The $36 Billion Bargain: Strategy and Politics in U.S. Assistance to Israel

Contrary to popular belief, massive U.S. aid to Israel is not the result of vigorous lobbying by American Jewry, contends Organski in this dispassionately argued polemic. A political science professor at the University of Michigan, he maintains that U.S. support for Israel flows from fear of Soviet military expansion and widening influence in the Middle East. When the U.S.S.R. armed Israel's radical Arab opponents, the U.S. had no choice but to escalate assistance to Israel, according to Organski. America, also arming the Arab states for fear they will turn to the Soviet sphere of influence, ``is pushed into giving more help to Israel.'' The spiral of waste in human lives and wealth continues, but ``assistance to Israel has been cost-effective,'' Organski argues, in terms of shoring up U.S. security interests in the Middle East. (July)