Fast fact #1: Between the years 1949 and 2010, the United States granted $61.3 billion in military aid to Israel. [1]

• Israel has received more military aid than all other recipients of foreign military financing (FMF) combined. [2]
• U.S. taxpayers foot the bill for this enormous, ongoing funding stream. The current level of military aid to Israel is $2,775,000,000 per year [3] which translates into $7.6 million per day. Yes, that’s seven million, six-hundred thousand dollars per day flowing to Israel from the United States Treasury. In this time of economic crisis and financial uncertainty for millions of Americans it is scandalous that American taxpayer dollars are being diverted from critical domestic priorities.
• According to Josh Ruebner, the National Advocacy Director of the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, “this same $3 billion earmark for Israel could be used instead to provide more than 364,000 low-income households with affordable housing vouchers, or to retrain 498,000 workers for green jobs, or to provide early reading programs to 887,000 at-risk students, or to provide access to primary health care services for more than 24 million uninsured Americans.” [4]

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[1] Sharp, Jeremy. U.S. Foreign Aid to Israel. Congressional Research Service Report RL33222, September 16, 2010, p. 24

[2] Department of State, Military Financing Account Summary, accessed 3/22/2010

[3] Department of State, Military Financing Account Summary, accessed 3/22/2010 http://www.state.gov/t/pm/ppa/sat/c14560.htm

[4] Ruebner, Josh. “U.S. can’t afford military aid to Israel,” Huffington Post, October 3, 2010