I like Israel, but I draw the line at …
where we keep sending them borrowed money:
As Americans struggle through the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, this emergency supplemental appropriations bill sends $660 million to Gaza, $555 million to Israel, $310 million to Egypt, $300 million to Jordan, and $420 million to Mexico. Some $889 million will be sent to the United Nations for so-called "peacekeeping" missions. Almost one billion dollars will be sent overseas to address the global financial crisis outside our borders. Nearly $8 billion will be spent to address a "potential pandemic flu" which could result in mandatory vaccinations for no discernable reason other than to enrich the pharmaceutical companies that make the vaccine.
In fact, even if it weren't borrowed from China (instead, it would be robbed from Americans), I would oppose this charity of perpetual aid to foreign nations, including Israel.
I like Israel. As one of the few secular, democratic states in the Middle East, I have every reason to like it (as for the Palestinian conflict, well, plenty blood has been spilled on both sides, so while I don't think Israelis are blameless, I don't think they bear all the blame). But I like Israel primarily as one of the few allies the U.S. has in the Middle East. We (or rather, our defense contractors) sell weapons to them, and they use these weapons against our common enemy. We mutually benefit (as no American lives need to be sacrificed in this way).
But why are we sending continued "aid" to these "allies"? Are our allies beggars who continually need our charity? What kind of allies are they? If they do need charity, must we do it with money collected at gunpoint (which some call "tax")? Can't we simply encourage private citizens to contribute voluntarily and willingly to this charity?
Marshall plan at least had some justification behind it: those European nations were nearly completely ruined after two world wars, while United States mostly escaped unscathed—at least as far as industrial infrastructure is concerned. We could even say that we had moral duty to help them the same way we helped them in the two world wars we fought for them—by using coercion and effectiveness only the sovereign state could bring upon its citizens.
More than 60 years after the last world war, I am not sure if any of those justifications stand.