US and Jew'Bama extends $4bn Israel loan program

Started by CrackSmokeRepublican, October 30, 2012, 01:43:22 AM

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CrackSmokeRepublican

US extends $4bn Israel loan program

US President Barack Obama speaks on the phone with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in the Oval Office in this September 28, 2012 White House handout photograph. (Photo: Reuters - Pete Souza - The White House handout)  <$>

Published Thursday, October 25, 2012

The United States agreed on Wednesday to extend its $4 billion loan guarantee program to Israel until 2016, a gesture that shows continued commitment to the Jewish state less than two weeks before the American presidential elections.

The move allows the United States to provide up to $3.8 billion in future loan guarantees, as part of a $9 billion commitment made by the US in 2003.

The program was meant to expire this year.

The American Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner and Doron Cohen, the director general of the Israeli finance ministry, signed the agreement during a US-Israel Joint Economic Development Group meeting in Washington, according to Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

"The loan guarantees agreement attests to the special economic relationship between Israel and US," said Yuval Steinitz, Israel's finance minister.

"I welcome the growing cooperation between the two countries, especially their treasuries," Steinitz added while thanking Geithner.

The loan guarantees are independent of $10 billion in annual US military assistance to Israel and joint US-Israel missile defense projects. In 2007, US President George W. Bush agreed to a 10-year military aid package costing $30 billion.

According to a March 2012 report by the Congressional Research Service, Israel is "the largest cumulative recipient of US foreign assistance since World War II." The report alleges that Israel had received $115 billion from the United States to date, most of it in the form of military assistance.

The report also stated that US financial assistance to Israel is typically delivered within the first 30 days of the fiscal year, whereas most other recipients receive aid in installments.

Scandal surfaced in Washington earlier this month after 15 church leaders sent a letter to Congress asking for an investigation to ensure American military aid to Israel was not used to commit human rights violations against Palestinians.

The Jewish Council for Public Affairs responded by canceling a long-planned interfaith meeting and by issuing an outraged public statement, in which JCPA President Rabbi Steve Gutow accused the enquiry of being part of "relentless attacks on the Jewish state" and a sign of "vicious anti-Zionism that has gone virtually unchecked in several of these denominations."

Presidential incumbent Obama and his contender Mitt Romney have competed in displays of loyalty to the Jewish state over the course of the election campaigns, mentioning Israel dozens of times during the last presidential debate on Monday, which centered on foreign policy. The debate was devoid of criticism of Israel's repeated human rights abuses against Palestinians.

Obama has hailed Israel as "a true friend and our greatest ally in the region," later adding that he "will stand with Israel if they are attacked." Meanwhile, Romney has expressed similar sentiments, his website going so far as to call Israel "a beacon of democracy and freedom in the [Middle East]."

(Al-Akhbar)

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http://english.al-akhbar.com/content/us ... an-program


Comments
Submitted by 2cents (not verified) on Sat, 2012-10-27 21:38.

100 million Americans on some form of welfare, and this POS sends 10billion to foreigners cuz they line his pockets. So who's the traitor?
After the Revolution of 1905, the Czar had prudently prepared for further outbreaks by transferring some $400 million in cash to the New York banks, Chase, National City, Guaranty Trust, J.P.Morgan Co., and Hanover Trust. In 1914, these same banks bought the controlling number of shares in the newly organized Federal Reserve Bank of New York, paying for the stock with the Czar\'s sequestered funds. In November 1917,  Red Guards drove a truck to the Imperial Bank and removed the Romanoff gold and jewels. The gold was later shipped directly to Kuhn, Loeb Co. in New York.-- Curse of Canaan