If you only read DU, you'd think the US gave Israel half the US budget.

[rockymountaindem]

As far as I know, the US gives Israel only 12 billion US dollars a year. That's a lot of money, but only worth, what, three weeks of the Iraq war? People really have their priorities out of whack around here. It's sad.

And as for what we get out of it, well, we gave that money to Israel in compensation for lost oil wells in the Sinai in 1979. So from that, we gained a great deal more stability in an unstable region during the Cold War, and we swung Egypt to our side. Considering they were then and still are one of the most powerful Arab countries, I'd say that's worth something. People need to get some perspective and calm the hell down. Besides, if they're bitching about giving money to Israel, then they should bitch to their friend Jimmy Carter, who gave it to Israel.

Sadly, this is the only place I feel safe to post this.