U.S. Aid to Israel and the U.S.-Israel Relationship

Alexis de Tocqueville:

"The inevitable result of public charity (is) to perpetuate idleness among the majority of the poor and to provide for their leisure at the expense of those who work." (From de Tocqueville's Memoir on Pauperism)

US Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire Henry Morgenthau Jr.:

"Zionism is the most stupendous fallacy in Jewish history. I assert that it is wrong in principle and impossible in realization; that it is unsound in its economics, fantastical in its politics and sterile in its spiritual ideals ... I speak as a Jew." (All in a Lifetime, Heinemarm, 1923)

Albert Einstein:

"I should much rather see reasonable agreement with the Arabs on the basis of living together in peace than the creation of a Jewish state." (Out of My Later Years, 1967)

Charles Babcock:

"Israel gets one-fifth of total U.S. development, economic, and military aid; 45 African countries share one-fifteenth of the aid package. This disparity is more apparent in terms of wealth and population. Israel, with 4.2 million people and a per capita income of $5,300 a year, gets more than $700 per person in U.S. aid. Egypt, with 50 million people and a per capita income of less than $700 a year, gets about $50 per person. The 45 African nations, with a combined population of 460 million and average per capita incomeof $646, receive $2.13 per person in U.S. aid." (The Washington Post, Aug. 5, 1986)

Senator Charles McC. Mathias:

"The question of American aid to Israel is no longer greeted by vocal protest in Arab nations, but rather by a silence that goes beyond anger. It is anticipated that the United States will continue to provide military and economic aid in large sums and political aid in places such as the United Nations. Arab nations seem to think that argument and discussion of this subject is not worthwhile and are close to a state of apathy with respect to it. But the appearance of apathy should not be taken as evidence of lack of strong feeling." (Middle East Trip Report, submitted to Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, April, 1986)

Donald Neff:

"It is not too extreme at this point to say that Israel could not long exist in its present state of well-being without U.S. support. Yet what has the United States received in return from Israel? It is difficult to find a single instance in which this 'strategic ally' has contributed anything but woe to the United States during the Reagan administration. While it accepts American aid, it rejects America's advice. It has repeatedly, almost arrogantly, spurned any U.S. effort to bring about a solution of the conflict .... At the very least, the current careless practice of simply handing over economic aid money to Israel without any controls at all should be halted. Israel, like other countries, should be held accountable for using U.S. financial resources in a prudent and constructive way. The strong suspicion now exists that Israel employs some of this generous aid in the West Bank to solidify its occupation ... It is time for Washington to look after its own interests and its own ideals," (American-Arab Affairs, Summer, 1986)

Robert S. Greenberger:

"US budget austerity ... likely will produce resentment toward Israel as it defends its position as the largest recipient of American foreign aid .... Some Israel supporters worry that the downward trend could accelerate when Mr. Shamir becomes prime minister under Israel's coalition agreement. Mr. Peres's Labor Party accepts the notion of trading territory for peace with its Arab neighbors, but Mr. Shamir's conservative Likud bloc opposes plans to relinquish control over the disputed West Bank of the Jordan River." (The Wall Street Journal, July 14, 1986)

Israeli editor Yosef Goell:

"The Lavi project was sold to the country (Israel) with the argument that it was essential for Israel to become independent of the not-too-dependable goodwill of the U.S. with regard to a life and death matter of the equipment of its first line of defense, the air force. What developed was a project that will saddle the economy with an unbearable burden and that will intensify, not reduce, our dependence on the Americans." (The Jerusalem Post, June 29, 1986)

Former Egyptian diplomat Tahsin Bashir:

"The Americans have, to some extent, taken Egypt for granted. What is at stake here for the United States is whether a country like Egypt, which is developing an open policy and aligning itself with the United States, will be allowed to go under. There is a perception that the US will give us enough to keep us from going under, but not enough to do more than float, barely breathing." (The Christian Science Monitor, July 7, 1986)

Samuel Lewis, former U.S. Ambassador to Israel:

"American political leaders in this era have winked at or ignored a host of Israeli practices in the U.S. related to technology and information which with any other country would have led to prosecution," (Quoted in the Washington Jewish Week, July 17, 1986)

The Boston Globe:

"Judging from recent disclosures, Israel seem at times to have been as eager a recipient of US secrets as the Soviet Union ... Stopping espionage, maintaining a balance in relationships between Israel and its Arab neighbors, and avoiding even a hint of Israeli interference in formulation of US policy are all crucial to American interests in the Mideast." (Editorial, August 28, 1986)

Harold Saunders, former Assistant Secretary of State:

"There's a cancer growing on the relationship. You can say there is more money being given to Israel, more cooperation ... so it looks closer. But it can't be close if it is mindlessly close. It is closer when people on both sides are grappling with the tough issues," (Quoted in The Washington Post, August 5, 1986)

The Jerusalem Post

"Israel is entitled to special consideration from the US, even to the extent of benignly overlooking borderline Israeli activity in America." (Quoted by Rowland Evans and Robert William, The Washington Post, July 30, 1986)

William Quandt, former National Security Council Mideast Adviser:

"You could argue that from the time Mr. Peres became Prime Minister to early this year was a real high point in U.S.-Israeli relations. There was a strong desire on the Reagan administration's part to help Peres gain strength. They genuinely preferred him to the alternative and wished him success. (But) as we get further into this year, it's clear that things have peaked." (Quoted in The Wall Street Journal. July 14, 1986)

Geoffrey Kemp, former National Security Council Mideast Adviser:

"The honeymoon we've enjoyed with Peres, during which strategic cooperation bloomed, may indeed be over." (Quoted in The Wall Street Journal, July 14, 1986)

Rabbi Elmer Berger

"Americans generally are uninformed on the issues in the Palestine problem. American Jews are worse off. They are subjected to more misinformation than the average American." (Oct. 13, 1986)