No time to waste. It's a lot of money but few Americans begrudge it. Most feel there is a direct connection between increased drug use and the explosion of crime that has so degraded the quality of life in America. Harder to understand, however, is the resignation demonstrated by Americans over the staggering annual cost of Israel to U.S. taxpayers.
People can differ over the total cost of Israel.
Friends of Israel would argue that America's financial mismanagement is not the fault of its Israeli client state. The truth, however, is that Israel has never repaid a U.S. government loan because Congress eventually forgives them all. U.S. government loans for that year. There is no reason to believe that the Israelis are about to renounce their practice of successfully lobbying Congress to forgive loans to Israel, and to have the U.S. taxpayer bear the costs of such loans until they are forgiven. Therefore, whatever legitimate differences may exist about how the cumulative total of U.S. aid to Israel should be compiled, there is no question as to the total in 1996 dollars of current annual American aid to Israel.