Israel's $48 Billion War Bill Leaves It at Mercy of Bond Markets

[David__77]

When a team of Israeli technocrats that calls itself the “government’s CFO” scans the battlefield with the war against Hamas almost seven weeks in, it sees an accounting ledger with billions of debits stacking up.

Their job is to find the money to help pay for it all.

As Israel’s military pushed deeper into Gaza with the goal of uprooting Hamas following its Oct. 7 attack, the Finance Ministry’s accountant general department was fine-tuning forecasts and updating the government’s running tab in real time by logging the costs of every missile interceptor, every flight and every day of deployment by reservists.

…

Israel will likely be on the hook for two-thirds of the total costs, Leader said, with the US paying for the rest.

https://archive.is/gULCY

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-23/meet-israeli-government-s-cfo-managing-the-fiscal-shock-of-the-gaza-war?embedded-checkout=true

[Aussie105]

1. Why, America?

Why is America part financing this war?

[David__77]

2. Hopefully the proposed funding is never passed.

[MMBeilis]

3. Recently read that in 1996 Netanyahu told our Congress that Israel would not need US aid in ten years. Just....

.....looked for this information and it turns out that he was talking about economic aid. His plan was that as economic aid decreased, military aid would go up accordingly. Thanks a lot Bibi. Time for us to shut off aid and expl;ain that we've never been fans of theocracies.

https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/israel-s-bold-initiative-to-reduce-u-s-aid-1996

[no_hypocrisy]

4. Money is fungible.

That is, Israel would take its funds from military, apply it to its economy, and request the deficit to be funded by the US.

[MMBeilis]

6. I've wondered about this before. Isn't US aid to the Israeli military mostly US military equipment?

[Igel]

7. A lot.

Don't know specifics.

At the same time, some is stipulated by treaty.

And Israel has a pretty good arms industry. It's in a neighborhood that wanted them dead for decades, and still isn't sure that they belong there.

[DoBW]

5. Israeli billionaires

Thirty Israelis were listed on the Forbes 2022 billionaires list; I haven't read anything about them kicking in; The U.S., Israel, UK, even aholes like China, Iran etc . ... always underwriting the parasites

[Igel]

8. Ah. So you think of Israelis--Jews--as parasites. Really? n/t