“Israel’s economy is booming. So why is the United States still giving it $3.1 billion a year? That’s the question on the minds of some of Israel’s biggest supporters in Washington.
“U.S. taxpayers have provided the Israeli military that invaded Gaza on Thursday night with more than $121 billion since the state’s founding, subsidizing about 25 percent of the tiny country’s annual defense budget in recent years.
“That subsidy has increased even as Israel’s economy has experienced a growth spurt and the country has discovered stores of natural gas.
“Indeed, President Obama last year pledged to begin early negotiations to extend the annual military subsidy to Israel for another decade and has sold Israel powerful bunker buster bombs and helped finance the Iron Dome missile defense system…”
