The United States agreed on Wednesday to extend its $4 billion loan guarantee program to Israel until 2016, a gesture that shows continued commitment to the Jewish state less than two weeks before the American presidential elections.

The move allows the United States to provide up to $3.8 billion in future loan guarantees, as part of a $9 billion commitment made by the US in 2003.

The program was meant to expire this year.

The American Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner and Doron Cohen, the director general of the Israeli finance ministry, signed the agreement during a US-Israel Joint Economic Development Group meeting in Washington, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

"The loan guarantees agreement attests to the special economic relationship between Israel and US," said Yuval Steinitz, Israel’s finance minister.

"I welcome the growing cooperation between the two countries, especially their treasuries," Steinitz added while thanking Geithner.

...While homeless US Vets sleep in our streets; poverty increases apace; and children and their families become more food insecure than ever.

What's wrong with this picture?!? EVERYTHING!!
http://whatreallyhappened.com/

wondered how long until we'd see one of these!

US Aid To Israel
A great article and, focused to a tee.

""1.) Why is there an Israel-USA “special relationship,” an alliance which includes generous American aid and political support at the UN and other international venues?""

Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. Democracies are an endangered species, so they can be expected to support one another and to have mutually beneficial relationships stronger than those between democracies and totalitarian states.

The U.S.–Israel “special relationship” grows in part from the resonance of a common Bible and a host of Judeo-Christian features. As western democracies, Israel and the USA have shared strategic interests, shared civic and political values, and the personal, cultural, and political bonds that exist naturally between free peoples. The supreme commander of NATO operations in Europe and head of the U.S. European Command (EUCOM), General John Craddock, speaking before the U.S. House Armed Services Committee in 2007, called Israel a “model state” and America’s closest ally in the Middle East. He noted that Israel consistently and directly supports U.S. interests and policy in the region.

""2.) What is the real number of US dollars in US aid to Israel?""

Three billion per year. American aid money is recycled back into the American economy. Nearly 90% of US aid to Israel is military, and Israel spends about 75% of that buying U.S. goods.

""3.) How do we know that the critics offer exaggerated assessments of the dollar amount and spurious claims regarding its political valence and liabilities?""

Israel is among the few countries in the world, and the only Middle Eastern state, to consistently stand alongside the United States on strategic issues in the UN and in other venues for international cooperation. Israel votes with the USA in the UN about 94% of the time. No other nation holds that record.

""4.) What is the value to the USA of its generous financial support to Israel, compared to the value of similar aid to those countries which are Israel’s avowed enemies?""

U.S. Secretary of State Gen. Alexander Haig (deceased) described Israel as “the largest US aircraft carrier, which does not require even one US soldier, cannot be sunk, is the most cost-effective and battle-tested, located in a region which is critical to vital US interests. If there would not be an Israel, the US would have to deploy real aircraft carriers, along with tens of thousands of US soldiers, which would cost tens of billions of dollars annually.”

""5.) What is the real impact of the USA’s “special relationship” with Israel upon America’s position in the Middle East and in the broader Muslim world?""

The problems the United States faces in the Persian Gulf today stem from the fact that it does not have an Israel equivalent there. Absent a strong, loyal, and dependable ally in the region, the United States has had to deploy, redeploy, and redeploy again, at a cost that easily exceeds a trillion dollars. Repeated U.S. administrations came to power predisposed to associate with the Arab world and to disassociate from Israel; but in the end, most came to acknowledge the worth of Israel as a steadfast ally in a volatile region.

Israel’s enemies are America’s enemies. Israel fights the same Islamo-fascist terrorism that brought down our World Trade Center, blew up a large chunk of the Pentagon, killed more than 3,000 innocent American civilians, and cost our economy as yet unascertained billions of dollars. Israeli-American strategic cooperation is not a given, it is not automatic, it is not a knee-jerk reaction to shared values, and it is not a panacea; but without it the world would be a much more dangerous place.

At $3 billion a year, that’s an incredible bargain.

(Reformatted to answer the questions in order.)

http://frontpagemag.com/2011/10/05/u-s-aid-to-israel-why-its-a-must/