Israel on the mooch

[Phoenall]

...A bank loan is not aid, it is a loan with punitive interest rates that has to be paid back. Remember the loans given to Britain during WW2 and how it took till the early part of this century to pay them back. Selling arms and armaments is not AID it is BUSINESS and don't the USA sell the same stuff to Saudi Arabia in return for oil concessions ?

There's good reason for Jeremy Sharp of the Congressional Research Service to have included loans (starting with the "$100 million Export-Import Bank Loan" of 1949) in his summary of "US Foreign Aid to Israel", and that's at least in part because of the interest charged to the American People for every dollar printed by the FED. This interest is above and beyond any punitive interest attached to the loans themselves and is added to our national debt at the time of the money's printing. Every dollar distributed outside of the United States, whether by the FED or the US Government, has been printed at the expense of the US citizenry.

Now, because of the intentional destruction and/or hampering of oversight bodies that resulted from wide-sweeping deregulation policies beginning in the late 90's and continuing through to today, it's currently difficult for the public to measure the impact of US foreign aid (including those so-called "bank loans" you claim shouldn't count); but as of 1997, when the grand total of non-adjusted aid to Israel reportedly stood at just under $85,000,000,000, the interest costs borne by the US (not the Israelis) was just under $50,000,000,000, making the total cost to the US citizenry just under $135,000,000,000!

If Sharp's conservative numbers are to be believed, we've only stacked another $36,000,000,000 (not accounting for inflation or interest to the American People) on top of those 1997 figures.

...Maybe you should ask the muslim in charge why he has increased Americas debt 3 fold to $17 TRILLION DOLLARS Not a thing to do with Israel is it, [...]

Well, I suppose if we didn't count *6 years worth of all direct and some indirect aid, as well as the interest borne by the American People as a result of that aid, then Israel wouldn't have had anything to do with it.

*Yes, I can include a significant portion of fiscal 2014, because allocated monetary aid to Israel is given in lump sums toward the beginning of each new fiscal year (more special treatment).

Well you cant single out one small part and claim that it is a LIE while relying on the rest to bolster your position.

But this shows that you are indeed LYING .........

In 1992, Israel received $10 billion in loan guarantees from the American government to help the nation rebuild after its economy took a major hit following the Gulf War. Israel repaid every loan it withdrew and the United States was never called on to fulfill it guarantor obligations. Likewise, Israel has never defaulted against the loan guarantees put in place in 2003.

So Israel has paid back all of its loans from the USA, including the interest leveed, and has actually helped the US economy in the process. So why has Americas International debt risen to close on $20 TRILLION and is still rising............

First of all, aren't you going to complain about the bias of my source there?

Selective bitching about source bias is a sign that you're disingenuous in your approach.

That aside, the statement, "Israel repaid every loan it withdrew and the United States was never called on to fulfill it guarantor obligations." [sic], is in reference to loans taken out by Israel from institutions other than the US Government, for which the American People essentially co-signed (for the most part without their knowledge or consent) and assumed all of the risk in place of Israel's lenders. It has nothing to do with the repayment of US loans granted by the FED on behalf of the US citizenry to Israel.

Toward addressing the spirit of your misguided question, though, as noted by WRMEA contributing author Richard H. Curtiss:

[...]Further, friends of Israel never tire of saying that Israel has never defaulted on repayment of a U.S. government loan. It would be equally accurate to say Israel has never been required to repay a U.S. government loan. The truth of the matter is complex, and designed to be so by those who seek to conceal it from the U.S. taxpayer.

Most U.S. loans to Israel are forgiven, and many were made with the explicit understanding that they would be forgiven before Israel was required to repay them. By disguising as loans what in fact were grants, cooperating members of Congress exempted Israel from the U.S. oversight that would have accompanied grants. On other loans, Israel was expected to pay the interest and eventually to begin repaying the principal. But the so-called Cranston Amendment, which has been attached by Congress to every foreign aid appropriation since 1983, provides that economic aid to Israel will never dip below the amount Israel is required to pay on its outstanding loans. In short, whether U.S. aid is extended as grants or loans to Israel, it never returns to the Treasury.[...]

Smoke, mirrors, and intentionally misleading language have been the tools of the trade for Zionist-based special interest groups all along; which explains the tactics and widespread misapprehensions among Zionist apologists like you, Phoenall.

It does not say that so why are you making the claim. The fact is every loan taken out by Israel has been repaid in full. Which kinda destroys your argument that Israel mooches of the rest of the world, when it is the Palestinians that line their own pockets while their people starve. It has hit them hard having the EU refuse to foot their power bills and the US talking of stopping aid until they start to negotiate with Israel.

 

[Phoenall]

Oh dear.

FEELING VANQUISHED???? truth does do that to some!!!

No, just wondering if the poster also believes the Brothers Grimm fairy tales are true.

So much for the "Christian" who preached on here when they first arrived, and posted links to extremist Christian sites to bolster their ISLAMONAZO PROPAGANDA

 

[Capstone]

It does not say that so why are you making the claim. [...]

Assuming you're referring to the information sourced to the Jewish Virtual Library, yes it does say that. The fact that you apparently don't understand the difference between "loan guarantees" and the many non-governmental loans Israel has taken out against those guarantees ...doesn't change the meaning of the paragraph.

Here it is again:

"In 1992, Israel received $10 billion in loan guarantees from the American government to help the nation rebuild after its economy took a major hit following the Gulf War. Israel repaid every loan it withdrew and the United States was never called on to fulfill it guarantor obligations. Likewise, Israel has never defaulted against the loan guarantees put in place in 2003." [emphasis mine]

Had Israel not repaid the relevant loans it withdrew from non-governmental institutions, all of which were effectively underwritten or co-signed for by the US via those "loan guarantees", the American People would've had to fulfill the "guarantor obligations" of which we've never explicitly approved, or for that matter, even been asked to approve.

And yes, the assumption of risk for the sovereign default of nations other than our own HAS been detrimental to our nation's financial standing at home and abroad (does the downgrade to the US's credit rating ring any bells?).

[...]The fact is every loan taken out by Israel has been repaid in full. Which kinda destroys your argument that Israel mooches of the rest of the world...

The fact is: Israel hasn't yet defaulted on its US government loans, but neither has it repaid (or been required to repay) any of them in full, which totally obliterates your claim that it has.

Think hard before embarrassing yourself further, Phoenall, because I'm getting ready to drop the gloves.

 

[BobbyMac]

The US needs to cut back on all foreign aid, including that to Israel, and Egypt, and Palestine. Israel no longer needs to suck American tit. They just take advantage of it because we let them.

American children starve. American schools crumble. American families are homeless. Trillions pissed away on the latrine that is the Middle East could have helped millions of Americans.

 

[Phoenall]

It does not say that so why are you making the claim. [...]

Assuming you're referring to the information sourced to the Jewish Virtual Library, yes it does say that. The fact that you apparently don't understand the difference between "loan guarantees" and the many non-governmental loans Israel has taken out against those guarantees ...doesn't change the meaning of the paragraph.

Here it is again:

"In 1992, Israel received $10 billion in loan guarantees from the American government to help the nation rebuild after its economy took a major hit following the Gulf War. Israel repaid every loan it withdrew and the United States was never called on to fulfill it guarantor obligations. Likewise, Israel has never defaulted against the loan guarantees put in place in 2003." [emphasis mine]

Had Israel not repaid the relevant loans it withdrew from non-governmental institutions, all of which were effectively underwritten or co-signed for by the US via those "loan guarantees", the American People would've had to fulfill the "guarantor obligations" of which we've never explicitly approved, or for that matter, even been asked to approve.

And yes, the assumption of risk for the sovereign default of nations other than our own HAS been detrimental to our nation's financial standing at home and abroad (does the downgrade to the US's credit rating ring any bells?).

[...]The fact is every loan taken out by Israel has been repaid in full. Which kinda destroys your argument that Israel mooches of the rest of the world...

The fact is: Israel hasn't yet defaulted on its US government loans, but neither has it repaid (or been required to repay) any of them in full, which totally obliterates your claim that it has.

Think hard before embarrassing yourself further, Phoenall, because I'm getting ready to drop the gloves.

Try supporting your claim with hard evidence from the US treasury dept . The evidence produced shows that Israel has to date paid all its loans in full, and you tried to manipulate it to show it was wrong.

 

[Phoenall]

The US needs to cut back on all foreign aid, including that to Israel, and Egypt, and Palestine. Israel no longer needs to suck American tit. They just take advantage of it because we let them.

American children starve. American schools crumble. American families are homeless. Trillions pissed away on the latrine that is the Middle East could have helped millions of Americans.

Wrong child as it is part of an INTERNATIONAL TREATY that has entered INTERNATIONAL LAW. Israel has tried to bring a halt to the loans it receives from the USA and it cant without impinging on other nations reliance on US aid

 

[Hossfly]

The US needs to cut back on all foreign aid, including that to Israel, and Egypt, and Palestine. Israel no longer needs to suck American tit. They just take advantage of it because we let them.

American children starve. American schools crumble. American families are homeless. Trillions pissed away on the latrine that is the Middle East could have helped millions of Americans.

Ain't politics just awful?

 

[BobbyMac]

The US needs to cut back on all foreign aid, including that to Israel, and Egypt, and Palestine. Israel no longer needs to suck American tit. They just take advantage of it because we let them.

American children starve. American schools crumble. American families are homeless. Trillions pissed away on the latrine that is the Middle East could have helped millions of Americans.

Wrong child as it is part of an INTERNATIONAL TREATY that has entered INTERNATIONAL LAW. Israel has tried to bring a halt to the loans it receives from the USA and it cant without impinging on other nations reliance on US aid

Any proof of this jibberish?

 

[Hossfly]

The US needs to cut back on all foreign aid, including that to Israel, and Egypt, and Palestine. Israel no longer needs to suck American tit. They just take advantage of it because we let them.

American children starve. American schools crumble. American families are homeless. Trillions pissed away on the latrine that is the Middle East could have helped millions of Americans.

Wrong child as it is part of an INTERNATIONAL TREATY that has entered INTERNATIONAL LAW. Israel has tried to bring a halt to the loans it receives from the USA and it cant without impinging on other nations reliance on US aid

Any proof of this jibberish?

Yes. Just uneducated comments and questions from Jew-haters is proof enough.

 

[BobbyMac]

OK well that was less than helpful.

 

[Phoenall]

The US needs to cut back on all foreign aid, including that to Israel, and Egypt, and Palestine. Israel no longer needs to suck American tit. They just take advantage of it because we let them.

American children starve. American schools crumble. American families are homeless. Trillions pissed away on the latrine that is the Middle East could have helped millions of Americans.

Wrong child as it is part of an INTERNATIONAL TREATY that has entered INTERNATIONAL LAW. Israel has tried to bring a halt to the loans it receives from the USA and it cant without impinging on other nations reliance on US aid

Any proof of this jibberish?

Yes posted many times in the past, ask the rest of the boiler room and they will tell you

 

[Phoenall]

The US needs to cut back on all foreign aid, including that to Israel, and Egypt, and Palestine. Israel no longer needs to suck American tit. They just take advantage of it because we let them.

American children starve. American schools crumble. American families are homeless. Trillions pissed away on the latrine that is the Middle East could have helped millions of Americans.

Wrong child as it is part of an INTERNATIONAL TREATY that has entered INTERNATIONAL LAW. Israel has tried to bring a halt to the loans it receives from the USA and it cant without impinging on other nations reliance on US aid

Any proof of this jibberish?

Here you go just one of the many treaties that caused Israel to receive aid

Camp David Accords - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Framework Peace Treaty Egypt and Israel

The agreement also resulted in the United States committing to several billion dollars worth of annual subsidies to the governments of both Israel and Egypt, subsidies which continue to this day, and are given as a mixture of grants and aid packages committed to purchasing U.S. materiel. From 1979 (the year of the peace agreement) to 1997, Egypt received military aid of US$1.3 billion annually, which also helped modernize the Egyptian military.[22] (This is beyond economic, humanitarian, and other aid, which has totaled more than US$25 billion.) Eastern-supplied until 1979, Egypt now received American weaponry such as the M1A1 Abrams Tank, AH-64 Apache gunship and the F-16 fighter jet. In comparison, Israel has received $3 billion annually since 1985 in grants and military aid packages

 

[BobbyMac]

I was actually looking for proof of your main point which was......Israel has tried to bring a halt to the loans it receives from the USA and it cant without impinging on other nations reliance on US aid

 

[Hossfly]

OK well that was less than helpful.

Glad to be of service, Argyle.

 

[Capstone]

Try supporting your claim with hard evidence from the US treasury dept . The evidence produced shows that Israel has to date paid all its loans in full, and you tried to manipulate it to show it was wrong.

Here's a thought: why don't you pick out and support a single thing you've claimed in this thread to date, with something verifiable outside of your tiny myopic imagination?

For my part, in the following Library of Congress's 2005 Issue Brief (under the sub-heading Loans with Repayment Waived), Clyde R. Mark, of the Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division, stated:

[. . .] the U.S. government has waived repayment of aid to Israel that originally was categorized as loans. Following the 1973 war, President Nixon asked Congress for emergency aid for Israel, including loans for which repayment would be waived. Israel preferred that the aid be in the form of loans, rather than grants, to avoid having a U.S. military contingent in Israel to oversee a grant program. Since 1974, some or all of U.S. military aid to Israel has been in the form of loans for which repayment is waived. Technically, the assistance is called loans, but as a practical matter, the military aid is grant. From FY1974 through FY2003, Israel has received more than $45 billion in waived loans. [...] [emphasis Capstone's]

From the same report, under the sub-heading “Cranston Amendment”:

The Cranston Amendment, named after its Senate sponsor, was added to the foreign aid legislation in 1984 (Section 534, P.L. 98-473) and was repeated each year in the annual aid appropriation bill through FY 1998 (Section 517 of H.R. 2159, P.L. 105-118). The Cranston amendment was not repeated in the FY 1999 appropriations, H.R. 4328, P.L. 105-277, and was not repeated in subsequent appropriations bills. The amendment stated that it was “the policy and the intention” of the United States to provide Israel with economic assistance “not less than” the amount Israel owed the United States in annual debt service payments (principal and interest). For 1998, Israel received $1.2 billion in ESF and owed the U.S. government about $328 million in debt service for direct loans, so it was apparent that the Cranston Amendment was no longer needed. The Cranston amendment was a statement of U.S. policy and intent and may not have been binding. Contingent liabilities — guaranteed loans, such as housing guarantees, the $10 billion for immigrant settlement, or the $9 billion or economic recovery — apparently were not included under the Cranston amendment because the debts were not owed to the U.S. government.

Here we see the bill that was specifically designed to ensure that US economic assistance to Israel would never drop below the annual amount owed by Israel to the United States in debt service payments. This means, as a matter of law from FY1984 to FY1998, our representatives annually handed over new so-called "loans" along with additional cash to pay down the annual interest & principal payments on any outstanding loans that hadn't yet been waived or converted to grants. The stated rationale for not attaching that crooked legislation to foreign aid appropriations from 1999 onward is that the annual economic aid nowadays so enormously exceeds Israel's annual debt service obligations (precisely because of all the loan repayment waivers) it's "no longer needed"!

Your turn.

 

[pbel]

Try supporting your claim with hard evidence from the US treasury dept . The evidence produced shows that Israel has to date paid all its loans in full, and you tried to manipulate it to show it was wrong.

Here's a thought: why don't you pick out and support a single thing you've claimed in this thread to date, with something verifiable outside of your tiny myopic imagination?

For my part, in the following Library of Congress's 2005 Issue Brief (under the sub-heading Loans with Repayment Waived), Clyde R. Mark, of the Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division, stated:

[. . .] the U.S. government has waived repayment of aid to Israel that originally was categorized as loans. Following the 1973 war, President Nixon asked Congress for emergency aid for Israel, including loans for which repayment would be waived. Israel preferred that the aid be in the form of loans, rather than grants, to avoid having a U.S. military contingent in Israel to oversee a grant program. Since 1974, some or all of U.S. military aid to Israel has been in the form of loans for which repayment is waived. Technically, the assistance is called loans, but as a practical matter, the military aid is grant. From FY1974 through FY2003, Israel has received more than $45 billion in waived loans. [...] [emphasis Capstone's]

From the same report, under the sub-heading “Cranston Amendment”:

The Cranston Amendment, named after its Senate sponsor, was added to the foreign aid legislation in 1984 (Section 534, P.L. 98-473) and was repeated each year in the annual aid appropriation bill through FY 1998 (Section 517 of H.R. 2159, P.L. 105-118). The Cranston amendment was not repeated in the FY 1999 appropriations, H.R. 4328, P.L. 105-277, and was not repeated in subsequent appropriations bills. The amendment stated that it was “the policy and the intention” of the United States to provide Israel with economic assistance “not less than” the amount Israel owed the United States in annual debt service payments (principal and interest). For 1998, Israel received $1.2 billion in ESF and owed the U.S. government about $328 million in debt service for direct loans, so it was apparent that the Cranston Amendment was no longer needed. The Cranston amendment was a statement of U.S. policy and intent and may not have been binding. Contingent liabilities — guaranteed loans, such as housing guarantees, the $10 billion for immigrant settlement, or the $9 billion or economic recovery — apparently were not included under the Cranston amendment because the debts were not owed to the U.S. government.

Here we see the bill that was specifically designed to ensure that US economic assistance to Israel would never drop below the annual amount owed by Israel to the United States in debt service payments. This means, as a matter of law from FY1984 to FY1998, our representatives annually handed over new so-called "loans" along with additional cash to pay down the annual interest & principal payments on any outstanding loans that hadn't yet been waived or converted to grants. The stated rationale for not attaching that crooked legislation to foreign aid appropriations from 1999 onward is that the annual economic aid nowadays so enormously exceeds Israel's annual debt service obligations (precisely because of all the loan repayment waivers) it's "no longer needed"!

Your turn.

As long as AIPAC the so called 800 pound Gorilla in Washington controls the Congress with money, nothing will change...

They Control America as far as political appointments go and All ME policy, period. Americans need to remove this power over us, with Campaign Finance Reform.

 

[Hossfly]

Try supporting your claim with hard evidence from the US treasury dept . The evidence produced shows that Israel has to date paid all its loans in full, and you tried to manipulate it to show it was wrong.

Here's a thought: why don't you pick out and support a single thing you've claimed in this thread to date, with something verifiable outside of your tiny myopic imagination?

For my part, in the following Library of Congress's 2005 Issue Brief (under the sub-heading Loans with Repayment Waived), Clyde R. Mark, of the Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division, stated:

[. . .] the U.S. government has waived repayment of aid to Israel that originally was categorized as loans. Following the 1973 war, President Nixon asked Congress for emergency aid for Israel, including loans for which repayment would be waived. Israel preferred that the aid be in the form of loans, rather than grants, to avoid having a U.S. military contingent in Israel to oversee a grant program. Since 1974, some or all of U.S. military aid to Israel has been in the form of loans for which repayment is waived. Technically, the assistance is called loans, but as a practical matter, the military aid is grant. From FY1974 through FY2003, Israel has received more than $45 billion in waived loans. [...] [emphasis Capstone's]

From the same report, under the sub-heading “Cranston Amendment”:

The Cranston Amendment, named after its Senate sponsor, was added to the foreign aid legislation in 1984 (Section 534, P.L. 98-473) and was repeated each year in the annual aid appropriation bill through FY 1998 (Section 517 of H.R. 2159, P.L. 105-118). The Cranston amendment was not repeated in the FY 1999 appropriations, H.R. 4328, P.L. 105-277, and was not repeated in subsequent appropriations bills. The amendment stated that it was “the policy and the intention” of the United States to provide Israel with economic assistance “not less than” the amount Israel owed the United States in annual debt service payments (principal and interest). For 1998, Israel received $1.2 billion in ESF and owed the U.S. government about $328 million in debt service for direct loans, so it was apparent that the Cranston Amendment was no longer needed. The Cranston amendment was a statement of U.S. policy and intent and may not have been binding. Contingent liabilities — guaranteed loans, such as housing guarantees, the $10 billion for immigrant settlement, or the $9 billion or economic recovery — apparently were not included under the Cranston amendment because the debts were not owed to the U.S. government.

Here we see the bill that was specifically designed to ensure that US economic assistance to Israel would never drop below the annual amount owed by Israel to the United States in debt service payments. This means, as a matter of law from FY1984 to FY1998, our representatives annually handed over new so-called "loans" along with additional cash to pay down the annual interest & principal payments on any outstanding loans that hadn't yet been waived or converted to grants. The stated rationale for not attaching that crooked legislation to foreign aid appropriations from 1999 onward is that the annual economic aid nowadays so enormously exceeds Israel's annual debt service obligations (precisely because of all the loan repayment waivers) it's "no longer needed"!

Your turn.

Nothing illegal about that, Cappy.

 

[Capstone]

Nothing illegal about that, Cappy.

If you're keying on my use of the adjective "crooked", there's a filthy laundry list a mile long of shady 'backroom dealings' between special interest groups and members from both houses, which all involved parties collectively hope, pray, and actively work to see to it that those dealings never come before public scrutiny, not because they're explicitly illegal, but because they're morally wrong and everyone knows it.

 

[Sally]

Try supporting your claim with hard evidence from the US treasury dept . The evidence produced shows that Israel has to date paid all its loans in full, and you tried to manipulate it to show it was wrong.

Here's a thought: why don't you pick out and support a single thing you've claimed in this thread to date, with something verifiable outside of your tiny myopic imagination?

For my part, in the following Library of Congress's 2005 Issue Brief (under the sub-heading Loans with Repayment Waived), Clyde R. Mark, of the Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division, stated:



From the same report, under the sub-heading “Cranston Amendment”:

The Cranston Amendment, named after its Senate sponsor, was added to the foreign aid legislation in 1984 (Section 534, P.L. 98-473) and was repeated each year in the annual aid appropriation bill through FY 1998 (Section 517 of H.R. 2159, P.L. 105-118). The Cranston amendment was not repeated in the FY 1999 appropriations, H.R. 4328, P.L. 105-277, and was not repeated in subsequent appropriations bills. The amendment stated that it was “the policy and the intention” of the United States to provide Israel with economic assistance “not less than” the amount Israel owed the United States in annual debt service payments (principal and interest). For 1998, Israel received $1.2 billion in ESF and owed the U.S. government about $328 million in debt service for direct loans, so it was apparent that the Cranston Amendment was no longer needed. The Cranston amendment was a statement of U.S. policy and intent and may not have been binding. Contingent liabilities — guaranteed loans, such as housing guarantees, the $10 billion for immigrant settlement, or the $9 billion or economic recovery — apparently were not included under the Cranston amendment because the debts were not owed to the U.S. government.

Here we see the bill that was specifically designed to ensure that US economic assistance to Israel would never drop below the annual amount owed by Israel to the United States in debt service payments. This means, as a matter of law from FY1984 to FY1998, our representatives annually handed over new so-called "loans" along with additional cash to pay down the annual interest & principal payments on any outstanding loans that hadn't yet been waived or converted to grants. The stated rationale for not attaching that crooked legislation to foreign aid appropriations from 1999 onward is that the annual economic aid nowadays so enormously exceeds Israel's annual debt service obligations (precisely because of all the loan repayment waivers) it's "no longer needed"!

Your turn.

As long as AIPAC the so called 800 pound Gorilla in Washington controls the Congress with money, nothing will change...

They Control America as far as political appointments go and All ME policy, period. Americans need to remove this power over us, with Campaign Finance Reform.

If you think that AIPAC controls America, surely you can list for us all the political appointments made during the current administration. I, myself, really don't know, but since you are always claiming this, I would imagine that you know all the names. By each name, could you tell us their religion and what they have done for Israel. It's strange, but I always thought that our Congressmen were voted in by the people, and they had to follow the will of the people who voted them in. Also, I might be mistaken, but aren't there several appointments being held by Muslims? Does AIPAC control these Muslims too?

 

[pbel]

Here's a thought: why don't you pick out and support a single thing you've claimed in this thread to date, with something verifiable outside of your tiny myopic imagination?

For my part, in the following Library of Congress's 2005 Issue Brief (under the sub-heading Loans with Repayment Waived), Clyde R. Mark, of the Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division, stated:



From the same report, under the sub-heading “Cranston Amendment”:



Here we see the bill that was specifically designed to ensure that US economic assistance to Israel would never drop below the annual amount owed by Israel to the United States in debt service payments. This means, as a matter of law from FY1984 to FY1998, our representatives annually handed over new so-called "loans" along with additional cash to pay down the annual interest & principal payments on any outstanding loans that hadn't yet been waived or converted to grants. The stated rationale for not attaching that crooked legislation to foreign aid appropriations from 1999 onward is that the annual economic aid nowadays so enormously exceeds Israel's annual debt service obligations (precisely because of all the loan repayment waivers) it's "no longer needed"!

Your turn.

As long as AIPAC the so called 800 pound Gorilla in Washington controls the Congress with money, nothing will change...

They Control America as far as political appointments go and All ME policy, period. Americans need to remove this power over us, with Campaign Finance Reform.

If you think that AIPAC controls America, surely you can list for us all the political appointments made during the current administration. I, myself, really don't know, but since you are always claiming this, I would imagine that you know all the names. By each name, could you tell us their religion and what they have done for Israel. It's strange, but I always thought that our Congressmen were voted in by the people, and they had to follow the will of the people who voted them in. Also, I might be mistaken, but aren't there several appointments being held by Muslims? Does AIPAC control these Muslims too?

I suggest you read the Walt Mearsheimer study, The Israel Lobby...As you well know Sally, I noticed this obvious money power controlling Politics long before that book was published.

Our country is Not a Democracy, it is an Oligarchy...We simply are puppets on the strings of the Oligarchs.