Mother Jones
This week, the top headlines on GOP Sen. Rand Paul’s official website ostentatiously proclaim his support for Israel. On Monday, the lead item noted that Paul, a foreign intervention skeptic who’s been accused of isolationism by the Dick Cheney/neocon wing of the Republican Party, intended to introduce legislation that would end US aid to the Palestinian government until it recognizes Israel’s right to exist. The next day, Paul’s website announced that the senator had introduced the “Stand with Israel Act of 2014,” which would make all future aid to the Palestinians conditional on the new unity government—the result of the recent deal struck by Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip and does not recognize Israel, and Fatah, which is based in the West Bank—acknowledging the right of Israel to exist and to exist as a Jewish state. The bill was widely regarded as a brazen effort by Paul to get right—or somewhat less wrong—with the GOP’s foreign policy mainstream. But the reporting on Paul’s bear-hug of Israel left out a rather relevant fact: Not too long ago he was calling for cutting off funds to…Israel.
Just weeks after Paul was sworn in as a senator in early 2011, he proposed a budget plan that would end all US aid to Israel. The US supplies about $3 billion in military assistance to Israel annually. And Paul wanted to zero it out with all other foreign aid. He explained that he didn’t have anything against Israel: “I’m not singling out Israel. I support Israel. I want to be known as a friend of Israel, but not with money you don’t have.” He added, “I think they’re an important ally, but I also think that their per capita income is greater than probably three-fourths of the rest of the world. Should we be giving free money or welfare to a wealthy nation? I don’t think so.”
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