Why are we paying for this?

Read this article.

Israel is planning to build an anti-missile system to help protect its citizens (key word being its) from missiles launched by terrorists. That's wonderful news. I'm not being sarcastic at all... I really think this is a great alternative to carpet bombing 5 square miles of anywhere a rocket may have been launched from (although something tells me they won't stop doing that...). I think it gives the citizens of Israel added security and protects them from the evil of terrorists who are cowardly enough to launch their attacks on innocent civilians rather than the soldiers who "oppress" them (and there was no sarcasm in that sentence either).

But my question is... why are we paying for it (key word being we). We as in the United States of America. How does this benefit us in any way? We are already in huge amounts of debt. Just today, the Senate struggled to pass a bill to increase unemployment insurance to unemployed AMERICANS who have been out of a job for six months or longer; people who opposed the bill cited a spiraling national deficit as their concern, not the idea of helping the unemployed itself.

Yet here we are, sending $205 million to Israel in order for them to build their missile defense system. Mind you, this is in addition to the $3 billion that we send them annually. So why are we doing this? Why is it that Americans need to get into more debt so that Israel can protect itself? Why can't Israel pay for it?

The argument that is often made is that Israel is our ally (a key ally in the region), and that we must help it.

I have a few counter arguments, which I'm going to list:

1) Turkey is a great ally in the region. They are much bigger than Israel and are majority Muslim country with a  democratic government. They are a role model to other Middle-Eastern countries. We should be more friends with them, yet we are not. The extent of our friendship with the Turks has been to conveniently use their country as a base of operations to bomb the shit out of neighboring Iraq (which they've been getting pissed about). How much money do we give them?

2) Most of the trouble we are in comes because terrorists are mad that we support Israel. Before you call me anti-Semitic (because that is completely unfounded and I have not said a single word about religion, only politics), go and listen to the tapes made by terrorists and what they say in them. They acknowledge that because we support Israel, they hate us. This is fact. So really we are helping them because they are key in helping us with the problems that we have because we help them. Okay, let's move on.

3) When we went to war in Afghanistan, and Iraq, how many troops did our loyal ally Israel send to help us? We are over there cleaning up their mess. The least they could do is lend a hand.

4) How much money does Israel give us to protect our troops? Our soldiers are dying at the other end of the world... they've told us that more military funding would help, yet we are too broke to give them more money. Why doesn't Israel pitch in and help pay the tab for more Kevlar, rockets, drones... whatever it is the need to do their job?

5) WE ARE FUCKING BROKE! When you see homeless people on the street, do they ask for money to eat, or for money to come to my house and buy me a fucking Nintendo Wii??? We have priorities, and they are to us. Our country is FUCKED at the moment and we need to invest every dime we have into fixing it. If Israel needs a missile defense system so urgently, why don't they do what we do, and borrow from the Chinese?

There are really good reasons for all of these things. For example, the US Israel lobby is (read) the largest lobby in Washington. The lobby for a FOREIGN FUCKING COUNTRY is the biggest lobby in our government. I'm not even going to get into this though, because this is going to open up a whole new can of worms (and I don't like worms). Also, it's proven that any criticism of Israel or its policies will result in being called an anti-Semite, a label which is impossible to argue or defend yourself against for some odd reason (regardless of how logical and fact-based your arguments are).

Read my entire post. I have not said anything that is targeted at members of any religious groups. My argument is only political. As an American.... as an American TAXpayer... why should we be paying for Israel's defense when we can hardly pay for our own?

Sleep on it.

Mo out.