Israeli soldier in Palestine in 2007 carrying an American rifle, photo
America has provided up to 95% of the Israeli weapons that killed the 548 Palestinians in the last week. America also contributes military aid equivalent of a fifth of the Israeli army’s budget.
95% of Israeli weapons come from America
According to what David Miliband told Parliament in 2009 when he was Foreign Secretary, Britain provides “only” 1% of Israel’s weapons.
- 95 % of Israel’s weapons come from the US
- 2-4 % comes from the EU
- 1 % comes from Britain
David Miliband told Parliament:
Estimates suggest that Israel buys over 95 per cent. of its military requirements from the US. The EU accounts for a proportion of the remainder. The UK is estimated as accounting for less than 1 per cent. of total Israeli military exports.The US gives $3.1bn a year to Israel
It all goes on the Israeli military. The US gave Israel $3.1bn (£1.8bn) in aid money in 2012/13 and it’s all going on “Foreign Military Financing”. Much of that takes the forms of weapons directly.
$3.1bn US aid money goes to the Israeli army each year.
Israel is the biggest single recipient of the US’s international aid.
Table from the US’s International Affairs budget
The UK sells up to £6m of arms to Israel each year
In 2013 UK arms companies sold up to £6.27m ($10.7m) of arms to Israel including:
- components for military equipment for initiating explosives (2 licences)
- components for surface-to-air missiles
- components for targeting equipment (4 licences)
We don’t know the exact amount paid, but we do know that the British government licensed 113 military export contracts for British companies to sell arms to Israel in 2013. Totalled up the contracts make £6.27m. But it could be that not all of the licensed amount was sold.
A further £3m’s worth of military hardware from the UK also goes to Israel, for Israeli arms-makers to rework and package off to other countries.
The UK stopped giving aid to Israel in 1999.
Israel spends a lot of money on its army
Israel spends about $15bn a year on its army, so the US pays for one fifth of the Israeli army.
Even Israeli right-wingers are keen to cut the aid – not least because it gives Americans leverage over Israeli politics. And Obama and John Kerry have been less supportive of Israel than previous presidents.
Israel has one of the biggest proportions of military spending to GDP in the world. 6% of Israeli GDP goes on the military.
About 6% of Israel’s $242bn GDP goes on military spending. That puts it fourth behind Oman (11.5%), Saudi Arabia (9%) and Afghanistan (6.2%) in the World Bank’s world ranking of military spending.
The US spends 3.8% of GDP on military. Britain spends 2.3% of its GDP on the military.
Israel’s spending used to be even higher, in the 1980s defence spending reached a high of about 24% of GDP in the 80s, but has since come down significantly, following the signing of peace agreements with Jordan and Egypt.
Here's a sample of what American taxpayers' money buys
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