USA and Israel Sign War-Deal

Israel spends American money designing expensive toys, but buys from the USA the cheapest available goods The Deal On December 10, 2012, the Pentagon notified Congress that a substantial weapons deal has been agreed upon between the USA and Israel. The latter needs to refill its depleted arsenal after the brutal Operation Pillar of Cloud. During it, the Israeli Air Force made over 1,500 attacks on Gaza with American precision weapons. Israel will buy 6,900 bombs and GPS-guided tail kits, called Joint Direct Attack Munitions, which are built by Boeing. The latter will provide also 3,450 Small Diameter Bombs. Overall, the deal amounts to a $647 million sale and includes a broad array of bombs ranging from 250 pounds to 2,000 pounds. Other participating contractors are KDI Precision Products, ATK, Kaman Dayron, Lockheed Martin Missile and Fire Control, General Dynamics, Elwood National Forge, and Raytheon Missile Systems.

Obama Mural in Myanmar, during his 2012 visit America’s Unbearable Inconsistencies

JDAMs loaded onto a Multiple Ejector Rack in a B-52H Stratofortress

The Background In cumulative terms, Israel has received more American military assistance than any other country. Moreover, unlike other countries that receive military aid and are required to spend the money in the USA, Israel spends 25% on its domestic military projects, mainly its antimissile systems. Between 1987 and 2001, the USA provided an average of $1.8 billion annually in the form of Foreign Military Sales, Foreign Military Financing and funds to support research and development. In January 2001, a bilateral memorandum of understanding was signed, and the aid was increased to $2.4 billion annually while the $1.2 billion of economic aid would be eliminated. This was done by increasing by $60 million per year of the defense aid while the economic aid was decreased by $120 million per year.

In 2007, the aid was increased again to an average of $3 billion per year for the following ten-year period (starting at $2.550 billion for 2008, growing by $150 million each year). The package started in October 2008, when the economic aid to Israel ended. Former U.S. President George W. Bush assured Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that the U.S. would help keep a “qualitative advantage” to Israel over other nations in the region. This is the basis for sporadic aid given from time to time, mainly to the abovementioned antimissile program.

The Cheat

The expenses of Israel during the last Gaza operation were astonishing; its Ministry of Defense published in the local media that the attacks on Gaza cost $400 million per day. The antimissiles used weren’t cheap, beginning at $50,000 per unit. They were designed to destroy missiles that cost less than $100 per unit. The system is still being developed and has proven to be not remarkably accurate. The IDF answer to the problem was firing more than one antimissile at any detected missile, raising the costs even more. One doesn’t need to be a math wizard to understand that Israel must save costs somehow.

Even the limited data available is enough to understand Israel’s strategy. First, the antimissile system’s budget originates in the American aid, thus actually the cost to Israel is much less than its nominal production cost. Israel pays its fully owned missile producer RAFAEL with American money. Moreover, Israel must spend the money in the same year it is given; otherwise it is lost. This is the cruel mechanic of the world’s largest war machine. Then, the fine print of the new deal reveals another side of Israel’s strategy.

Arrow long-range antimissile | Israeli-American joint venture

 

Here is where the data is a bit sketchy, but still good enough. A few days ago, Iran captured an American drone produced by Boeing, the main company to benefit from the new deal with Israel. This drone was at the lower end of American unmanned aerial vehicles and exemplifies what Boeing is best at: inexpensive technology. Israel spends American money designing expensive toys, but buys from the USA the cheapest available goods. In this case, it is the abovementioned Boeing’s Joint Direct Attack Munitions, which are a transition technology capable of upgrading dumb, cheap bombs into GPS-guided devices. This is cheaper than purchasing bomb designed to be guided. Most of the current deal is made of these contraptions.

American Moral

There is no way of phrasing this differently: the USA and Israel have signed a deal on Israel’s next war. Like Operation Pillar of Cloud, it will be conducted mainly with American attack weapons. The technology to be used is a transitional one, indicating that both, the USA and Israel, are getting rid of their arsenal of old dumb bombs. America preaches peace, its president is even the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, but on the ground, America consistently supports and carries out attacks on the meek in the name of Democracy and Human Rights.

President Obama, Prime Minister Netanyahu, please let me steal another second of your valuable time and remind you of two verses: “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God,” and “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” President Obama, Prime Minister Netanyahu, you don’t own the Earth, you don’t have a monopoly on righteousness. Thus, instead of warring the world, let me dare you, “let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works.” Start step by step; first, try treating your people honestly; then spread goodness worldwide. As of now, we see only your evil.