Bush administration pledges Israel more than requested in loan guarantees
20 March 2003
Bush administration pledges Israel more than requested in loan guarantees
Please contact your members of Congress and tell them that at a time of economic trouble here in the United States it is unacceptable for the White House to pledge Israel $1 billion more in loan guarantees than Israel had requested (see BBC article below). Note also that it is irresponsible to provide supplemental military aid to a country less than a week away from killing an American citizen in the Gaza Strip.
Military aid to an occupying power responsible for the deaths of hundreds of civilians is antithetical to American principles. The $1 billion in supplemental military aid is better than the originally anticipated $4 billion, but is unacceptable for a country that regularly and flagrantly violates the Arms Export Control Act by using American weapons to kill civilians. Conditionality on the $9 billion in loan guarantees is better than nothing, but still avoids the fundamental point that the Bush administration should be vigorously challenging all settlement activities.
You can contact your members of Congress at 202-225-3121 and the White House at 202-456-1111 or president@whitehouse.gov
BBC
March 20, 2003
US offers Israel billions in aid
US military aid is a fashion accessory in Tel Aviv
The US has offered $10bn (£6.4bn) to Israel, to bail it out of the worst economic crisis in its history.
Israel’s Finance Ministry said the package consisted of $1bn (£640,000m) in direct military aid and $9bn in loan guarantees.
The 30-month-long Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation and the global economic slowdown have plunged the country into its third year of recession.
Israel – the biggest recipient of US aid worldwide – initially asked for $4bn (£2.5bn) in military aid and $8bn in loan guarantees.
The US will deduct from the loan guarantees any Israeli expenditure on settlement activities in Palestinian areas.
The package, which is part of President George W Bush’s war budget, still needs approval by the US Congress.
Economic troubles
US National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice pledged the aid to Israeli Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday.
“Rice told Netanyahu that the (Bush) administration decided to raise the amount of the guarantees by $1bn over what had been planned because the Americans were impressed by the economic plan that has been presented to the government,” Israel’s finance ministry said in a statement.
Israel’s economy contracted by 1% in 2002 after a 0.9% fall in 2001 and the budget deficit is running at 6%, twice the forecast for 2003.
Mr Netanyahu on Monday announced government spending cuts and reductions in the public sector wage to rein in the budget deficit.
Israel already receives $3bn a year from the US, mostly as military aid.
