The source you used was a PREMIUM articleby Amir Tibon on Haaretz.com which we can't even read without being subscribers, so how can I tell if their math checks out?
If someone DOES happen to subscribe to this Jewish news site, please take screenshots of the entire thing to put here or some filehosting site like IMGUR, accompanied by the full text copied to pastebin or something along those lines, so the rest of us who don't want to support the Jews like you do can read Mr. Tibon's article.
Trump may very well have researched Israeli spending more than ANY of us, and gotten the 4.5 figure because he's aware of all the hidden aid they get disguised as other stuff. I'd still like to see if we can reach that total on our own via adding up the breakdown of services.
dude I just linked to that in did you even read the entire thread before posting?
I calculated 3.8668, if Trump is saying 4.5 perhaps he knows more about (((WRSA-I))) (see en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_reserve_stock#War_Reserves_Stock_Allies-Israel for a little info) than we do? Could that account for an additional 600 million?
Goddamn, what must it be up to by now?
If Trump was merely re-authorizing WRSA-I then it sounds like they didn't actually add any funds to it, but it was probably built up to immense levels in previous years, probably through separate actions. I would be very surprised if it was still under 2 billion.
How've I been BTFO? My central argument is that Trump has not signed anything promising the decade-guarantee of 38 billion which Obama's memorandum promised.
Trump has, so far, continued to supply Israel roughly the same amount as his predecessors (somewhere between 3-4 billion per year, let's say even 4-5 according to his 4.5 quip) which certainly makes it SEEM like he would sign the promise for 38, but since Rand Paul blocked it from getting to his office, Trump hasn't yet been put to that test.
Whether or not he does will depend on whether HOR approves and Senate re-approves (this time managing to wait out Rand's 2nd filibuster).
Trump continuing to give the billions to Israel is certainly horrible, but so far it appears he has the freedom to stop doing that at any time, such as for fiscal year 2019 (October 2019 to September 2020) which hasn't been funded yet. If Trump signed something promising to fund Israel for the next 10 years, not only would he lose the freedom to pull out of that, but so would whichever president follows him, since it would last until 2028.
It hasn't happened, so why are you acting as if Trump chose not to stop it? It never even got to his desk. Why should Trump get his hands dirty engaging AIPAC directly when he has Rand Paul to block it in the Senate and Ilhan Omar and all the oppositional democrats to block it in the HOR?
Trump doesn't need to play an active hand in this at all, he can simply act supportive until the last minute and then refuse to sign it if it gets to his desk. This is something we should watch for over the next 5 months, because if it's not signed by then, Israel loses its guarantee of continued aid and has to play it fast and loose year by year.
If you were a president planning to deny Israel aid in FY2019 would it make sense to reveal your power level early and give Mossad months to mobilize against you, or wait until the last possible second for them to realize that they're getting defunded?
Make no mistake, the bill Trump signed to end the government shutdown was a fucking catastrophe. The Republicucks and open-boarders democrats who put it together got everything they wanted, and there is no feasible way that Trump could have read the entire thing before signing it.
I think it is likely that Trump did so irresponsibly, either not caring about the outcome, or putting his trust in the wrong people to summarize the details of it. It is always possible that this might be a correct strategy if it means a solid 2020 run for him, at which point he can stop caring about appearances.