May 23, 2012 at 3:14 pm
In 1975, the US Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, secretly
brokered a deal in which the United States of America guaranteed
Israel’s oil supply in the event of a crisis. The 1975 Israel-United
States Memorandum of Understanding (see the full text below) required
the United States to maintain an oil reserve for Israel and guarantee
the shipping of that oil to Israel in times of emergency.
This deal has cost the United States more than a hundred billion dollars since it was first enacted. The most troubling aspect of this deal was not the cost however, but the stipulation that in case of an oil emergency in which both the US and Israel needed oil, the US would give its oil to Israel. Section 3 (b):
This agreement very well could have starved tens of thousands of Americans in order to save Israelis if an oil crisis would have taken place.
President Nixon seriously doubted whether Kissinger could be impartial on Middle East policy saying, “Anybody who is Jewish cannot handle” Middle Eastern policy. He was proven right in 1973 when Kissinger purposefully withheld news of Israel’s attack on Egypt and Syria during the Yom Kippur War for three and a half hours so Nixon would not intervene in the conflict. Kissinger then tried to cover up his treason by telling Nixon’s Chief of Staff to lie to the media and say that Nixon was informed immediately after the attack. This unfortunately was a pattern. On October 7, a telephone transcript between Nixon and Kissinger revealed that Kissinger was purposefully keeping relevant information from Nixon regarding Soviet perspectives on Middle East policy. And on October 23, Kissinger secretly drafted a letter to the Soviet leader without Nixon’s consent, and even raised America’s military readiness level to Def Con 3 without discussing it with the president.
Although the US gave up some extremely costly and strategic concessions as a result of Kissinger’s 1975 memorandum, there was absolutely no tangible benefit for the United States of America in the agreement. As a result of these facts, the 1975 Israel-United States Memorandum of Understanding was kept secret from the American people. In fact, the only reason the agreement is even known today is because the New York Times uncovered the agreement, which forced the government to quietly put it into the Congressional records. The 1975 Israel-United States Memorandum of Understanding was quietly renewed in 1979 for another 10 years, and may still be in effect today. Given the governments propensity to keep this arrangement secret, it is impossible to find out if it was secretly renewed for a third or fourth time. This treasonous pattern of sacrificing American interests for Israeli interests has not been altogether uncommon in American politics.
Most Americans are unaware of the fact that the US guarantees much of Israel’s public debt. For the financial layman, if Israel defaults, Americans will be on the hook to pay off their debt. And what does America get out of this arrangement? Absolutely nothing.
These guarantees are part of the $15-$20 billion that the American government gives Israel every year in indirect and direct aid. This money has continued to flow during the 2008 financial crisis, even while growing numbers of poor Americans are living in abject poverty. To compound matters, Israel is in little need of aid, having weathered the financial storm better than almost any nation on the planet and maintaining its status as a wealthy country with more than 10,000 millionaires. One could argue that Israel is also one of the least deserving countries to receive this aid with their treatment of the Palestinians closely resembling the South African apartheid. As unbiased former CIA officers like Michael Scheuer and authors like Mearscheimer and Walt acknowledge, not only does the US-Israel relationship provide absolutely no strategic benefit to America, it actually hurts America’s standing around the world. If sacrificing the economic prosperity and security of Americans for the citizens of another nation isn’t treason, it would be hard to imagine what would qualify.
The treason does not stop there unfortunately. The Israel lobby in America, AIPAC, was largely responsible for America’s disastrous war with Iraq, as former AIPAC officials later admitted. A reasonable person must come to the conclusion that the Iraq War was unquestionably for Israel’s security. Saddam Hussein had no weapons that could reach the US, or close ties to terrorists that would have been willing to perpetrate a major attack on the US.
Many Americans foolishly believe the Iraq War was for oil, but America produces 50% of its own oil and gets the vast majority of the rest from Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Nigeria. If the US wanted energy security it could have spent 1/50th of the money it spent invading Iraq and built an oil pipeline from Canada. As most knowledgable Middle East experts will admit, Israel was extremely supportive of an American war with Iran, and the same man responsible for the 1975 oil guarantee, Henry Kissinger, advised George W. Bush to commit more troops to the effort.
While it is understandable for Kissinger to have an affinity for his fellow Jews in Israel, it was unacceptable for him to use his political position to sacrifice the energy security of America for Israel. For that matter, it is wholly unacceptable for American members of AIPAC to lobby their government to give America’s resources to another nation, or to lobby for a war on behalf of another nation.
These people should be held accountable for their actions.
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| Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger |
This deal has cost the United States more than a hundred billion dollars since it was first enacted. The most troubling aspect of this deal was not the cost however, but the stipulation that in case of an oil emergency in which both the US and Israel needed oil, the US would give its oil to Israel. Section 3 (b):
If the oil Israel needs to meet all of its normal requirements for domestic consumption is unavailable for purchase in circumstances where’ quantitative restrictions through embargo or otherwise also prevent the United States from procuring oil to meet its normal requirements, the United States Government will promptly make oil available for purchase by Israel in accordance with the International Energy Agency conservation and allocation formula as applied by the United States Government, in order to meet Israel’s essential requirements. If Israel is unable to secure the necessary means to transport such oil to Israel, the United States Government will make every effort to help Israel secure the necessary means of transport.This is oil that would have been used to heat homes during the winter, power ambulances, and provide the fuel for tractors to farm America’s agricultural lands. To put this into perspective, in the event of an oil crisis, the fuel that Americans would need to heat their homes, get them to work, and produce food would go to Israel.
This agreement very well could have starved tens of thousands of Americans in order to save Israelis if an oil crisis would have taken place.
President Nixon seriously doubted whether Kissinger could be impartial on Middle East policy saying, “Anybody who is Jewish cannot handle” Middle Eastern policy. He was proven right in 1973 when Kissinger purposefully withheld news of Israel’s attack on Egypt and Syria during the Yom Kippur War for three and a half hours so Nixon would not intervene in the conflict. Kissinger then tried to cover up his treason by telling Nixon’s Chief of Staff to lie to the media and say that Nixon was informed immediately after the attack. This unfortunately was a pattern. On October 7, a telephone transcript between Nixon and Kissinger revealed that Kissinger was purposefully keeping relevant information from Nixon regarding Soviet perspectives on Middle East policy. And on October 23, Kissinger secretly drafted a letter to the Soviet leader without Nixon’s consent, and even raised America’s military readiness level to Def Con 3 without discussing it with the president.
Although the US gave up some extremely costly and strategic concessions as a result of Kissinger’s 1975 memorandum, there was absolutely no tangible benefit for the United States of America in the agreement. As a result of these facts, the 1975 Israel-United States Memorandum of Understanding was kept secret from the American people. In fact, the only reason the agreement is even known today is because the New York Times uncovered the agreement, which forced the government to quietly put it into the Congressional records. The 1975 Israel-United States Memorandum of Understanding was quietly renewed in 1979 for another 10 years, and may still be in effect today. Given the governments propensity to keep this arrangement secret, it is impossible to find out if it was secretly renewed for a third or fourth time. This treasonous pattern of sacrificing American interests for Israeli interests has not been altogether uncommon in American politics.
Most Americans are unaware of the fact that the US guarantees much of Israel’s public debt. For the financial layman, if Israel defaults, Americans will be on the hook to pay off their debt. And what does America get out of this arrangement? Absolutely nothing.
These guarantees are part of the $15-$20 billion that the American government gives Israel every year in indirect and direct aid. This money has continued to flow during the 2008 financial crisis, even while growing numbers of poor Americans are living in abject poverty. To compound matters, Israel is in little need of aid, having weathered the financial storm better than almost any nation on the planet and maintaining its status as a wealthy country with more than 10,000 millionaires. One could argue that Israel is also one of the least deserving countries to receive this aid with their treatment of the Palestinians closely resembling the South African apartheid. As unbiased former CIA officers like Michael Scheuer and authors like Mearscheimer and Walt acknowledge, not only does the US-Israel relationship provide absolutely no strategic benefit to America, it actually hurts America’s standing around the world. If sacrificing the economic prosperity and security of Americans for the citizens of another nation isn’t treason, it would be hard to imagine what would qualify.
The treason does not stop there unfortunately. The Israel lobby in America, AIPAC, was largely responsible for America’s disastrous war with Iraq, as former AIPAC officials later admitted. A reasonable person must come to the conclusion that the Iraq War was unquestionably for Israel’s security. Saddam Hussein had no weapons that could reach the US, or close ties to terrorists that would have been willing to perpetrate a major attack on the US.
Many Americans foolishly believe the Iraq War was for oil, but America produces 50% of its own oil and gets the vast majority of the rest from Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, and Nigeria. If the US wanted energy security it could have spent 1/50th of the money it spent invading Iraq and built an oil pipeline from Canada. As most knowledgable Middle East experts will admit, Israel was extremely supportive of an American war with Iran, and the same man responsible for the 1975 oil guarantee, Henry Kissinger, advised George W. Bush to commit more troops to the effort.
While it is understandable for Kissinger to have an affinity for his fellow Jews in Israel, it was unacceptable for him to use his political position to sacrifice the energy security of America for Israel. For that matter, it is wholly unacceptable for American members of AIPAC to lobby their government to give America’s resources to another nation, or to lobby for a war on behalf of another nation.
These people should be held accountable for their actions.
