It’s the taxpayers’ money
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Give me Liberty
Rodger Williamson
“Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all.” (George Washington’s Farewell Address – 1796)
“Peace, commerce and honest friendship with all nations… entangling alliances with none.” (Thomas Jefferson’s Inaugural Address – 1801)
“We are not spending the federal government’s money; we are spending the taxpayer’s money.” (Richard M. Nixon’s State of the Union Address – 1973)
“To compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors, is sinful and tyrannical.” (Thomas Jefferson’s Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom – 1786)
So far our Congress, and our president, has sent $76.8 billion of U.S. taxpayer dollars to aid the Nation of Ukraine in their defense of their homeland against their invading neighbor Russia.
In a recent poll, Democratic support for arming Ukraine fell from 61% in May to 52% this week, while Republican support fell from 39% in May to 35%. One third of Democrats and more than half of Republicans in the most recent poll agreed that Ukraine’s problems “are none of our business, and we should not interfere.”
In contrast, the U.S. commitment to aiding Israel has long-standing roots. The United States has given Israel more than $260 billion taxpayer dollars in combined military and economic aid since World War II, plus about $10 billion more in contributions for missile defense systems like the Iron Dome.
In 2021, U.S. obligations to Israel amounted to $3.31 billion. For 2022, the Biden administration requested and received $3.3 billion in Foreign Military Financing grants (FMF) for Israel and $500 million in missile defense aid. The administration also requested and received $5 million in Migration and Refugee Assistance humanitarian funding for migrants to Israel.
Meanwhile, in 2022, President Biden announced new contributions of U.S. taxpayer dollars totaling $316 million to support the Palestinian people, and just this last month, the Iranian government was given access to $6 billion of their own funds that had been frozen since the Iranian Revolution in 1979.
The funds are to be used for humanitarian purposes as a part of a wider deal that allowed five Americans who had been imprisoned in Iran to go free. The money had been held in restricted accounts in South Korea, before being transferred via banks in Europe to restricted accounts in Qatar. While the Iranian government claims it can use the money however it pleases, the Biden administration has repeatedly stressed that the funds are narrowly limited to non-sanctionable purchases like food and medicine and that they will be subject to strict oversight.
And then this past week, as Israelis were wrapping up the seven-day-long Jewish festival of Sukkot on Saturday, sirens echoed across the country just before dawn, and citizens soon realized it was not a false alarm. A full-fledged surprise attack was being waged from the air, sea and ground by Hamas militants.
Thousands of missiles fired from Gaza streaked through the sky and began raining down on indiscriminate targets in Israel, sparking terror and leaving hundreds of bodies in the streets of cities and buildings decimated. Simultaneously, hundreds of armed fighters of the terrorist group, many on motorcycles, followed bulldozers that breached fences separating Israel from Gaza and charged into cities, taking Israeli soldiers off guard and gunning down citizens.
The lightning-quick, multi-pronged ambush also included dozens of Hamas militants in motorboats storming Israeli beaches and engaging in fierce firefights with Israeli forces. Other armed Hamas attackers swooped into Israel through the smoke-filled skies on paragliders.
As those under attack rushed to safe rooms and bomb shelters, groups of terrorists infiltrating the county marched into towns, opening fire on homes and killing Israeli citizens at random. Militants burst into houses, shooting residents begging for their lives and taking others – including women, children and the elderly – hostage, driving the terrified captives back into Gaza as many of them screamed for help. More than 900 people, both troops and citizens, have been killed. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared that “Israel is at war.”
Deputy national security adviser Jon Finer said that the United States believes Iran is “broadly complicit” in the Hamas attacks in Israel, but said that the U.S. does not have “direct information” linking these attacks to Iran at this time.
Tehran, which has commended the operation, has denied involvement. Hamas, on the other hand, had recently returned to Tehran’s orbit and has been openly communicating with Iran and its paramilitary allies about its militant goals. Israel says Iran supports Hamas to the tune of some $100 million a year.
The U.S. State Department in 2021 said that the group receives funding, weapons and training from Iran, as well as some funds that are raised in Gulf Arab countries. Add to this, Iran just received $6 billion of its frozen money, and anyone with common sense must wonder whether there is a connection to the attack upon Israel just one month later.
While any loss of life is horrific, the losses experienced by the Israelis pale in comparison to the losses by Ukrainians of more than 100,000 troops killed and more than 40,000 civilians killed thus far in the ongoing Russian invasion.
In 2022, the United States budgeted $38 billion for foreign aid spending, but lest we not forget the words of the three different U.S. presidents that I opened this piece with. Why is our Congress, and our president, sending even $1 U.S. taxpayer dollar overseas when we are currently more than $33.5 trillion in debt, with our own southern border unsecured, and a whole list of things that Americans could better use that money for instead?
Or better yet, why has our federal government over-collected $38 billion from taxpayers to give out to foreign nations?
Like the waning support for funds to Ukraine, I believe that Israel’s problems, as well as the world’s problems, “are none of our business, and we should not interfere,” but if anyone wants to start a GoFundMe for Ukraine, or Israel, or any other foreign nation that could use some financial support, I’d probably support that.