War is expensive business, as Israel is finding out. Its attack on Gaza City is expected to cost 25 billion shekels, or about $7.5 billion. This is in addition to the 204 billion shekels already spent, or about $60 billion. Other countries would be worried, but the Netanyahu government seems unconcerned, and is ready to continue the assault till the so-called elimination of Hamas. He is not determined, but bankrolled. The USA’s current programme of military aid, signed in 2016 under President Barack Obama, provided $38 billion over 10 years. That means the US taxpayer is bankrolling the genocide, because with that kind of money coming in, the least of Israel’s worries during this war is how to pay for it. The US is not providing money but equipment but bombs, and not just against Gazans but against Iran. It is this support which enables Israel to continue what can only be described as a murder spree.
It is an irony that the USA has a President who wants to trim excessive spending, shutting down vital departments in the name of ‘government efficiency’, but is one of Isrtael’s most ardent supporters. If it had not been for this over-generous US support, Israel could not have sustained the genocide financially. With a GDP of $580 billion, adjusted for inflation, the economy is smaller than it was before the war. Also, Israelis are voting with their feet: there has been a net loss 0f 83,000 people in 2024; which does not include departures after 7 October 2023, or after January 1 this year. This is not so much a shrinking population as a demographic disaster.
The coming of this report coincides with the UN General Assembly, which is expected to be seized of the Gaza crisis. It has been preceded by a rash of recognitions of Palestine by countries which were once counted supporters of Israel. However, have those recognitions led to any sanctions of Israel? The UK, for example, still sells Israel arms, and supports the Israeli economy by trading with it. Recognition merely placates a section of public opinion, but does not stop the genocide, which has crossed 63,000 people.
