Another US Blank Cheque For Israel

[Marmaduke]

So Sharon's administration has seen an unprecedented rise in violence in Israel, causing the worst economic recession in history, the pending war with Iraq will cause further economic instability (yet according to the Israeli Chief of Staff, Iraq poses no threat to Israel unless there is a war. What would you do if you were Sharon (and you have an election coming up). Why, ask for another US bail out of course. Needless to say the cost of the ‘iron wall’ they are building to keep the suicide bombers out, is costing some $1 Million per mile (and guess who’s paying for that) and causing a further loss of 7% of land that is illegal (but then since when has that bothered Israel- just look at the expansion in the settlements). Any Israeli refusnik who refuses to police the occupied territories gets 28 days in jail, but if they refuse to remove the protesters in the settlements they get…ehh..well nothing so it seems.

Well, as good old Uncle Sam, cuts healthcare and social security in the US (and did I forget to mention education), it’s nice to know the average Israeli gets close to $17,000 per year in terms of US subsidies, I figure that looks set to rise, as this article in The Washington Post’ details:

Israel Seeks $4 Billion In New Military Aid
By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, November 26, 2002; Page A24
Israel has asked the United States for $4 billion in new military assistance to defray the costs of fighting terrorism and the potential expense of preparing for a U.S. war in Iraq, along with $10 billion in loan guarantees to bolster its struggling economy, Bush administration officials said.
The request was presented by Dov Weisglass, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's chief of staff, and the director of Israel's finance ministry at a White House meeting yesterday with national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, officials said.
Israel receives more U.S. military aid than any other country, in amounts governed by a bilateral agreement that annually increases military payments while reducing economic assistance. The State Department announced last week that it intended to ask Congress for $2.16 billion in military assistance to Israel for fiscal 2004, up from $2.1 billion requested for 2003 and $2.04 billion allocated in 2002. The payments requested yesterday would be in addition to those amounts.
In yesterday's meeting, the Israelis presented a detailed description of the country's economic woes -- a combination of rising military costs, a growing deficit and increased unemployment along with falling income from taxes and tourism, according to an Israeli official. The official said Israel believed that several countries, including Turkey and Jordan, had discussed increased U.S. assistance in exchange for expenses they might incur during a war with Iraq, and felt that Israel could make the same case.
Rice made no commitment, according to administration officials, but said the request would be taken under consideration. Subjects of further discussion, officials said, included the time period over which such a sum could be paid, and whether to consider just the aid request, the loan guarantee, or both.
One administration official said the $4 billion figure included $800 million that Israel said the Clinton administration had agreed to as compensation for its May 2000 military withdrawal from southern Lebanon, which the Bush administration declined to honor. Also cited were ongoing costs to combat Palestinian attacks and for the continued occupation of parts of the West Bank; contributions to the global anti-terrorism campaign and what the official called "a payoff for not responding to Iraq."
The United States persuaded Israel, whose arsenal is the most powerful in the Middle East and isbelieved to include a substantial nuclear stockpile, not to respond to Iraqi missile attacks during the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Similar requests have been made by the Bush administration in anticipation of another potential war with Iraq, although the Sharon government has said it would retaliate against a direct attack.

[John5]

Excellent thread Jasp!!....There's an article written by William Hughes.[author of The Baltimorte Iconoclast] that refers to the same outrageous issue!!...(never mind his comments on Blair!!)

********YOU'RE ARIEL SHARON,LIFE IS GOOD*******



You’re Ariel Sharon, Israel’s Prime Minister. Your troops, on Nov. 23, 2002, shot to death a British subject, Iain John Hook. He was the highly respected UN project manager at Jenin, where your army had previously been accused of committing war crimes against the Palestinians.

Hook was inside the UN compound, at Jenin, when the murder occurred. The Israeli killers said Mr. Hook appeared to have “a gun” in his hand. It was actually a cell phone! I’m sure it was just another of those darn “Israeli mistakes,” like the IDF’s massacre at Qana, Lebanon, on April 18, 1996; and, the IDF’s murderous attack on the USS Liberty on June 8, 1967. British P.M. Tony Blair will surely understand. Anyway, isn’t he George W. Bush Jr.’s ‘lackey‘?

Meanwhile, you’re Ariel Sharon! What’s a little “mistake” between friends?

You[as Sharon] even had to smile to yourself, when you issued your latest lame excuse for reoccupying Bethlehem, one of the holiest sites in Christendom. Your storm troopers closed the town down and even kept the Palestinian Christians from attending Sunday Mass at the ancient Church of the Nativity. No need to worry. Who really cares? Cardinal Edward M. Egan, Archbishop of New York City, was too busy viewing the NFL’s NY Jets beating the Buffalo Bills, 31 to 13, to even notice. By the way, is the IDF going to be in Bethlehem on Christmas Day, too?

Things couldn’t be better. You’re Ariel Sharon.

Those pesky Belgian state prosecutors tried to indict you for the supposed heinous war crimes you perpetrated at Sabra and Shatila. Lucky for you, an appellant court said, it had no jurisdiction since you’re not a resident of that country. Be careful, don't let anybody offer you a free vacation to Belgium. Remember what happened to Chile’s General Augusto Pinochet on his UK holiday. It could happen to you, too!

You’re an international statesman. You’re Ariel Sharon.

In New York City, Mayor Michael Bloomberg is endorsing a gargantuan property tax hike of 18 % for its residents. Meanwhile, your accountants, Slick, Slash and Burn, are preparing a $10 billion shakedown of the American taxpayers. It supposed to be a loan guarantee, but we both know, Israel never repays it loans to the dumb Yankee goyim. This $10 billion will be in addition to the yearly $7 billion handout.

But, don’t worry. You’re Ariel Sharon.

Thanks to one of your favorite political hacks, Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-CT), the U.S. now has a “Homeland Security Agency,” to watch over the “home of the brave.” And, to further curtail the possibility of any genuine dissent in the “land of the free,” two more of your senatorial boy-ohs, Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Charles Schumer (D-NY), pushed through, without a public hearing, the Bill-of-Rights’-shredding “USA Patriot Act.” The duo are the godfathers of this scheme, which they seeded in the mid-90s. They are so clever their fingerprints can’t be found on the law.

You’re feeling pretty safe now. Your name is Ariel Sharon.

In fact, on Oct. 3, 2001, when you barked at a Tel Aviv Cabinet meeting, according to Israel Radio, (Kol Yisrael): “I want to tell you something very clear, don’t worry about America. We, the Jewish people, control America, and the Americans know it.” Well, you did go a little overboard on that one. Even if you’re right about the Jews controlling America, I still think it was a real stretch to say, “the Americans know it.” I think if they did know it, you, and the other bad Zionists, too, would be sent to your rooms, and forbidden to watch the “Jerry Springer TV Show!”

You’re smart. You’re clever. You’re Ariel Sharon.

You were mouthing off to the Times of London recently. And, darn if you didn’t say, “The day after U.S. troops finish off Saddam, they should turn their guns against Tehran.” Now, you almost blew the Zionist cover on that one. Most Americans are clueless about your country’s agenda about using the U.S. military to destroy Israel’s Arab enemies. Chicken hawk Richard Perle didn’t help either. He told members of the UK Parliament (11/25/02, Daily Mirror), the U.S. would attack Iraq, even if UN inspectors failed to find any weapons. Making President George W. Bush Jr. look like a dupe for Tel Aviv isn’t good for business Ariel.

Ariel Sharon is the man. Right and wrong are just words.

When you hold your press conferences in Tel Aviv, you tend to sit at your desk, behind a huge photo of your political guru, the late Vladimir Jabotinsky, an extreme right-winger, even by Likud’s low political standards. Now, this isn't too smart. The press might find out that he advocated the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from their own land. Some folks, too, think you will use a U.S.-led Gulf War II, as a cover to forcibly transfer all of the Palestinians to Jordan. Now, just cool it! Okay! Simply remove the Jabotinsky’s portrait and replace it with Jonathan Pollard’s!

Hey, time marches on. Ariel Sharon keeps ticking away.

Finally, last week, as your intentionally provocative colonial occupation policies continued to fuel a horrific cycle of violence, you railed, that you will “cut the hand off” anyone that strikes Israel. That’s a bloody kind of metaphor and it doesn’t help your reputation. Talking about hands, we met, in Dec., 1977. I even shook your hand. It was at a farewell banquet for Baltimoreans visiting the Holy Land, which was held in Tel Aviv. Since that time, I’ve noticed that I’m always washing my hand, like it has blood or some foreign substance on it. Does the Arab village of Qibya, in 1953, and Unit 101, bring back any memories for you? Oh heck, why spoil the party? Everything is always coming up roses for you.

You’re Ariel Sharon, and life is good.

[Marmaduke]

Excellent Post John !

I've a littl stockpile of things to posts too, since my 'exit stage left' from Sweden (and least I don't have to bang on to that idiot panhandle about the basics of getting the odd fact right !).

I think we can soon fill this space up, now come on you good Liberals- Illuminado, Niq...we've work to do before the feast starts later !

[Tungur_Knivur]

I think we can soon fill this space up, now come on you good Liberals- Illuminado, Niq...we've work to do before the feast starts later !

Yes brothers and sisters! Lets show these sauerkraut-munching lederhosen wearing sissies how to SPAM!

P.S Belgium is the capital of Germany right?

SmMMMOooooooooCCccccccHHHHHHiiiiEeeeeeeeeesSSSSSsssss!!!!