Author should identify the true sponsors and backers of this weeks of disruptions, it all goes back to Clinton's attempt to overthrow Bibi 1998,with a replay, sponsored by self hating Soros, backing the same tire Clinton covert operatives, NGO's etc...helping Israeli lefties to stage an event accelarating Bibi's downfall. It did not work out that well.

Every one knows that humen's life is not cheap, nevertheless different people require money for various things and not every person gets big sums money. Thus to receive some loan and just car loan will be a right solution.

The FY2012 US Budget proposal is $3.7 trillion:
Discretionary spending $1.242T (34% of total),
Interest on debt $242B (6% of total)
Mandatory spending $2.276T (60%)

Defense if $696B from Discretionary includes Iraq and Afghanistan, but does not include many military expenditures like VA benefits, 900 off-shore military bases, CIA "adventures", etc. So, Sol, your 4% estimate is misleading.

The US "defense" department (should return to correct label of war department) hides its full/true cost so as not to scare the public. They cannot even pass an audit because of their mismanagement or need to hide their adventures. War is good business, so we keep doing it even though the US hasn't won a war since WWII - what fools we are. I wish we'd stop supporting Israel until they get out of the West Bank!

Where does Sol Stern get "4%" for U.S. defense spending?

delacticommodity writes, "Isreal's suuccess has nottin (sic) ta do with the fact that it sucks the US taxpayer dey [dry?]."

Israel gets some $3 Billion out of a $58 billion dollar US aid budget. That comes to less than 2% of Israel's GDP. And by the way, Egypt, the Palestinians, Jordan, and Egypt collectively get *more* US aid than does Israel. How are *they* doing, and what does the US get from them in return besides grief?

How clear! Wonderful journalism.

Why end a useful and interesting article with a sardonic and unhelpful crack?

Zelda Harris

Fred, when you write “Israel initially was a nation with a strong left of center need for all its citizens.” I am not sure what you are referring to. Israel was dominated by the Left during that time because the Labor party was the strongest and best organized. The parties of the Right (the Revisionist Zionists) were much smaller and far less cohesive. The conservative parties finally got their act together in 1973 when they formed Likud.

Also, as already mentioned, the U.S. only spends 4% of GDP on defense. Do you know how much we are spending on Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security in this year’s budget? It is close to 57%.

It is astounding that you are calling for more spending on social services. Not only that, you seem oblivious to how much spending has increased under Obama. Where have you been the past few years?

Ray, the vast majority of that assistance is military. In other words, it is material produced in the U.S, by U.S. companies and U.S. workers. It really is a subsidy for our domestic defense industries. And it is a very small percentage of GDP. Sure it gets people like “delacticommodity” flustered. I wonder why…

Daphna Leaf didn't just "wake up" one morning and start these protests. There is a clear money trail back to the New Israel Fund and other hard-left NGOs.

This has caused many here to question the motives of the protesters, many of whom come off as whiny, privileged Tel-Aviv princes and princesses.

Sorry, but you're wrong - the demonstrations in Israel are quite problematic. Here's why:
1) They are organized by a very suspicious group of extreme left-wing activists who are trying hard not to be noticed for who they are. It's rather reminiscent of how communists would try to take over American labor unions in the bad old days.
2) The demonstrators have no clear demands. Instead of making workable policy suggestions, their "leadership" promotes a rhetoric of "Netanyahu must go" as if he were an Arab despot rather than the leader of a democracy who can only be replaced via legitimate political process, such as elections.
3)Much of the local press has abandoned any semblance of objectivity in reporting on the demonstrations. YNET, for instance, has basically served as a newsletter for the protestors - one more instance of it's no-holds -barred campaign to install Tzipi Livni into the Prime Minister's chair at any cost.

I like this article. The solving of grievances and complaints is through protest arguement and debate as Mr stern has wrote.
I hope that this time round the Israeli PM will listen and act upon the grievances of his people unlike last time when his premiership was merely an american inspired PR stunt.
The Knesset The PM and his cabinet have much work to do to continue the welfare and well being of Israelis just as we do on the international stage.
I hope my post doesnt sound like some grim forboding. Israel to me seems like a democracy the way it should be

wonderful article,Sol!!!!!!!!!!!

FYI

Fred: "Like the US, with its focus upon military spending at the expense of domestic needs, the gap between the Haves and Have Nots has grown steadily."


Actually, higher military spending in the US correlates with a smaller gap between rich and poor. For instance, the gap was much smaller in the 1950s and 60s when US military spending was 10 percent of GDP, as compared to only 4 percent today.

Nice try, though.

A chicken in every car and pot in every garage - now!

Isreal's suuccess has nottin (sic) ta do with the fact that it sucks the US taxpayer dey. Nottin at all. Such a neocon lie thsi article is.

The only piece I've seen that explains the origins of the movement

If Israel's economy is as good as you say it is, i.e. 5.6% unemployment, why is the USA giving giving so much foreign aid to a well off country? I'm pro Israeli, but it doesn't make sense to me!

Israel initially was a nation with a strong left of center need for all its citizens. The nation moved steadily to the right, propelled it seems, because of the constant threats and assaults of its neighbors. But today, that threat seems much less central and so the left is now asserting itself to pay attention to domestic needs.

Like the US, with its focus upon military spending at the expense of domestic needs, the gap between the Haves and Have Nots has grown steadily.

Israel's leaders may do something to try to change this domestic need (I suspect the US is not yet ready to), but note that well over a million Israeli citizens have left that nation to settle elsewhere, and they have not gone simply because of the tensions brought about by Arab threats to security.