Israel Faces $250 Million Slash in Aid

[Scurrilous]

AIPAC Keeps Quiet as Supercommittee Collapse Triggers Cuts

<snip>

"The failure of the supercommittee appointed by Congress to reach a deficit-reduction deal on the federal budget could cost Israel a cool $250 million a year.

For the first time in decades, Israel could be facing a reduction in United States aid, due to automatic across-the-board budget cuts scheduled to take effect in January 2013 as a result of the supercommittee’s failure.

Despite this dire forecast, Israel’s strongest defender in Washington, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, has yet to publicly speak out against the cuts. Sources say that the Israel advocacy lobby may fear a backlash if Israel is singled out for special treatment in the face of broad cuts favored by both Democrats and Republicans.

The November 21 announcement by members of the congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction that they had failed to reach agreement on a plan to cut the national debt by $1.5 trillion over the next decade set in motion an automatic process called sequestration.

It requires Congress to make cuts, divided equally between defense and nondefense spending, in order to reach the required debt reduction."

Read more: http://www.forward.com/articles/147213/#ixzz1fTEIl3Kn

[leveymg]

1. That's like two F-35s. Not a lot of money cut there.

[King_David]

2. Thanks for posting this,tough times demand tough actions.

:thumbsup:

[bemildred]

3. This should be interesting is several ways.

Do the cuts stand?
If they do, what effect does that have in Israel?
If they don't who leads the charge and with what rationale?
Either way, what are the domestic political consequences, if any?