read it and weep. USA cannot afford to be Israels caretaker. PERIOD. If you jews want your own little jewish country- you are on your OWN. BY!!!

Yep, it took us 80 years to abolish the obsurity and immorality of slavery (1775-1865) - and it took from about 1917 and the Balfore Declaration till now to finally get Israel of our backs, psychologically and literally... So long crabby...

I completely agree with your assessment of the current state of affairs in the Middle East. But what bothers me the most is this constant apology for being close to Israeli. I am an Irish-American. Also a strong lobby in the congress. There is nothing for Israeli's or Jewish-Americans to be sorry about. Israel is a strategic ally. Remaining so for the long term.....

Bill caused me to think of a child with low self-esteem who always says "I'm sorry" in the hope his friends will like him better. In fact, they despise him more because he's a wimp, and they will continue to pick on him. Israel will not get respect from other countries until it gets over its low self-esteem. Israel should be proud and unapologetic. It's almost 60 years since achieving statehood (not to mention the other 5,000+ years in the vicinity). Stand up to the bullies. They will respect you more.

Mr. Gold overlooked the $6 Bn/year in economic and military aid per year. That's quite a burden on U.S. taxpayers. "W" has even recently authorized more.

Actually Israel's bumped up aid is 3bn USD - or half what you claim. To put it into perspective your government's budget is around 6 trillion USD. Not only that but 75% is in the form of credits to buy US goods so only 750million USD can leave the country. Or the equivalent of fries at McDonalds for each american - and I'll bet you can afford to skip a meal or two. PS we get no economic aid as opposed to say Jordan - whose nationals cut your nationals' heads off - and Egypt - who nationals fly planes into your buildings.

Israel’s *military aid* is bumped up to $3Bn/year. That does not include millions of dollars in economic aid (which, contrary to your protestations, Israel does receive- $360Mn in 2005 alone), nor does it include millions in migration resettlement assistance, and “loans” with repayment waived. Here’s my cite, from the Congressional Research Office: http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/47088.pdf You can argue with them about “no economic aid” and the other forms of aid to Israel. I am mature enough to admit my $6Bn total aid to Israel figure may be too high, even including the economic aid, the migration resettlement assistance, the “loan” forgiveness, etc. I’ll research for an exact total aid figure. No matter what silly french-fried spin you try to apply, Israel *is* a financial drain on the U.S. taxpayer. It’s no different from a 55 year old man still sucking at his momma’s teat. As for your comments about Jordan and Egypt- what about Israel’s spying in the U.S., and Israeli arms sales to China while claiming they need U.S. military aid for weapons. LOL