New Budget Includes No Change in U.S. Foreign Aid for Israel

President Bush’s 1992 budget request includes $3 billion in economic and military aid for Israel, but no additional money for the extraordinary expenses the Jewish state has incurred as a result of the Persian Gulf war and the influx of Soviet immigrants.

Then again, Israel has not formally asked for new U.S. funds for either purpose.

The $3 billion, which consists of $1.8 million in military aid and $1.2 billion in economic aid, was unveiled Monday in Bush’s request to Congress for the 1992 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.

The president was required to propose the $3 billion in aid to Israel, as well as $2.3 billion in aid to Egypt, after Congress “earmarked” those and other levels of foreign aid, as it has done in the past.

Not being released before Wednesday are proposed aid levels to non-earmarked foreign aid recipients and to private U.S. groups that assist Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Israeli officials and pro-Israel lobbyists reacted to the budget with little surprise. “There are no earthshaking differences or changes” compared to the budget for the current fiscal year, said an Israeli Embassy official.

Another constant in this year’s budget is the ceiling of 50,000 Soviets who may enter the United States as refugees, if they are deemed to have demonstrated a “well-founded fear of persecution” in the Soviet Union.

As has been U.S. practice in recent years, 40,000 of the 50,000 Soviets admitted as refugees will be Jews, and all will receive full government aid for initial resettlement costs.

FRUSTRATION OVER LOAN GUARANTEES

There is also $40 million in the budget to help Israel resettle refugees not going to the United States. This money is provided to the United Israel Appeal, which is the North American representative of the Jewish Agency for Israel.

One of the big “ifs” this year is whether Congress will approve new guarantees allowing Israel to take out private loans to help resettle Soviet Jewish immigrants.

Congress approved $400 million worth of loan guarantees last spring, but the Bush administration has yet to issue them, much to the frustration of pro-Israel activists.

U.S. officials say the Israelis “haven’t complied yet fully with some of the paperwork” required before releasing the guarantees, said Malcolm Hoenlein, executive director of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

“I assume that there will be requests for more loan guarantees,” Hoenlein said.

Another uncertainty is whether Congress will approve additional military aid to help Israel offset the costs the Israel Defense Force has incurred as a result of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait and the subsequent missile attacks on Israel.

Hoenlein said Israel has spent $3 billion on defense beyond planned expenditures since the start of the Persian Gulf crisis last August.

He said Secretary of State James Baker told a Conference of Presidents delegation last week that he would be asking the 12-nation European Community and other countries to provide direct aid to Israel.

The E.C. on Monday approved in principle a German proposal to provide emergency economic assistance to Israel.

The Japanese government recently pledged $9 billion to help pay for the indirect costs of the war since Jan. I, and “we believe that Japan’s $9 billion should include Israel,” Hoenlein said.

But Hoenlein said it is “not realistic” to expect Arab countries in the U.S.-led coalition to provide aid to Israel.

SUPPLEMENTAL BILL EXPECTED

Any U.S. emergency aid to Israel would likely be contained in an Operation Desert Storm supplemental appropriations bill, which Bush is expected to send to Congress in the coming weeks.

It is not yet clear how much of the $3 billion in war-related costs Israel hopes to recoup will be sought from the United States, Hoenlein said. He said a chunk of the $3 billion was offset last week by Germany’s pledge to provide Israel with $700 million in special defense aid.

When the war with Iraq ends, Bush will likely send Congress a new proposal to sell arms to Saudi Arabia.

In January, Bush shelved a proposed $15 billion package for the kingdom. Hoenlein said Bush will propose nothing new for the Saudis until after the war is over.

Israel is expecting to receive at least $1 billion in new U.S. benefits following the war. Benefits signed into law by Bush last fall include $700 million in U.S. weaponry being drawn down from Western Europe, $200 million in munitions stockpiles, 4.5 million barrels of oil and U.S. funding to deepen the port of Haifa.

But Congress gave Bush discretion in all those areas, and the administration has yet to begin any of the transfers or the dredging.