Rand Paul in Israel: U.S. foreign aid can’t be a one-way street
He said that as far as aid to Israel is concerned, he is not suggesting disengagement or that the US should stop selling armaments, but said “it wouldn’t be a one-way street, it would be a sale, not a grant.”
Paul, who on a number of occasions cited Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s 1996 speech in Congress saying he wanted to wean Israel off American aid, said that decent aid would be beneficial for Israel because it would retain its own sovereignty and not have to come “on bended knee” to ask US permission on a variety of issues, such as settlements.
Regarding the argument that 75 percent of the military aid to Israel is spent in the US and helps the US economy, Paul said the problem with that argument is that one industry is benefiting from taxes taken from 300 million people.
Blowback
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Sounds reasonable and consistent with his ideology. The GOP could learn a thing or two from this guy.
Daemonocracy on January 7, 2013 at 3:08 PM
If it makes Paul feel any better, we could put in a few orders for them there Iron Dome systems…..
apostic on January 7, 2013 at 3:09 PM
As soon as we stop providing aid to Israel’s (and America’s) enemies then we can stop providing aid to Israel. Our goal should be zero foreign aid.
Pork-Chop on January 7, 2013 at 3:10 PM
the neocons are a dying breed, rand paul positions will represent the future of the GOP Foreign policy.
nathor on January 7, 2013 at 3:11 PM
I hate libertarians masquerading as conservatives.
BigGator5 on January 7, 2013 at 3:15 PM
Yeah, but unfortunately that won’t make up for their total lack of spine, and we’re gonna have to evacuate the M.E. anyhow due to imminent financial collapse. So its kinda “too little, too late”.
We need an extended-range version of this yesterday if not sooner.
MelonCollie on January 7, 2013 at 3:19 PM
Me, too.
Blake on January 7, 2013 at 3:21 PM
Now, AquaBuddhaLand, they got carte blanche.
Knott Buyinit on January 7, 2013 at 3:21 PM
Though in all fairness, go easy on Israel, because what the heck can possibly give back besides a few techno-toys?
They’re a postage-stamp nation whose daily survival is uncertain. They don’t have a huge industrial base, there literally is not space for lots of farming or much of anything else. Their biggest benefit to us is soaking up fury from the Arab world and we all know it.
MelonCollie on January 7, 2013 at 3:26 PM
I swear Paulbots know exactly three words. “neocon”, “liberty”,and “constitution”. And I am pretty sure they have no clue what any of them mean.
The Notorious G.O.P on January 7, 2013 at 3:31 PM
Israel – America’s Unique Ally
Shy Guy on January 7, 2013 at 3:31 PM
They can give us money – i.e., we can sell them weapons. They have decent tech and biotech industry. And they have oil (quite a bit if recent news stories are to be believed).
besser tot als rot on January 7, 2013 at 3:31 PM
i think there will be better economic times ahead because we will soon be energy independant
nathor on January 7, 2013 at 3:31 PM
Two strikes right there, Major Lee Stupid.
Liberty is what you and I want and the liberals want to take away.
The Constitution is something you and I revere and something the liberals want to use as toilet paper.
MelonCollie on January 7, 2013 at 3:32 PM
Why does Israel get any aid? Are they some third world country? They have no loyalty to the US. Just because we may have a common enemy in radical islam, doesn’t mean they care one bit about our interests. If betraying the US to her worst enemies was in Israel’s best interest, they would do it in a second. They are not our friends.
It has always been the stated policy of Israel that they reserve the right to do whatever they feel is necessary to ensure their own safety, and that they are not obligated to compromise their own safety for any partner. Yet the US compromises its security by allying itself with Israel. So it is a one-way street. Don’t forget Israel spied on the US during the Reagan administration using an American citizen, Johnathan Pollard, and still maintain the official position that they had the right to do so and Pollard is an Israeli hero for betraying his country.
Israel is allied with the US only so far as that alliance benefits them, not because they care one whit about the US. If being allied with the Russians would be seen by them as being in their best interests, they would ally with the Russians just as easily. Or the Chinese or whomever. Israel gets intelligence, weapons, and money from the US, the US gets nothing from Israel. All the US gets is a gigantic bulls-eye on its back.
keep the change on January 7, 2013 at 3:32 PM
All good suggestions! Thank you very much!
MelonCollie on January 7, 2013 at 3:33 PM
I’m not so sure your assertion of Israel is correct. I knew a guy who was heavily involved in Israel’s development of their missile program. I once suggested to him that Israel needs our protection and he stated to me in no uncertain terms that we do not give Israel money because they are a little, weak nation. Quite the reverse. He emphatically stated that we give Israel aid to keep them from destroying their neighbors and that, in fact, if we were attacked again here in the USA, we would probably do well to ask Israel for military assistance as they are very well positioned with their military technology to provide valuable help.
KickandSwimMom on January 7, 2013 at 3:34 PM
You didn’t even believe that yourself.
Kungfoochimp on January 7, 2013 at 3:34 PM
Not quite sure how the amount of foreign aid handed out is the litmus test of whether or not someone is a conservative. I’d probably cut the foreign aid to every country before cutting it to Israel, but I’d probably consider eventually cutting it. Plus, they’d need less money if we stopped giving comparable (if less) amounts to Egypt. Also, with a pro-energy policy in the US (increased fracking, Keystone pipeline, increased offshore and ANWR drilling, etc.), oil prices would go down and we’d essentially be cutting foreign aid to the likes of Saudi Arabia and Iran.
besser tot als rot on January 7, 2013 at 3:36 PM
Rand Paul is looking more and more like a chip off the old nut!
astonerii on January 7, 2013 at 3:37 PM
You will not tell me what I do and don’t believe, you son of an ape.
Hint: Israel is “the little Satan”. Who do you think will get ALL the fury of the Arab world if they go down.
MelonCollie on January 7, 2013 at 3:39 PM
Is this the same Israel that out invents every other country on earth? Cell phones? What else? Rand Paul will not have the support needed to be the next GOP nominee. Let’s see how he votes on Hagel. Israel is to be treated as a treasured ally, not a client.
Will Rand Paul be visiting Egypt and calling for the end of $3B in grants? How about the other Arab states?
Is HotGas the new LGF? Starting to look that way.
SuperBunny on January 7, 2013 at 3:43 PM
From another headlines HA thread
Schadenfreude on January 7, 2013 at 3:44 PM
I guess you missed this …
http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/congress/item/12941-senate-rejects-rand-pauls-call-to-cut-aid-to-pakistan-libya-and-egypt
He’s already called for an end to that aid – and the Senate (including the RINOs) REJECTED it.
HondaV65 on January 7, 2013 at 3:48 PM
Yet you always side with the state in restricting liberties, and never side with liberty. If there is anything you desire, it sure as heck isn’t liberty.
Dante on January 7, 2013 at 3:49 PM
Beat me to it Honda.
Any more strawmen for us to burn down, Whinoid McSockpuppet?
MelonCollie on January 7, 2013 at 3:50 PM
You couldn’t define liberty if somebody ripped out the corresponding page from Webster’s dictionary and glued it to your ugly face.
Sit down and shut up, child, the adults are speaking.
MelonCollie on January 7, 2013 at 3:50 PM
First, Rand Paul has already, very publicly, called for an end to aid to both Egypt and Pakistan. You might want to pay attention.
Second, did Israel suddenly become a more important ally to us than England or Canada? Because we don’t give them a dime of foreign aid.
Of course, it’s like Mama Galt always told me: If you have to pay someone to be your friend, they must not be that good of a friend…
JohnGalt23 on January 7, 2013 at 3:52 PM
He isn’t helping his image here.
thebrokenrattle on January 7, 2013 at 3:55 PM
touche!
nathor on January 7, 2013 at 3:59 PM
He couldn’t help his image (with rightwingers at least) if he dressed like a rabbi and ended every other sentence with “I love Israel”. All he can do is not follow some of his father’s more out-there beliefs.
MelonCollie on January 7, 2013 at 4:00 PM
I’m sure they do. However they forget such words like “Life (they are pro-abortion)”, “Morality (they hate religion)”, and “Clean Living (MARIJUANA! DRUGS!)”.
BigGator5 on January 7, 2013 at 4:02 PM
When I was a libertarian there wasn’t a defined stance on abortion, at least in the groups I talked in, but the other two you mention were (unfortunately) dead on the money.
And this is precisely why I had to leave libertarianism, with GREAT reluctance. But it was like the hippie movement…it rejected some bad things only to replace them with worse things. Rejecting arrogant jingoism and endless conflict in favor of near-anarchism, moral relativism, and rampant drug use is not a viable alternative.
MelonCollie on January 7, 2013 at 4:07 PM
Ending aid would probably nudge Israel toward unwanted domestic budget choices (eg, how much to subsidize haredi schools), but does Paul really think it would end Israel’s deference to the US (which is based on the need for a reliable ally, or at least a sympathetic nominal neutral, in a war)? It’s naive to imagine that the the concessions Israel has made since the first Kissinger-brokered disengagement agreements after the 1973 war were financially motivated. Money has only greased the skids. Strategically speaking, not taking it would be primarily symbolic.
Seth Halpern on January 7, 2013 at 4:13 PM
What does Israel give the U.S. in exchange for that foreign aid?
Plenty.
What have the Israel-haters given the world? Neo-Nazis and terrorism.
Meryl Yourish on January 7, 2013 at 4:53 PM
I am for ending most foreign aid because it appears we give foreign aid to almost every country on this planet! Even the ones who hate our guts. Israel is perfectly capable of crushing the local idiots with or without American aid. They do need to be able to have access to purchase our more advanced weapons, which I am for. It is useful to remain allies to Israel, and the U.S. should continue to supply Israel with intelligence, etc. and they should do the same for us. With that said Japan and Britain are far more important strategic allies for the United States and they purchase our military equipment.
BTW no aid or access to purchase our military equipment by most Islamic countries, like Egypt.
William Eaton on January 7, 2013 at 5:10 PM
Hell.
To.
The.
Yes.
MelonCollie on January 7, 2013 at 5:12 PM
US military aid for Israel is designed with one purpose in mind: being a major leverage in stopping Israel from selling hi-tec weapons to China and India. Several big sales have been stopped this way.
Israel actually lost a lot of money due to the catholic relationship with the US military complex.
Masih ad-Dajjal on January 7, 2013 at 5:39 PM
Hi, you may remember me from the very first post in this thread. I would identify myself as a “right winger” and become more of a Rand Paul fan every day. What Paul is doing is persuading, not mocking, others to his side. I was thrilled to see the tea partiers back him against McConnell’s pet in the primary and was ecstatic when he won the seat. Now he is sounding like a true contender for 2016.
Daemonocracy on January 7, 2013 at 6:21 PM
You do realize that everything described in that article is not a gift to us, right? Joint operations in counter terrorism is a mutual benefit for both countries.
There is nothing that Rand Paul said which would classify as Israel hating, let alone Neo Nazi. Get a grip.
Daemonocracy on January 7, 2013 at 6:24 PM
Projecting much? I never said anything about Paul. I answered a question about what Israel has given the U.S. in return for the aid. There’s more at the link.
Israel also trained our soldiers in house-to-house combat in prep for Iraq. Israel has done a lot that most people don’t know about, because the media thinks more people care about what Israel does or does not do to the Palestinians.
Meryl Yourish on January 8, 2013 at 12:11 AM