Support for Israel Has Cost US Taxpayers
At Least $22.76 Billion in One Year
Dave DeCamp / Antiwar.com
(October 7, 2024) — Support for Israel’s onslaught in Gaza and other escalations in the Middle East has cost the US at least $22.76 billion since October 7, 2023, Brown University’s Costs of War project said in a paper published on Monday.
Costs of War reached the number, which is a very conservative estimate, by combining the cost of US military aid to Israel and the cost of related US military operations in the region, including the war against the Houthis in Yemen.
The report found that the US government has approved at least $17.9 billion in military aid to support Israeli military operations in Gaza and elsewhere in the region over the past year, significantly more than any other year since the US began providing military aid to Israel in 1959.
The paper notes the difficulty in tracking US military support for Israel due to the Biden administration’s lack of transparency. “For instance, the Biden administration has made at least 100 arms deals with Israel since October 2023 that fell below the value that would have triggered the requirement to notify Congress of the details,” the paper reads.
Chart from the Costs of War report created by Stephen Semler.
The $17.9 billion also does not include a major $20.3 arms deal that the State Department approved for Israel in August since the money will be spent in the coming years. It’s also unclear at this time how much of the $20.3 billion, which includes an $18.8 billion deal for F-15 fighter jets, will be covered by US military aid.
The paper details how the US has provided Israel with weapons for decades. “The US has been Israel’s top arms supplier for over five decades. Israel is the largest cumulative recipient of US aid in the world since World War II, and it is in the midst of a ten-year, $38 billion military aid agreement, which was negotiated under the Obama administration, covering the fiscal years 2019 to 2028,” the paper reads.
The report says the US has spent at least $4.8 billion on its own military operations in the Middle East, including $2.4 billion on intercepting Houthi missiles and drones and launching missile strikes on Yemen. Another $2.4 billion for spending on US operations in the region was included in the $95 billion foreign military aid bill President Biden signed into law in April. The paper adds another $50-$70 million in additional combat pay for US military personnel.
The costs for the US taxpayer will continue to rise as there’s no end in sight to Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza or its bombing campaign in Lebanon. The risk of a full-blown war with Iran is also extremely high as the US is coordinating with Israel on its plans to attack Iran in retaliation for the Iranian missile barrage that hit Israel last week, which was a response to several Israeli escalations.
The US bombing campaign in Yemen has also failed to deter the Houthis, who have vowed they would only stop their attacks on shipping if there were a ceasefire in Gaza.
