Is American Aid to Israel Conditional?

While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insists that he will never bend to American pressure, his actions suggest otherwise. More on the matter can be found here: “Is US aid to Israel conditional? – opinion,” by Troy O. Fritzhand, Jerusalem Post, June 11, 2023:

Former United States ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk made waves earlier this month on Twitter following a tweet of his about Foreign Affairs magazine calling for a reinvigoration of the two-state solution. Following this, he got into some spats with prominent Israeli influencers over his views, particularly the point that Indyk and the US should stay out of Israel’s domestic affairs.

The argument quickly spans into Indyk writing that “you should stop accepting our money… as long as Israel remains heavily dependent on American largesse, you are obliged to take our views into account.” In further tweets, in response to people saying that Israel does not need America’s money, he wrote, “Time for Israel at 75 to stand on its own two feet” and “then you can ignore us.”

Of course, he is referring to Israel’s acceptance of $3 billion (NIS 11 b.) in military aid from the US.

When taken together, we can see evidence of what Indyk refers to as America’s opinions. For example, in just the previous few months alone, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu bucked [sic] to pressure from the Biden administration on issues, such as judicial reform and on a proposed bill to tax foreign NGO money. This begs [sic] the question: is US aid to Israel conditional?

Netanyahu has put off consideration of judicial reform for many months, not so much because of the widespread domestic protests against it, but because the Biden administration had expressed its extreme displeasure with the proposed reforms. At this point, the Israelis are trying not to antagonize the Americans, whose military assistance, should Israel decide to attack Iran, will be most helpful. Israel likely will need the 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs that only America can supply, in order to destroy nuclear facilities Iran has built deep underground at Natanz and Fordo. Israel also will have need of the KC-46 refueling tankers in America’s arsenal, that will allow its bombers to make it all the way to Iran and back. In 2021, Jerusalem ordered four of them, due to be delivered in 2024, but Israel has been requesting that the delivery date be speeded up. So far the Americans have refused to do so, but Netanyahu can argue that he has, after all, postponed both consideration of the judicial reform and, as well, halted his previous plan to annex all the Jewish settlements on the West Bank.

So, to repeat, Is US aid to Israel conditional?

It appears that the answer is yes. Despite Netanyahu’s campaign pledges not to give in to American pressure, he and previous governments have repeatedly done so, even in cases where its benefit to Israel is questionable. In turn, Jerusalem has exported much of its sovereign decision-making to Washington seemingly for a meager $3 billion aid package.

This number in itself brings to question why Israel voluntarily takes the aid, given the definite strings that come attached to it. “To put this number in perspective, the country’s total expected budget for the 2023 fiscal year is $131 b. (NIS 484 b.), meaning that the $3 billion aid accounts for 2.3% – something that can easily be made up for with Israel’s strong economy and hi-tech sector.” This is not even going into the details of the agreement – namely that the aid is less of a blank check but more of a subsidy to America’s defense industry (see the case of Brill Shoe Industries and IDF boots). Since aid is indeed accepted, actions that could better Israel have been set aside.

The $3 billion in military aid is a minuscule amount — 2.3% — of Israel’s total budget of $131 billion. Furthermore, that $3 billion has to be spent on American weapons, even if Israel finds weapons elsewhere that would better suit its plans.

This [American aid is conditional] is most clear in Netanyahu’s own words from 2020: Israel does not have the green light from the US to annex large parts of the West Bank. Think about this statement for a second; a leader of a sovereign nation is saying that a sovereign decision, regardless of your opinion on it, is contingent on a green light from another nation.

Netanyahu, though clearly desirous of annexing the Israeli settlements in the West Bank, postponed such a move indefinitely in 2020, when it became clear that even the Trump administration, though it had no objection to the expansion of settlements in the West Bank, was not ready to approve of their annexation.

This becomes even more distressing when you realize that the tide in the US Congress is heading towards formalized conditioning of aid. Does the government really wish to wait until a hostile US administration or Congress codifies conditioning aid to figure out how to make up the lost $3 billion? Likely not….

I disagree with the author here. There is no “tide in the US Congress” to support conditioning aid to Israel on its willingness to end its expanding or building of settlements. When a vote came up on a proposal to provide $1 billion to Israel to replenish its Iron Dome missiles, exactly nine Congressmen voted “No,” while 420 voted for the extra aid. Keep that in mind: 420-9. This year, in a vote on a resolution to honor the US-Israel relationship, 401 Congressmen voted “Yes” and only “19” voted “No.” Israel still has overwhelming support in Congress.

Yet in freeing itself from the perception of reliance on American aid, Israel will no longer have to worry about not agreeing to American policy demands. The sum involved is only 2.3% of Israel’s total budget – well within its ability to raise funds from a modest increase in taxes, especially on its booming high-tech sector. And Israel can count, too, on increased aid from Jews abroad.

Once free of its reliance – and its misperception of dependence – on American aid, Israel can make its own decisions unhindered by worries as to how they will play in Washington. This includes annexing the major settlement blocs, or changing the status quo on the Temple Mount by allowing Jews at long last to pray at the holiest site in Judaism, or attacking Iran, without consulting the Americans, if it comes too close to acquiring a nuclear capability. Surely Israel can give up a mere $3 billion in aid for that freedom.