Just before Christmas, US President Barack Obama signed into law one of his country's biggest aid pledges of the year. It was bound not for Africa or any of the many struggling countries on the World Bank's list.
It was a 10-year deal for $US2.77 billion ($A3.1 billion) to go to Israel in 2010 and a total of $US30 billion over the next decade, mainly to be spent on US military hardware.
Despite the serious financial crisis in the US economy, the US is proceeding with its increased aid package to Israel.
Israel is bound by the agreement to use 75 per cent of the aid to buy military devices made in the US — and in a recession, those military factories are critical to many towns.
For the first time the US is also providing $US500 million to the Palestinian Authority, including $US100 million to train security forces, under the strict proviso that the authority's leadership recognises Israel.
For many years Israel has been the largest recipient of the US foreign-aid budget, followed by Egypt ($US1.75 billion) which also receives most of its assistance in tied military aid.
According to work done by the Congressional Research Service, the US spent 17 per cent of the total US aid budget — or $US5.1 billion — on military aid in 2008, of which $US4.7 billion was grants to enable governments to receive equipment from the US.
The lion's share of political and strategic aid to Iraq and Afghanistan comes from separate funds and from the defence budget.
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