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On US support for Israel
Economic: According to the authors, Israel is "the largest total recipient since World War II" of US aid. "Total direct U.S. aid to Israel for this period amounts to well over $1.4 trillion from 1973 - 2003 dollars. Israel receives about $3 billion in direct foreign assistance each year, which is about one-fifth of America’s foreign aid budget." The authors claim that "This largesse is especially striking when one realizes that Israel is now a wealthy industrial state with a per capita income roughly equal to South Korea or Spain."
The authors claim that "Israel is the only recipient of US aid that does not have to account for how the aid is spent." According to the authors, this makes it "virtually impossible to prevent the money from being used for purposes the United States opposes."
Diplomatic/political: The authors write, "Since 1982, the United States has vetoed 32 United Nations Security Council resolutions that were critical of Israel, a number greater than the combined total of vetoes cast by all the other Security Council members together." They further posit that the US also "blocks Arab states’ efforts to put Israel’s nuclear arsenal on the International Atomic Energy Agency’s agenda."
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