Israel's Campaign for $10 Billion More: Far-Out Fantasy or Attainable Dream?

By Paul Findley

Israel's campaign to win $10 billion in housing guarantees from the US Treasury has a never-never-land character to it. On its face, it would seem to be an unattainable objective, so far out that no sensible US politician would support it.

Consider these facts:

Israel has already received $5.6 billion in foreign aid from US taxpayers this year alone. That includes the usual $3.2 billion in direct benefits, a sum that is now considered by Israel's supporters in the United States as a matter of simple entitlement, like food stamps or a Social Security check. It also includes such substantial add-ons as $650 million as compensation for Israel's "pain and suffering" during the Gulf war, about $700 million in a special grant of military equipment, $400 million in housing guarantees that Congress approved last summer, plus several items of smaller value.
America has its own massive housing problem. Many destitute people have no homes of their own. Some of them sleep in streets, under bridges, and in cardboard cartons. The cost of building houses in America has risen steadily, putting home ownership out of the reach of most families. A recent Census Bureau report declares that only nine percent of Americans now renting can afford to buy a house. Young families are hit especially hard. Even with both the husband and wife employed, home ownership is but a distant dream.
State and local governments in the United States are financially strapped. The Illinois state government, for example, has cut back sharply on funds for education, highway improvement and welfare services and has even had to delay paychecks for state employees.
The federal government itself is in the worst plight in history, overspending income by more than $200 billion a year.
On both a family and an aggregate basis, the Israeli request for $10 billion in housing guarantees is itself staggering.

Israel says it needs the guarantees to provide housing for one million new immigrants from the Soviet Union. Assuming immigrant families of four, that means an outlay of $40,000 for each family—a sum that would make the average American family jump with joy.

President Bush wants Israel to stop building Jewish settlements in the occupied territories and hints that the housing guarantees will not be granted unless Israel halts construction of the settlements.

The Israelis try to take a high moral ground. Their argument against linkage: it would be " immoral " for the United States, by putting conditions on the housing guarantees, to "close the doors to Jews who could be saved, " as occurred 50 years ago at the time of the Nazi pogrom against Jews in Europe.

Many Soviet Jews do not want to emigrate to Israel.

The argument is nonsense. Life for Soviet Jews is difficult, but so is life for everyone else there. But the argument plays on the emotional "holocaust" theme that never seems to leave America's television screens. Viewers can be sure TV schedules in the next few weeks will have more than the usual reruns of "Exodus" and other films that keep alive the horrors of the Nazi death camps in Germany and Poland.

The argument against linkage is reinforced by the equally nonsensical claim that US pressure brought about the exodus of Jews from the Soviet Union, and that the US Treasury therefore has the duty to see that the emigrants are well housed. The truth is that the pressure would never have occurred in the absence of incessant demands by US national Jewish organizations.

Finally, Israel's supporters offer the argument that the guarantees would actually cost US taxpayers nothing, citing Israel's "perfect record" in living up to its financial commitments to the US government. If its financial house were actually that sound, Israel would have no need for loan guarantees. Of course its house is not sound. Due in great part to its socialistic character, Israel's house is in terrible shape.

The truth is that Israel has kept its record "perfect" only by looking to Congress for more handouts as interest bills come due. If the new housing loan guarantees go through, US taxpayers can expect to keep shoveling money to Israel to cover losses in the years ahead.

Israeli spokesmen try to put the issue on a high moral ground. Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel's deputy foreign minister, cites America's "humanitarian responsibility." Housing Minister Ariel Sharon, the chief architect of the controversial settlements policy, declares that it is "unthinkable [for the American people] to repeat what happened 50 years ago, when they closed their gates to Jews who could have been saved."

The simple but little-known truth is that many if not most Soviet Jews do not want to emigrate to Israel. They prefer to go to the United States, or to Germany or other European countries.

Behind the scenes, Israel's government is striving mightily to keep Soviet Jews from going anywhere but Israel. Instead of trying to "save" Jews from life in the Soviet Union, they are trying to get the United States, Germany and other countries to intensify, institute or retain strict limits on the immigration of Soviet Jews. Israeli officials recently appealed, unsuccessfully, to Moscow to discriminate against Jews by refusing them passports. This would prohibit Soviet Jews from traveling anywhere outside Soviet borders except directly to Israel.

So much for "saving" Soviet Jews. Israel's goal is to "save" Soviet Jews from life anywhere except in Israel itself.

While these maneuvers are kept as quiet as possible, Israel laments the great burden of accommodating the "flood" of immigrants from the Soviet Union, and the need to locate most of them in the occupied territories.

The drumbeat seems to be working.

Vice President Dan Quayle, acting on instructions from President Bush, recently had the unpleasant job of notifying Israel that "linkage" between US guarantees for housing and the Israeli policy of building illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied territories is inevitable. In short, Israel must stop building the settlements if it wants US approval of the housing guarantees.

The reaction was quick, sharp and effective. Israel's Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, under pressure from Knesset members even more radical than he, declared that it is "unconscionable" to put conditions on financial aid to Jewish immigrants to Israel. Deputy Foreign Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that the US has "a humanitarian responsibility" to finance even the housing built in the occupied territories.

In the US, Jewish leaders who have occasionally cautioned Israel against its policy of building Jewish settlements in the occupied territories are nevertheless lining up against linkage.

Henry Siegman, executive director of the American Jewish Congress, although opposing new settlements "at this time," says the US should not "punish the Soviet Jews" by withholding loan guarantees.

David Harris, executive director of the American Jewish Committee, agrees, and declares, "If there are those who are looking to split the American Jewish community on this issue, they will be sorely disappointed."

The protests drew what seems to be a lame retreat on the part of President Bush. Asked at a news conference about linkage between housing guarantees and the Israeli program of building illegal settlements, Bush responded, "I don't think it ought to be a quid pro quo."

In a normal political world—that is, a world devoid of Israel's grip on Congress—the $10 billion housing guarantee would be a non-starter. No congress member wants to be re-elected would even consider voting yes.

But where Israel is concerned, never-never-land becomes accessible. US Rep. Toby Roth, a Wisconsin Republican, forecasts approval for the loan guarantee "unless President Bush and Secretary of State Baker are willing to take a strong stand. " Even with the White House and State Department twisting congressional arms against the housing bill, Roth is not sure it will be defeated.

Former Illinois Congressman Paul Findley is chairman of the Council for the National Interest. His best-selling book, They Dare to Speak Out: People and Institutions Confront Israel's Lobby, is available from the AET Book Club.