of Israel with Anti Semitism. How can this be? Those who dare to speak up are, without fail, labeled, as such. Why is this? Is there something to hide?

Meanwhile Fox news will lead the cheer for Israel and their war crimes (watchin terrsts git blowed up is fun!), while they are shielded from the UN by another sole US veto; f*** the rest of the world, the Empire has spoken!. And they hate the US because it is a free country... yeah right. Although this situation was to be expected, it doesen't make it any less disturbing. Stay tuned for the next sickening episode...

The only thing being secured by Israel's current military operations is the continuation of hostilities and the future of Hezbollah. The Israeli's are not our "kin" Clarence any more than the Muslims are, they are a sovereign nation with their own agenda on one level and a client state of the US on another and believe me they would happily kill Christians if they were the ones with the Katushya rockets. You are right about the billions of dollars that we spent in Vietnam and are now spending in Iraq you just don't seem to remember that the Vietnamese won that round and the Shia look set to win the next one, odd that isn't it the poorest people on the planet with the least resources beating the richest with the most, makes you wonder if someone up there isn't on their side. As to this being a fight to the death between Zionism and Islam well that's an interesting idea I wonder where they'll put all the bodies? I imagine you wont mind if most of the bodies end up being Muslims Adam? So I suppose it's OK to be a Muslim Hater. Personally I hate you all, I hate anyone that thinks it's OK to use military might to crush opposition, I hate anyone who uses religion to justify slaughter and I particularly hate people who want to drag us into a pointless conflict that will lead us to destruction because they think that God is on their side. The only way to solve this problem is through negotiation and diplomacy. If you don't understand that you don't understand anything. The sole reason that the US supports Israel is that they can't turn agaist us as long as the Muslims want to destroy them, it's the old colonial foreign policy of divide and conquer, except that the US sells guns to everyone just to keep things boiling nicely and because guns are our biggest export. Take a look at the recent history of Africa the British always supported the weakest tribe because then they were dependent, the fallout from that sort of policy is disaster go ask the Tutsi.

Well stated, John! You are right about Israel attacking us; they have done it in the past! If people just understood religion it might help. Religion is simply a form of government, based on fear. It is supposed to teach socialism, to live together without abusing others around us. It also is a crutch for fearful, weak people. If people just had faith, they would not need religion,and that would remove a lot of trouble in this world.