Israel To Taiwan, Countries That Receive US Military Aid (image@IDF)
Washington will restart the shipment of 500-pound bombs to Israel that were held up earlier this year after a pause on their export. The halt came after Israel has expanded its brutal offensive on Rafah, despite International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) asked Tel Aviv, not to attack the southern city of Gaza.
President Joe Biden paused a single shipment of bombs after Israel ordered the evacuation of Rafah on May 6 and the Israeli military began “targeted” ground operations one day later.
Since the beginning Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, US has not only allowed weapons sales to Israel. It has also provided large amounts of other military aid – both financially and, it is believed, through supportive military operations.
In April this year, US Congress approved a major military aid to both Israel and Ukraine. A total of $95bn included $60bn (63 percent) for Ukraine, $26.4bn (28 percent) for Israel and $8.1bn (9 percent) for the Asia Pacific region relating to a possible threat from China.
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US’ foreign aid include both economic and military aid. It is the total amount of the said two aid sent to countries outside US. According to Foreign Assistance.gov, a non-partisan US organisation which makes foreign assistance data available to the public, military aid accounted for 14 percent of US foreign aid in 2022.
Most of the foreign aids usually falls under the categories of economic and humanitarian assistance, including monetary aid to support longer-term economic development in poorer countries, emergency aid needed due to natural or human-induced disasters, and financial aid meant to support US political interests – usually in the form of military aid or military support.
In 2023, foreign aid to Israel from Washington has mostly been military aid, whereas, aid to other countries such as Zimbabwe and Afghanistan, was 100 percent economic aid.
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On May this year, Stacy Gilbert, a Department of State official who served in the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration resigned from the Biden administration due to its refusal to accept that Israel has been blocking humanitarian assistance to Gaza. The resignation was prompted by a national security memorandum justifying the billions in military aid being sent to Israel.
Who received most military aid form US
Israel: Since Israel was established in 1948 – after forcefully displacing the Palestinians from their land, marking the Nakba (the catastrophe) – it has been the largest cumulative recipient of US foreign aid, receiving about $300bn (adjusted for inflation) in total economic and military assistance.
Over $220bn (74 percent) of that has been in the form of military aid, while the remaining $80bn (26 percent) has been economic aid. Since 2008, Israel has received mostly military aid with economic aid accounting for less than 1 percent of total US aid to Israel.
Ukraine: The country received large amount of military aid from the US. In March this year, a $300m emergency military aid package was approved to replace depleted military stock in its continuing war with Russia. Since the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war, US Congress has approved five aid packages for the country totalling $175bn. The most recent legislation was passed in April 2024.
Egypt: Washington started to provide military aid to Egypt since the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty, in the name of shoring up Egypt’s defensive capabilities and countering “terrorism”. Egypt received $1.3bn of US military aid in 2023.
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Recently, US has started to withhold military aid from Egypt, citing the country’s human rights record. In September, the US withheld $85m of the $320m total military aid that had been set aside for Egypt.
Taiwan and Lebanon: According to Al Jazeera, Biden administration stated that the $85m of military aid withdrawn from Egypt would be redirected, with $55m earmarked for Taiwan and $30m for Lebanon.
Bulgaria: Under the security partnership signed between US and Bulgaria, in April 2006, named as US-Bulgarian Defense Cooperation Agreement, Washington has provided more than $238m to Bulgaria over the past five years to support military training, cybersecurity and military equipment upgrades.
(with inputs from Al Jazeera)
