Congress Ups Aid to Israel

Tucked away into a bill approved by the U.S. Congress in early November—in a way that bypassed normal Congressional procedures—was a provision which once again boosted aid to Israel beyond what the Administration itself had been requesting.

With scarcely any debate and no prior authorization from any Congressional committee, an amendment calling for the increase was added on to a $300-billion-plus "continuing resolution", or stopgap funding measure, that had to be voted by Congress in order to keep a number of key sectors of the government operating normally.

In the amendment, proposed by Congressmen Clarence D. Long (D-Md.) and Jack Kemp (R-N.Y.), was an extra $125 million for Israel—bringing to $2.61 billion the total that Israel will receive in fiscal 1984—and a lot more in the way of fringe benefits.

For example, the money approved for Israel will be provided on terms even more generous than in preceding years. In military aid, Israel will receive $1.7 billion split equally between an $850 million forgiven loan (i.e., a grant) and $850 million in the form of a low interest, repayable loan. Last year it got the same total allocation, but with only $750 million in the form of a grant and $950 million in loans which have to be repaid. In economic assistance, Israel will now be getting $910 million entirely as grant, compared with $785 million last year.

Also approved as part of the amendment was an unprecedented provision allowing Israel to spend up to $550 million of its U.S. military assistance to produce its own fighter plane, called the Lavi. The provision reads that "up to $300 million shall be made available (to Israel) for research and development activities in the United States and $250 million shall be made available for the procurement of defense articles and defense services in Israel for the Lavi program."

Critics of the measure charge that only once before has the U.S. government allowed its military assistance to be spent by a recipient on the development of its own weapon's program—and in that case, Israel was also the beneficiary. This was in 1977, when the U.S. allowed Israel to use $107 million to produce the Merkava tank. In general, foreign countries are required to spend U.S. military assistance funds in the U.S. on American-made, off-the-shelf weaponry. What will the U.S. do, these critics ask, when in the future other nations friendly to the U.S. request similar exemptions. At the same time, some U.S. weapons-makers are admonishing Congress for hastening the day when Israel's Lavi will be able to compete with American firms for markets.

Normally, aid programs are subjected to Congressional and public scrutiny through a series of budgetary committee and subcommittee hearings and mark-up sessions. Specifically, the process would normally have begun in the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which first authorizes foreign aid expenditures before funding levels are determined by the Appropriations Committee. This process would then be repeated by parallel bodies in the Senate. However, protesting at the way the Lavi funding was handled, Congressman Jerry Lewis of California—himself a member of the House Appropriations Committee—told the House: "I must say... that I am very sorry that this question was not discussed in the subcommittee as it might have been. Indeed, the public should know about this, and it should be a part of public debate."