Claim: Israeli Military ‘Broke,’ Seeks Billions More in US Aid

Let em sink I say!

There fault for wasting all there money on offense weaponry for there little vendetta with Iran rather can concentrate of defense.

a reply to: xuenchen

Really, they can't afford it? I thought Israel's GDP was rockin and rollin? How, wait, what?

data.worldbank.org...

GDP (current US$)
$257.6 billion 2012

Population (Total)
7.911 million 2012

According to Wikipedia Israel spends about 18 billion on defense, en.wikipedia.org...

The US gives them about 2-3 billion a year and I think the UK is good for hundreds of million of pounds. Does the EU also send aid? Either way, with that GDP and foreign aid how are they broke? What the hell are they spending their money on?

The rockets of fail, the Qassam rocket that fly into Israel via those pesky terrorists cost about $800-1000 dollars per rocket, but Israels defense, namely the Iron Dome costs this much..

www.thedailybeast.com...

An Iron Dome battery runs $50 million, with each missile in the neighborhood of $40,000 to $100,000 (estimates vary). Even the more sophisticated rockets launched by Hamas cost considerably less.

These rockets have been firing off on a regular basis since 2001 and their number is only increasing. The good news is, not many people have been killed by them but hundreds have been injured along with property destruction. The most devastating effect of these rockets are the state of fear they create, with alarms sounding at any given time giving you precious seconds to get to a bunker.

So with number of rockets firing from Palestine increasing and Israel paying about $40,000 to 100,000 a rocket, perhaps the goal of Hamas and those who support them is to bankrupt the military. So maybe they really are going broke and this isn't just some fable to lobby for more funds.

Whatever the case, I found this ironic,

Israel ranks low in international giving

In the absence of a rebuttal by Israeli sources.....

This story could be an Iranian "opinion" piece.

a reply to: xuenchen

The first source in that article links to a Israeli news source stating the Israel is going through a budget crisis and that military exercise was canceled because of it.

www.timesofisrael.com...

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon and IDF chief Benny Gantz decided Thursday night to cancel a major upcoming national preparedness exercise in light of an ongoing budgetary crisis, according to a ministry statement

Read more: IDF cancels major exercise, says it's due to budget cuts | The Times of Israel www.timesofisrael.com...
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a reply to: Swills

Ah so it does indeed !!

That link went somewhere else last night.

They must have edited it.

Hmmm.

And, I think Israel has a big national debt problem also.

It's a "Butter-'em-up" job I think.

The Jewish people practically own most of the Media,financial organizations,corporations and mega businesses worldwide.They are among the richest most influential individuals in the world...But the tiny country that they call their homeland is one of the most bankrupt and it is always begging for financial assistance and military support...There is something so wrong with that picture.

a reply to: shapur

You realize that Jewish isn't a race or a national identity. It's a religion as much as Islam, Christianity, Buddhism or others. It's interesting how folks look at the religions of people and draw conclusions as if religion defines personal ambition and professional choices for careers.

Israel calling itself broke isn't something I buy into, only because they'd be inviting attack to actually say this kind of thing in public, IF it were as they say. However..they're one of the most embattled places on Earth and that's been the case for a couple thousand years now. A few...really..for everyone who has come along seemingly wanting to kill for that piece of dirt.

Still... Jews all over the world are Jews all over the world. They aren't little extensions of the Israeli state by necessity through more than a common Faith to what Israel founded itself on, IMO.

a reply to: xuenchen

I say we send them a bill instead.

Its insulting to say the least.

How about NO!

a reply to: Wrabbit2000

Apparently it wasn't an embattled place before 1948, in fact it was rather a pleasant place and well run where people, regardless of their religion lived together. Perhaps it was the forced expulsion of many of the people who had lived there for time immemorial and theft of people's homes and belongings that started the current trend of making Palestine/Isrel exactly what it is today.

a reply to: Shiloh7

Really? You figure the fighting over that land started in 1948?

Timeline of the Control and Conquest of Jerusalem

That covers 4,500 BCE to present day. Prior to the Israelis it was the British. Prior to that, the Ottomans. Going back, the Muslim Caliph, the 1st and 2nd Crusades, the first Muslim Caliph, then we're back to the Byzantine Christians and Rome before that.

This puts a little color to the otherwise sad tale of history endlessly fighting over that piece of sand and soil, but endless it has been. Israel in it's current form (it's had that before as a Jewish Kingdom, too) is only the most recent of the procession of combatants since at least 1,200 BCE. So.. 3,200 years of near constant contest over the issue, give or take a bit.