Israel is giving up the ability to get discounts from US makers. They know about the subsidy and thus charge Israel accordingly. so it is not as straightforward loss of $2.1B as you claim. it maybe half that amount ($1.1B) - which is about 0.5% of Israel's GDP> But the Author main point was Friedman flawed argument on Friday : "We need every dollar to stay state-side" The author calling him on his bluff - 75% of the money is already remaining in the US never getting into Israel -this is unlike the Palestinian aid - which all supports Palestinian consumption.

Salma, the name Palestine was invented by the Romans, in part of their de-Judaization of Israel. The land was occupied - ie it has been occupied territories for 1900 years. The ocupation in the 19th century was Ottoman. The various occupations have been hostile towards the Jews. It was the british Occupation which had some degree of honesty towards the Jewish homeland. The jordanians also occupied the west bank in 1948. There was no state of Palestine. The historical Phillisitines lived in gaza - you are welcome to establish your state there.

The Chinese are flush with US cash. They want to buy natural resources. Does Israel have any natural resources? Unless you count sand I don't think so. Think jewish intellectural prowess is going to woo them? The Chinese have plenty of engineers and agronomists. Is Israel going to sell the knowledge you gained at American Firms like Intel? That would be committing suicide. The Chinese are the biggest intellectual property thieves in the world even if Israel is running a very close second. Then you have the problem of Arab and Persian Muslim backing of Palestinian statehood and rights. Think the Chinese are going to turn their backs on all that natural gas and oil just so you can steal some more Palestinian land? And the same goes for India. Allan it was a nice Israeli fantasy but wake up now. It's time to get back to reality.

Please provide proper reference for that quote, because in 1845 Palestine was a province of the Ottoman Empire, also including Jordan.

Laughable article. To show that Israel doesn't need US money he proposes to resign to US aid... 20% of it! The author's pride is blurring his logic. Hope the US taxpayers don't hear this garbage because this could end with revoking 100% of the aid. Like it or not what US is asking from Israel is PEANUTS compared to the economicall and political support it provides and has provdied for decades to Israel. Fortnuately, Israel government is more pragmatic and knows that it will have to compromise.

Read Mark Twain's account of the desolation of the land of Israel before the Jews returned. There was nothing and no one here. Jerusalem was already majority Jewish by about 1860 per the OTTOMAN census. The only reason Arabs immigrated here was for the job opportunities created by Jews. And since thee are 20% Arabs here you can't say Israel is only for Jews. That's an out and out lie. But I expect that from Palis.

If you read the article you can see that srael would love to keep the money but insult those that work their backs off(US taxpayers)to provide it. Ha ha ha ha , so typical Zionists. Face it, without American diplomatic , military and economical support you will vanish into oblivion. Biting the hand that feeds you, when did that ever work?

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3845134,00.html

"We can 'compete even with EU countries and there are thousands of 'succes stories".....DREAM ON Salma, that's the ONLY thing your people have 'proven to be good at, and let's not forget the TERRORIST BUSINESS...you are right, in this you CAN compete with EU countries. You ARE the better terrorists, there are thousands of 'succes stories to tell.

US occupies territory and population about 10x that of all of Israel. So if you don't want to fund "occupation/war crimes" you might try some personal hygiene first. You have a bad odor that your white sheet doesn't block out.

You know you could never pay for all that weaponry yourself! And as to the refugees' right to return: That is a principle which is encoded in international law. It is not "a symptom of the Muslim world’s unwillingness to accept Jewish sovereignty in the Middle East" (Ethnic cleansing is forbidden, should we change the law just for Israel's sake?) You know very well (or should know) that compromises on that problem have been worked out (a fixed number of returnees, financial compensation for the rest) which are acceptable to Israel. Or are you just playing ignorant?

Trengo's suggestion that Israel renounces US aid has a small catch: According to the peace accord, for every dollar Israel receives, Egypt receives 66 cents. Consequently, if Israel would renounce the aid, Egypt would get none, too. But, while Israel can well live without it, Egypt cannot. So, although I agree with the intention, I believe Egyptians would never allow Israel to renounce the aid.

Amen! The misuse of data by many as regards money to Israel from the USA is very much part of a larger problem having to do with short attention spans, statistical illiteracy in the USA, sound bites, etc. Israel must reduce its dependence on the USA. The last paragraph states it well. Oh by the by, no money for Egypt either :-)

First Obama is Pharaoh, and now, while Israel doesn't need America's money, it should keep most of the aid to support US job growth. Be a mensch Avi, and renounce 100% of the aid + the automatic UN veto--if you don't need $3 billion/year, (plus $2billion/year bribe money to Egypt for not going to war with Israel) we certainly do need it here--for schools, healthcare, and infrastructure.

First, it is true that the Chinese want natural resources, but the fact is that the Chinese for all there polluting nature they have also been investing heavily in Green Tech, renewable energy, and mass transit. The fact is that China will have more people per capita traveling by train than the US in the next 20 years. The fact is that this world we are currently in is shifting, moving away from Fossil Fuels towards to renewable energy. While certain natural resources will still be competed over (like metal), things like petroleum isn't going to be one of them. So what exactly will China care about in this region at all? The only other thing is technology development. And guess which non-Muslim country in this region is a world leader in Tech and Academic Developments. Where else in middle east will you see Chinese students applying to work in the laboratories of top grade Universities. It isn't any of the countries backing 'palestinian' statehood. So there will be two outcomes, either the Chinese will ally with Israel for technological advantage or just won't care! Either way Israel moves ahead. And India and Israel have very close ties. They understand what it means to be threatened by a Muslim nation trying to take its territory. Time for you to wake up...

As for the claim wrongly described as "right" of return: please see the recent ruling by Europe highest court regarding Cyprus Greeks: The court ruled there is NO SUCH right and thus nullified their claim . Clearly, any peace agreement in Israel must preserve Israel identity as the homeland of the Jewish people. Even lefty like me (Peace now supporter for over 28 years) does not agree with the claim by Palestinians to become Israeli citizens. In fact we should actually look at proposal for land swap - such that many Arabs who live close the border would become part of the Palestinian state not Israel (simple matter of drawing borders everywhere according to Clinton principals) as for Friedman: It was him who claimed US can not afford to let money leave the US. So I am saying: Fine, not a single dollar should leave the US for Israel. US already giving $3B to Egypt, $2B to Palestine, $700B to the Saudi so I gladly give up the tiny fraction of all that that goes to Israel.

This journalist is an idiot. Israeli Scientist/engineers work in the USA because Israeli's get paid a fraction of what they can earn in Israel. Also I agree American aid is miniscule but our VETO is priceless. Israel would be a pariah State like South Africa if it wasn't for our VETO and our defacto security umbrella.

and "palestinians" is your amazing ability to lie and rewrite history. Every writer that visited the area in the 1800's through the re-establishment of Israel tell amazingly different facts than you...perhaps because they are telling facts and ur statements are fabrications. Jews developed the swap and barren land. Jews that never left and Jews that began to return home. Further, Islams main "partnership" with Christians has either been to attempt to conquer their lands resulting in the Christian push back, beginning in the crusades, or their current brutal murder in Africa, Bethlaham, Egypt... U've heard of a chill pill? Well u desperately require a truth pill. Am Israel Chai now and forever!

Israel currently gives the US about 10 times worth the "aid" in advanced weapontry development for free, as unfortunately Israel is forced to fight for her survival on a daily basis. Therefore, perhaps the best thing to do is for Israel to stop accepting any aid from the US, pay for the weapons outright, and charge the US fair market value for any technological developments. That will accomplish two things. One, America can use the money as she sees fit in her own country. Two, Israel can run her own country without America's nose in her business. Guess what, there's even a third benefit, America will veto UN BS on Israel because the cat will be out of the bag and the US will finally have to admit publically that she wants to be Israel's best friend just as much as Israel wants to be America's best friend.

problems. 75% of the "aid" moeny never leaves the US, and can only be used to by "Made in USA" products. It's an indirect subsidy to American industry. The same condition is in the terms of the $5 billion split between Egypt and Jordan annually. It's right there in the article. When the Czech Republic allows the descendants of the 3 million ethnic Germans expelled from the Sudetenland at bayonet point in 1945, when Pakistan and India allow the descendants of the tens of millions of Muslim and Hindu refugees displaced in their population exchange and when the Arab/Muslim countries recognize the right for compensation to the more than 1 million Jews expelled from those Arab/Muslim countries between 1948 and 1970, then we can talk about a Palestinian right of return. The demand for a Palestinian right of return while ignoring the rights of double the number of Jews they expelled from their countries is certainly an indication of the Muslim world's unwillingness to accept Jewish sovereignty anywhere in the Middle East. If the ethnic cleansing of Muslims from Israel is a violation of international law, so is the Arab/Muslim ethnic cleansing of Jews from Arab/Muslim lands. No double standards.

If Zimbabwe is good enough for them (in there bigtimeBTW)-then Israel high tec is also fine

Totally agree. Israel enjoys special rights. The almost yearly calls for sanctions against Israel vetoed by the US, special access to military equipment, intelligence and technology and of course the official dollar amount of aid is much less than what americans give to Israel. How about the wealthy families or money siphoned from dual-listed public companies, etc...). Jobs and billions of dollars squandered from nasdaq-listed high-tech firms. There are of course the billions of dollars worth of Israel arms sold by third parties (mostly american intermediaries). What the hell is saudi arabia doing with our unmanned aircraft? How about the billions extorted from the Swiss banks? Israel is full of scheisters and if anyone thinks that we only receive 3 billion, then they are completely clueless. The unprecedented growth in the last 10 years doesn't make sense... unless of course America helped us.

Oh, now its Egypt who will never allow us to renounce American aid. You are delusional for sure.

why American taxpayers are supporting indirectly, through the tax-exempt contributions, a process that the government condemns. why the Americans' tax money is used to feed the settlers and shelter them? Every dollar that goes to settlements makes Middle East peace that much harder to reach.

US needs Israel in this region. W/O israel US will have to send here many more troops every time Arabs decide to kill each other and bomb each other oil fields. Israel never told US how to vote and this article was about Friedman false argument about what he called "don't do it with OUR money"

Israel would invest this money in the hi-tech development and get tens fold back from export and manufacturing

And good luck w/ Saudis, you fool.

You are smart, no doubt, using the status of some on like Friedman to propagate such distortion and poject falsehoods about the massive aid Israel receives from the US tax payers. You are certaily "Industrious" when it comes to propaganda for Israel. The real records, contrary to your calims, tell a completely different story. The average Israeli citisen received a little over $ 1000 from amercan taxpayers. You also ommit to mention other forms of aid, like to 10 billion a year in Guaratees, which the Congress (mostly bought by aipac money) usually forgive when the time comes. A USA Today research into US aid to Israel found that American Taxpayers gifted 1.5 Trillion Dollars to Israel since its creation in 1948. Mr. Industrialist: give that sort of aid to "Central Africa" and they would be a G9 not G8.