[OrthodoxPresbyterian]

Have you considered that if Israel didn't have to spend 10% of GDP on defence (and up to 20% in the past) because it is surrounded by militant Arab states (some also receiving arms aid from the USA now and the USSR previously) then Israel could get along nicely without US aid.

If memory serves, every major Israeli victory (1948, 1956, 1967, 1970, 1973) was won without substantive US financial aid. Nixon sent some Navy fighter-planes to help out in 1973, but that individual case of military action doesn't justify making Israeli domestic policy a hostage of US foreign aid monies today. US financial aid was only initiated in size in 1979... as an incentive to give up the vast buffer of the Sinai.

Too bad. The Sinai woulda made an okay "Palestinian State". They could've called it "Philistia" or something.

[anapikoros]

Financial aide aside, Israel is still dependent on the US for political support particularly in the UN Security Council and as a buffer against any organised economic embargo.

That political support is probably a greater lever than the dollar support.

And in regard to your angst about being taxed - its not for the benefit of Israel but because of the interests of the US itself. The arms race in the Middle East is now being stoked by the US for the sole benefit of the US arms manufacturers - so look at it as subsidy to them to keep the assembly lines moving.

[rdb3]

Too bad. The Sinai woulda made an okay "Palestinian State". They could've called it "Philistia" or something.

This misses the entire point of the article. There never, ever was a Palestinian state.

Never.

The PLO is being used here to make Israel weak through land-grabbing. Why should a Palestinian state be made out of Israel's land?

Again, where are the PLO's Muslim brothers and why won't they help them out?