2024 spending bill disburses over $20 million per day to or because of Israel

Image by If Americans Knew

U.S. spending for Israel takes two forms: some of the money goes directly to Israel; some of the money goes to additional items because they benefit Israel. Legislation recently signed into law by Biden contains both types of funding, which means a combined total of at least $7.505 billion of Americans’ tax money – over $20.6 million per day – will be disbursed in 2024 for Israel, one of the world’s smallest *countries (with one of the world’s largest concentrations of millionaires and billionaires***)

By Matt Sabourin dit Choinière

Included in the trillion-dollar spending package signed into law by President Biden on March 23, 2024 are provisions to disburse a combined total of at least $7.505 billion to and/or on behalf of Israel in the year 2024. This works out to $20.5 million per day.

These provisions were included in the package despite Israel’s many actions that harm Americans, U.S. laws ruling aid to Israel illegal, most Americans believe the U.S. already gives Israel too much money, and that Israel is in the middle of an onslaught against Gazan men, women, and children.

2024 Money to Israel ($3.8 Billion total):

$3.3 billion in grants to Israel under the Foreign Military Financing Program – to be disbursed within 30 days. (Including $725.3 million for procurement of defense articles and R&D) page 867

$500 million for Israeli Cooperative Programs, (beginning on page 103) including:

$80 million for the procurement of the Iron Dome defense system
$127 million for Short Range Ballistic Missile Defense
$40 million for Short Range Ballistic Missile Defense Co-Production Activities
$80 million for Israeli Missile Defense Architecture
$173 million for Arrow System Improvement Program

Additional expenditures on behalf of Israel:

$5 million for the Department of State to carry out provisions of the Migration and Refugee Assistance act to accommodate refugees resettling in Israel. (Page 710)
$1.4 billion to Egypt (page 861) and $2.3 billion for Jordan (pages 126, 136, & 868) stem from agreements that benefit Israel, namely that these countries desist from advocating for full Palestinian rights.

As eminent economist Thomas Stauffer stated in a detailed analysis of U.S. expenditures: “Protection of Israel and subsidies to countries willing to sign peace treaties with Israel, such as Egypt and Jordan, has been the prime driver of U.S. outlays.“

Former U.S. Ambassador Chas Freeman concurred, noting that aid to Egypt and Jordan, are supported “in large measure in terms of their contribution to the security of the Jewish state.”

The money for Egypt originated from an inducement to obtain and then maintain Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel (AIPAC even advocated that the U.S. continue aid to Egypt when said aid was called into question in 2013) and the money to Jordan is based on similar terms, the Guardian noting in 2019 that Jordan’s willingness to work with Israel “helps to smooth the way for annual US aid payments worth more than $1.5bn each year that keep Jordan’s donor-dependent economy afloat.” The Jordanian government, despite protest from most of its population, has a history of enforcing Israeli policies.

The total amount of money to be expended on behalf of Israel amounts to over $3.705 billion.

This money to and for Israel is not new. Over the years, Israel has received far more U.S. tax money than any other country on earth: on average as of 2013 of over 7,000 times more direct aid per capita than anyone else.

Economist Thomas Stauffer wrote that support for Israel also includes numerous miscellaneous items such as “special trade advantages, preferential contracts, and aid buried in other accounts.” As of 2002, he found, support for Israel had cost Americans $1.8 trillion – and had cost “some 275,000 American jobs each year.”

And since then the cost of Israel to American taxpayers now also includes the lives destroyed and the multi-trillion dollar cost of the Iraq war, a tragic and disastrous quagmire promoted by Israel and its American partisans. And on top of this are the costs, in both lives and treasure, of Israel-influenced policies regarding Syria, Iran, and others.

In addition to the aforementioned financial benefits to Israel, there are other items that help Israel:

Restricting funds for Diplomatic programs so the US Embassy must remain in Jerusalem. (Page 743)
Emergency Wartime Supplemental Appropriations Act Amended to Extend Loan Guarantees to Israel for one more year, expiring on September 30th, 2029 (Page 830)
Arms Export Control Act authorized to commercially lease defense articles to Israel, Egypt & NATO allies. Page 842 the law restricts funding certain international programs.
An express prohibition of funds for a Palestinian state unless certain stipulations are met. (Page 851)
An express prohibition of funds for the Palestinian Broadcast Corporation (page 854), the Palestinian Authority, Hamas & PLO (page 860)
No funds for UN human rights council unless Israel is removed as an agenda item. (Page 936)
No funds for UN Commission of inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian territory. (Page 938)
There is an “Economic Support Fund” for the West Bank and Gaza under the Taylor Force Act, that contains extremely strict requirements for disbursement. (Page 877)
USAID Assistance for Gaza provided there is Israeli oversight (Page 997)
A prohibition on funding the United Nations Relief & Works Agency (Page 1010)

Bottom line:

The total amount of money to be spent because of Israel, whether directly or indirectly, is at least $7.505 billion, or $20.6 Million daily.

AIPAC thanks Congress

AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, noted that the funding has no conditions, and tweeted that they “appreciate the efforts of many members who worked to include key pro-Israel provisions in the bill.

In particular, we thank the leadership of @PattyMurray @SenatorCollins @ChrisCoons @LindseyGrahamSC @SenatorTester @SenSchumer @LeaderMcConnell @RepKayGranger @rosadelauro @MarioDB @RepBarbaraLee @KenCalvert @BettyMcCollum04 @RepDWStweets @RepLoisFrankel @SpeakerJohnson @RepJeffries”

A number of politicians who had previously announced they opposed any request for aid to Israel, still voted for the bill:

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia
Rep. Delia Ramirez of Illinois
Rep Ilhan Omar of Minnesota
Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York
Rep Summer Lee of Pennsylvania
Rep Andre Carson of Indiana
Rep Jamaal Bowman of New York
Rep Cori Bush of Missouri
Rep Rashida Tlaib of Michigan

Voters can contact their representatives here to give them their opinion about how their tax money should be spent.

Matt Sabourin dit Choinière, a former Air Force Officer residing in New Hampshire, is an intern at If Americans Knew. The article draws on previous IAK reports and incorporates some of their text.