U.S. Democrats and pro-Israel lobbies slammed on
Thursday comments made by newly elected Republican
Senator and Tea Party representative Rand Paul who
suggested that the United States should halt all
foreign aid including its financial aid to Israel.
In an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on
Wednesday Paul said that “Reuters did a poll, and
71 percent of American people agree with me that
when we're short of money, where we can't do the
things we need to do in our country, we certainly
shouldn't be shipping the money overseas.”
When asked by Blitzer if he wanted to halt an
annual $3 billion that go to Israel, Paul replied
affirmatively, explaining that Egypt recieves
almost the same amount .
"You have to ask yourself, are we funding an arms
race on both sides? I have a lot of sympathy and
respect for Israel as a democratic nation, as, you
know, a fountain of peace and a fountain of
democracy within the Middle East. But at the same
time, I don't think funding both sides of the arm
race, particularly when we have to borrow the
money from China to send it to someone else. We
just can't do it anymore. The debt is all-
consuming and it threatens our well-being as a
country,” Paul said.
Pro-Israel Jewish lobby J Street issued a
statement in response to Paul's comments saying it
was “alarmed” by his suggestion.
“Senator Paul’s proposal would undermine the
decades-long bipartisan consensus on U.S. support
for Israel. Any erosion of support should concern
Israel’s friends on both sides of the political
aisle, and we call in particular on leaders and
donors in Senator Paul’s party to repudiate his
comments and ensure that American leadership
around the world is not threatened by this
irresponsible proposal," the statement issued by J
Street read.
National Jewish Democratic Council (NJDC)
President and CEO David Harris also condemned his
statement saying that “Paul's suggestion is
negligent, shortsighted, and just plain wrong,”
adding that “foreign aid in general, and aid to
Israel in particular, is crucial to Israel's
security and its pursuit of peace. Senator Paul's
statement is yet another illustration of how the
Republican Party continues to grow increasingly
out of touch with the values of the vast majority
of the American Jewish community."
Congresswoman Nita Lowey, Ranking member of the
Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign
Operations, called the initiative “shocking”.
“Israel is the only democratic nation in the
Middle East and one of our most stalwart allies”,
Lowey said. “A stable and secure Israel is in our
national security interest and has been a staple
of our foreign policy for more than sixty years.
Using our budget deficit as a reason to abandon
Israel is inexcusable. It is unclear to me whether
Rand Paul speaks for the Tea Party, the Republican
Party, or simply himself”.
Meanwhile, Republican Jewish Coalition Executive
Director Matthew Brooks issued a statement saying
"we share Senator Paul's commitment to restraining
the growth of federal spending, but we reject his
misguided proposal to end U.S. assistance to our
ally, Israel."
"Moreover, based on his comments in an interview
with CNN, we are concerned that Senator Paul may
not grasp the fundamentals of our alliance with
Israel. In 2007, the U.S. and Israel signed a
ten-year 'Memorandum of Understanding' (MoU) to
govern U.S. assistance going forward. A critical
aim of the MoU was to preserve Israel's
qualitative military advantage. Accordingly, any
concern that U.S. assistance might undermine
Israel's security is groundless," Brooks said.
