The US has spent nearly $34bn supporting Israel since 7 October 2023, according to a report published by Brown University on Tuesday, revealing the staggering cost of Israel’s wars in the region to US taxpayers.
The price tag means that the US has spent around $3,400 on defence and military activities for every citizen of Israel since the country launched its devastating assault on Gaza following the Hamas-led 7 October 2023 attacks on southern Israel.
The hefty price tag to US taxpayers caught the attention of several commentators on social media. One wrote, “A family of 4 in Israel is receiving $577/month in subsidies, courtesy of the American taxpayer, for 2 years now.”
“Israelis still have free healthcare and free college, and subsidised childcare. They haven’t reduced any of their social welfare programs. Meanwhile, Americans are literally paying for groceries with their credit cards,” the post on X added.
The report took into account US military spending on Israel and related US military campaigns in the region as part of Brown University’s ongoing Costs of War project.
Totalling US aid packages since 7 October 2023, the report said the US provided $21.7bn in direct military assistance to Israel.
Over the last two years, Israel has assaulted Gaza in a campaign that has been recognised as a genocide by the United Nations, human rights experts, historians, and world leaders. In addition, it has accelerated its attacks in the occupied West Bank.
Israel also launched a war on Lebanon that severely degraded Hezbollah, bombed the Houthis in Yemen, and has been continuously bombing Syria. Israel’s surprise attack on Iran in June was a culmination of its military forays abroad, which included an unprecedented attack on Hamas officials in Qatar.
The report arrived at its $33bn price tag by taking into account US military intervention alongside Israel in Yemen, in addition to striking Iran’s nuclear facilities. Brown University calculated that the US spent around $12bn on those military operations.
“This spending includes the costs of the US military maintaining two carrier strike groups in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, launching over 1,000 air strikes, and employing costly missile systems to counter low-cost drone attacks by the Houthi militant group,” the report said.
“In Iran, Operation Midnight Hammer marked the first-ever combat use of 30,000-pound ‘bunker buster’ bombs dropped by US B-2 stealth bombers,” the report added.
Practically, Israel’s entire fleet of warplanes, from F-35s to F-15s, comes from the US, along with attack helicopters and refuelling craft. The US has also provided Israel with thousands of artillery shells, 2,000-pound bombs, and precision missiles.
“Tens of thousands of [US origin] bombs and missiles, and advanced targeting systems – have inflicted a devastating humanitarian toll on the people of Gaza,” the Brown report said.
Public support for Israel in the US has plunged among Democrats and Independents, but also among young Republicans who are growing increasingly angry about US taxpayers’ funding foreign wars.
Pollsters at Quinnipiac University found in August that 60 percent of Americans are opposed to the US sending arms to Israel.
