America Should Stop Foreign Aid

In the beginning, the State of Israel’s contributions to world development was considered great; however due to social and political factors that ended in war the current aid is only a fraction of what it used to be.

Israel has used tactics to defend itself, and to get the international “right to exist”. Israel has used security tactics to feel safe, but these tactics are endangering the civil and human rights of the citizens of Israel. “...No country has a recognized God-given or otherwise right to exist, only responsibilities under international law and moral responsibilities…”

Foreign aid is something that is provided by donating governments to countries in need, mostly third-world countries. Foreign aid is allocated for two extremely broad categories, economic development and military aid. Under these categories there are specific uses for foreign aid like, health, humanitarian assistance, democratic elections and even protection for forests. There is debate about foreign aid being a waste because of corrupt governments, which gives the United States speculation whether it should continue to provide foreign aid and how much. This was a popular topic in the 2012 election between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. It would be most beneficial to the United States to maintain foreign aid levels while having conditions

“The United States recognizes the provisional Government as the de facto authority of the new State of Israel.” These are the words of President Harry Truman from a speech he gave shortly after Israel became a recognized nation in 1948. Consequently, the political leaders of the United States have brought America on a rough journey to the current state of foreign policy and relationship with Israel. Since 1948, the United States’ active position in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has seen very little change or progress towards achieving settlement between these two nationalistic states. In the last 65 years, the majority of U.S. presidents repeated mistakes made by their predecessors in office, and this in turn has had little

Should the United States increase foreign aid? This is a topic that has come up many

and U.N. This causes these entities to impose sanctions and restrictions on these countries which in turn creates a more hostile environment to the global community (Bruno, 2011). While the U.S. combines efforts with Israel to gain intelligence on the support and aid of terrorist sponsoring states such as Iran and Syria, it gives the U.S. leverage in its other efforts against these states; such as Iran attempting to enrich Uranium causing further NATO sanctions. Additionally it could provide the U.S. insight on what other terrorist organizations Iran is sponsoring internationally, which would provide benefit to U.S. intelligence collections at home and abroad. Looking forward Israel will remain one of the U.S. largest assets in the region and due to its large military presence and the partnership of trade and intelligence in the region will greatly benefit the U.S. intelligence efforts in the Middle

Is America the world's policeman? Currently it would seem so, with the United States sending unheard of support to countless countries. America has been doing this task for about 60 years, more or less. America spends millions of dollars for the safety of countries that can't help themselves. Obviously America cannot afford to support so many countries and itself. Either it will run out of money or it will run out of men. Policing the world takes a lot of manpower. America is dragging down its own future. If America supports everyone else when they are down, will they do the same for America in the future? America, if it keeps wasting its resources to protect everyone else, will eventually fail (Snyder).

The impact of variety of lobbying groups on the US foreign policy has been an issue for debate for a long period. Since US foreign policy inevitably shapes the entire globe, numerous lobbying groups recognize its power and tend to shape their agendas in favorable manner. Despite variety of interest groups in US, particularly focused on Washington DC, Jewish lobby is deemed as the most successful. In the context of the foreign policy, the US presence in the Middle East and democracy-oriented reforms recently define the attempts and goals of the Israel lobby. Since the Middle East has been critical and strategically important, lobby’s task is to influence not only the US government but also the public perception on the invisibility of interests. In addition, Israel’s strategic position during the Cold War or alliance in the War on Terror may be justifiable reasons for further mutual cooperation between two countries. Due to the Israel’s isolation in the Middle East and constant perceived threats from Arab countries, US has been its greatest ally as well as diplomatic and material supporter. Moreover, direct causal relationship between US and Arab countries such as Iraq, Syria or Iran has developed mostly due to close ties with Israel as their direct enemy. Therefore, the US policy on terrorism issues, nuclear development or similar issues in the region is

Poverty in the United States has been on the rise for many years, especially after the 2007 recession. The nation 's poverty rate is currently 15.1% which is the highest since 1993. Ever since the recession, the poverty rate has gone up 2.6% from 2007 through 2009. In 2006, 36 million Americans were living under poverty but that number rapidly rose to 46 million in 2012. The United States continues to provide billions of dollars in foreign aid to other countries even though 46 million Americans are living under poverty. The United States should provide less funding for international foreign policy because it is statistically proven that money spent on foreign aid is not as effective as money spent on programs in the United States.

During the late 1700s, Adam Smith and Thomas Malthus each entered their predictions on the future of the world’s economies into the history books. In his writings in An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Smith theorized that national economies could be continuously improved by means of the division of labor, efficient production of goods, and international trade. In An Essay on the Principle of Population, Thomas Malthus predicted that the sustainable production of food in relation to population was vital to the mere existence of national economies in order to ensure an able labor force. Smith believed that the success or

For the America, maintaining the “special relationship” with Israel is in line with its interests. First, due to the special geography, Israel can serve as an important backing for the U.S. to preserve its dominance in the Middle East. Second, a powerful Israel with strong military capacity can help the U.S. fight against Islamic extremists and terrorists. Third, supporting Israel is in accord with the broadest conception of the American national interest --- supporting like-minded societies, because US-Israel relationship is based on moral obligation, shared cultural and political values and common strategic interests. Therefore, Israel constitutes “the most enduring and the most immediate interest” (Pollock

As one can see this issue directly impacts the Middle East because it drives all actions that develop there. Whatever attacks that come from this area are more than likely directly related the Arab-Israeli conflict. Recently a survey conducted in EU of 7,515 people in 15 EU countries said “yes”60% of the time to the question of if Israel presents a threat to peace. This percentage put Israel ahead of Iran, North Korea, and the U.S. each of which had a 53% “yes” vote. This survey, not knowing the sampling population, reflects a general notion that Israel is a threat to global security. This may or may not be true, but what is true is that the Arab-Israeli conflict is a threat to regional security, and some of the threats

The Middle East has long been home to very deep-rooted conflict. For too long, the citizens of the Middle East have lived in the central of death and fear. The animosity between few, takes the hope of hundreds. The Arab-Israeli-Palestinian conflict is most notably the largest issue preventing peace in the Middle East, but it is by no means the only issue. The issue of bankrolling and foreign aid are also issues preventing peace; because the U.S provides so much funding and foreign aid to certain countries, it is in some sense encouraging them to continue acting the way they act now and not change for the better of the region. It is also making the U.S look biased and can potentially cause issues for America in the long run, if they haven’t already. There is also the conflict of the Persian Gulf; the importance of these “new” resources and how it could affect the world economy and also the balancing of powers in the Persian Gulf; The U.S and the Middle Eastern nations will need to work to together to bring about security and stability into the Persian Gulf and hopefully it can overflow to the Middle East as well.

I grew up in a world with little insight into the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. I knew that it was an issue emblazoned in thousands of years of history and that, for the most part, each side blamed the other side for the conflict. However, rom what I did know prior to the panel, I had been unable to view the conflict in the Middle East from either a pro-Israel or a pro-Palestine light—both groups have committed atrocities, and both groups have been the targets of said atrocities.

The Palestinian-Israeli conflict has been an issue that definitely defined The U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Israel is an ally of the U.S. that receives a lot of foreign aid from the states. It’s a priority for the U.S. to protect Israel so it’s obvious where its’ loyalty lies. Israel also has good relations with Egypt; Egypt is crucial to the security of Israel, so that makes them an automatic ally that receives quite a bit of funds as well. It’s an on-going issue that makes pointing out allies clear as well as seeing who the top