Comments
OP ED - The Israeli government has yet again deftly manipulated the United States into a war. This Administration followed the mandate of Israel and commenced a new war with Iran in February 2026, for which this Administration is now seeking $200 billion in unexpected financing. A generation ago, Israel helped manipulate the United States into entering the devastating Iraq war. During the intervening years, Israel has received large annual gifts from the United States. The costs of these efforts have contributed materially to the overall US national debt. Most strikingly, Israel continues to pursue policies in the Middle East that advance Israeli strategic interest and impair the interests of the United States. As such, our blind obedience to Israel has led to costs and expenses that equal $32,000 of national debt for every man, woman and child in the United States living today while making each of us less safe. This betrayal of America has been orchestrated by AIPAC, the leading Israeli lobby. AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee) has been allowed to operate without registration as a foreign lobby, and the consequences of this decision have proven disastrous. As American soldiers die and our treasury is depleted, we must take back our country from the devastating influence of the Israeli lobby.
First, the amount of aid to Israel since 2003:
U.S. Costs Related to Middle East Conflicts & Support
Direct Support
- Direct Aid: $100 billion
- Emergency Aid: $26.4 billion
Indirect Military Collaboration
- Iron Dome: $3.0 billion
- Arrow 2 & Arrow 3: $4.5 billion
- David’s Sling: $2.4 billion
- Ammunition: $4.4 billion
- Naval Deployments: $84.0 billion
- Intelligence Sharing: $2.3 billion
Subtotal (Indirect Military): $100.6 billion
Major Conflicts & Operations
- Iraq / Syria / Afghanistan Wars: $8.0 trillion
- 2025 Iran Attack: $15.5 billion
- 2026 Iran Conflict (current + requested): $250 billion
Energy Cost Impacts
- Iraq War Elevated Energy Costs: $308 billion
- Iran War Elevated Energy Costs (5-year estimate): $2.3 trillion
Grand Total
$11.1 Trillion
A staggering $11 trillion dollars has been given to Israel or incurred for the benefit of Israel since the Iraq War in 2003. This amount equals for 31% of our total US National Debt. Each American now owes an average of $32,000 for the money we borrowed to give to Israel and expenses incurred because of Israel. Shockingly, this means the US has gifted or suffered since 2003 an amount in excess of $1 million for each Israeli citizen now alive.
Although AIPAC’s lobbying may not be the sole reason for the US military actions in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan, AIPAC significantly impacted the discussions. AIPAC and associated neoconservative networks actively lobbied for the Iraq invasion. The key architects of the war (Wolfowitz, Perle, and Feith) had deep ties to Israeli strategic thinking. Perle’s “Clean Break” document written in 1996 explicitly advocated regime change in Iraq. AIPAC lobbied Congress relentlessly for the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force in Iraq. AIPAC also lobbied tirelessly for the 2013 Authorization for Use of Military Force in Syria. Similarly, AIPAC also supported the Afghanistan invasion; however, this action had far more grass roots support within the United States. Thus, while AIPAC cannot be seen as the sole motivating force for these actions, AIPAC pushed hard and materially contributed to each of the military actions.
The United States has interests in the Middle East that differ from those of Israel. The United States needs stability and predictability in the region. War and violence undermine those goals. By contrast, Israel has pursued a “failed state” policy for any neighboring country that does not submit to Israeli dominance. This policy has played out in Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Iraq, Libya, and Yemen. Israel now seeks to see Iran become a failed state. If Israel were to achieve this strategic goal, the United States would suffer immensely. A failed state creates a power vacuum that will be filled. China, Russia, and India have important stakes in Iran. The ultimate successor government or governments and the likely political upheaval to see a replacement in governance may well be worse than what Israel seeks to overthrow. At a minimum, this creates great and needless risk for America.
The obvious question: How could we have allowed so much money to be siphoned from America to pursue Middle Eastern policies that benefit Israel to the detriment of the United States?
The even-more obvious answer: AIPAC.
This constitutes the staggering tax we suffer because of AIPAC.
When considering AIPAC, we must expressly distinguish between Jewish people and AIPAC. Judaism is a beautiful and peaceful religion whose adherents have brought great advancements to humanity. AIPAC is a political entity designed to support Israel as a political entity. Israel has long attempted to conflate Judaism and Israel. By doing so, Israel attempts to tar the Jewish people with the Israeli misdeeds. This Israeli act insults the Jewish people and constitutes a grave act of anti-Semitism.
Our legislators have long recognized the risk to Americans when a foreign entity lobbies our elected officials. In 1938, just before the start of WWII, our government became concerned over Nazi propaganda. At the time, German agents operated in the US without disclosing their ties to Berlin. In response, our government enacted the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). FARA requires individuals and organizations acting on behalf of foreign interests to register with the Department of Justice and publicly disclose their activities. FARA sought to bring transparency to the lobbying. Among other things, FARA requires that “informational materials” (such as brochures, social media posts and articles) intended to influence the public or government must contain a conspicuous statement identifying that the materials are distributed on behalf of a foreign entity.
AIPAC’s evasion of FARA has a long history. In 1963, Senator Fulbright discovered that the American Zionist Council received funds from the Jewish Agency for Israel and was ordered to register as a foreign agent. In response, lobbying was moved to AIPAC, which indicated that no funding from the Israeli government or any foreign entity would be accepted. The Department of Justice allowed the reorganized entity to avoid registration.
AIPAC’s rationale for the FARA exemption only addresses one of two independent grounds that requires registration. FARA requires registration if the entity is funded by foreign principals OR acts at the “order, request, or under the direction or control” of a ‘foreign principal.” Whether AIPAC has fully complied with the “no foreign money” test remains an open and unaudited question. Because AIPAC has avoided registration as a foreign agent, AIPAC has sidestepped donor identification requirements. AIPAC underwent a major “involuntary audit” during the Lawrence Franklin espionage scandal. During this investigation, the FBI found no evidence of foreign funding. In 2021, AIPAC launched an affiliated Political Action Committee, which is regulated by the Federal Election Commission, and which has not detected receipt of foreign money.
AIPAC does, however, act at the “order, request, or under the direction” of the Israeli government. Since the early 2000s, AIPAC has never openly criticized the Israeli government policy. Indeed, AIPAC has publicly admitted that it supports the decisions made by the Israeli government. AIPAC essentially admits that its lobbying efforts respond to the orders, requests, and directions of the Israeli government. When AIPAC has disagreed, its disagreements have related solely to tactics and rhetoric—never to substantive policies of the Israeli government. AIPAC argues that since its American donors support Israel, AIPAC cannot “overrule” the Israeli government, particularly in matters of Israeli security.
The shift in AIPAC to a vassal of the Israeli government has occurred over time. In the early years of AIPAC, tensions between AIPAC and the Israeli government were manifest. This divergence came to its peak in the 1990s during the Yitzhak Rabin Era (tension over relationship with Bill Clinton) and the Shimon Peres Era (tension over the dovish policies of Peres). This willingness to deviate from Israeli government direction has since vanished.
Howard Kohr, the longtime CEO of AIPAC, has openly stated “AIPAC’s role is to support the policies of the democratically elected government of Israel. It is not for us to tell the Israelis what their security needs should be, or what risks they should take for peace.” (2008 AIPAC Policy Conference) This has become known as AIPAC’s “follow the lead” doctrine While rephrasing their fealty to the Israeli government as “deference to a democracy,” the quote itself leaves no room for interpretation: AIPAC operates at the direction of the Israeli government. AIPAC’s obedience to Israeli government policy has been confirmed since. In the mid-2000s Josh Block, former AIPAC spokesperson, endorsed the “no daylight” policy of AIPAC and stated, “Our job is to support the government of Israel, whatever its makeup.”
For decades, AIPAC has promoted the interests of Israel at the expense of America and has done so without the protections afforded by FARA. Israel has cost Americans an amount exceeding 30% of our national debt. Since 2003, Americans have given to or paid for Israel an amount that exceeds $1 million for every Israeli citizen These facts alone demonstrate how severely our political process has been undermined by allowing AIPAC to avoid compliance with FARA. We have and continue to pay far too high a tax because of AIPAC’s advancement of Israeli policy. We must take back the right for America to set US policies and remove the Israeli stranglehold on Middle East policy.
(J. George Mansour was born and raised in Missouri and has long been a student of political science and international relations. Mr. Mansour is now based in Austin Texas, where he remains an active investor in a variety of businesses.)
