U.S. Foreign Aid to Israel

This report provides an overview of U.S. foreign assistance to Israel. It includes a review of past aid programs, data on annual assistance, and an analysis of current issues. The report will be updated annually to reflect developments over the previous year. For the most recent action on aid to Israel, see CRS Report RL33476, Israel Background and Relations with the United States by Carol Migdalovitz. For information on overall U.S. assistance to the Middle East, see CRS Report RL32260, U. S. Foreign assistance to the Middle East Historical Background, Recent Trends, and the FY2008 Request by Jeremy M. Sharp. Israelis the largest cumulative recipient of U.S. foreign assistance since World War II. From 1976-2004, Israel was the largest annual recipient of U.S. foreign assistance, having recently been supplanted by Iraq. Since 1985, the United States has provided nearly 3 billion in grants annually to Israel. Over the years, Israel has developed an advanced industrial economy which, according to the World Bank, places it among the top 50 richest nations in terms of per capita income between Cyprus and Slovenia respectively. With Israel becoming more economically self-sufficient, former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told a joint session of Congress in 1996 that Israels need for economic aid would be reduced over time. In 1998, Israel proposed gradually eliminating the 1.2 billion economic aid and increasing the 1.8 billion in military aid by 60 million per year over a 10-year period beginning in the year 2000. Subsequent appropriations for Israel included cuts of approximately 120 million in economic aid and increases of 60 million in military aid each fiscal year. Strong congressional support for Israel has resulted in Israels receiving benefits that may not be available to other countries.