News Compass

Thursday, July 31, 2003

US House Majority Leader Admits "I Am An Israeli At Heart"

Israel's strangehold on US foreign policies in the Middle East tightens with Tom DeLay's unashamed bias towards Israeli policies on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

DeLay as the House Majority Leader's position would only confirm what the Arab street has been saying: " Israel is the de facto 52nd state of the USA".

Total US aid to Israel since 1948:
According to the US government: $82 Billion
According to Washington Report on Middle East Affairs' (WRMEA) calculations: $94 Billion

Read HERE Washington Report on Middle East Affairs on US Financial Aid to Israel "conservative estimate of US$ 91 billion since 1948".

Read HERE List of Pro-Israel PAC Contributions to 2000 Congressional Candidates (1999-2000 Cycle)

According to Tom Malthaner in the article "U.S. Aid to Israel: What U.S. Taxpayer Should Know"

Most Americans are not aware how much of their tax revenue our government sends to Israel. For the fiscal year ending in September 30, 1997, the U.S. has given Israel $6.72 billion: $6.194 billion falls under Israel's foreign aid allotment and $526 million comes from agencies such as the Department of Commerce, the U.S. Information Agency and the Pentagon. The $6.72 billion figure does not include loan guarantees and annual compound interest totalling $3.122 billion the U.S. pays on money borrowed to give to Israel. It does not include the cost to U.S. taxpayers of IRS tax exemptions that donors can claim when they donate money to Israeli charities. (Donors claim approximately $1 billion in Federal tax deductions annually. This ultimately costs other U.S. tax payers $280 million to $390 million.)When grant, loans, interest and tax deductions are added together for the fiscal year ending in September 30, 1997, our special relationship with Israel cost U.S. taxpayers over $10 billion.

Read HERE full article by James Bennet in New York Times

Excerpt from James Bennet's article:

Tom DeLay, the House majority leader called himself "an Israeli at heart.

Mr. DeLay said that Mr. Bush "made clear that the prospects of peace are the responsibility of the Palestinian Authority," which must "fight terror and dismantle terrorist capabilities." "Israel is not the problem," he said. "Israel is the solution."

An evangelical Christian, Mr. DeLay is a leader in Washington of the Christian Zionist movement, a bloc of conservative Republicans whose strong support for the Jewish state is based on their interpretation of the Bible.

Before leaving Washington for his trip to the region, Mr. DeLay was sharply critical of the international peace plan known as the road map, which envisions a Palestinian state alongside Israel in three years.

Mr. Bush says he is committed to the plan, but Mr. DeLay said last week in an interview with The New York Times , "I can't imagine this president supporting a state of terrorists." He added, "You'd have to change almost an entire generation's culture."

Some right-wing Israeli politicians, including members of Mr. Sharon's government, have been strengthening ties to Mr. DeLay and other conservative Christians. His message dovetailed with their contention that only a Palestinian crackdown on violent groups, not Israeli concessions like restraining its settlements in the West Bank and Gaza, can advance the cause of peace. Mr. DeLay did not refer to any Israeli obligations under the peace plan or to the possibility of a territorial compromise.

Mr. DeLay spoke hours before Israeli and Palestinian security leaders were to meet for further talks on the peace plan. The Palestinian security minister, Mohammed Dahlan, is pressing Israel to withdraw its forces from more Palestinian towns and cities in the West Bank, permitting Palestinian security to resume policing those areas.