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Comment by rapind | Hacker News Reader

Really, all you need is a subtle suggestion to the Israeli government that the hundred billions or so dollars they receive from the US every year might be impacted by continued NSO bad publicity.

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  > hundred billions or so dollars ... every year

More like ~$4B (out of a total foreign aid of ~$50B annually).

https://usafacts.org/articles/how-much-military-aid-does-the...

that number is way off, and the money they "receive", is specifically for use with US defence contracts and deals.. Its like Disneyland giving you Disneydollars.. You can only spend them at Disneyland.. It is a way for the US military-industrial complex to stay afloat.. And it is a drop in the bucket for Israeli Defence spending, and would make little difference if they took it out.

Pretty sure it's not a "drop in the bucket" (somewhere around 20% I read?). There's also a massive opportunity cost when you consider the profit to be made from an arms race in the middle east should the US treat all countries in the region equal when it comes to arms sales. Pretty sure that would net far more for your military industrial complex than the long standing preferential Israeli treatment. It would also obviously be disastrous for Israel, so that's some serious leverage. (Note: In case you think I'm promoting this idea, I actually believe ANY arms sales to the region, Israel included, has been a horrible policy).

The US and Israel are in bed together for better or worse. It's actually really embarrassing that Israel has allowed NSO Group to operate at this level, and influential US politicians could destroy NSO Group in a heartbeat if they actually wanted to.

>(somewhere around 20% I read?).

its closer to 3%

Again the US provides comparable military aid to Egypt and Pakistan too.. NSO is not the Israeli government

In fairness, the net result of this exchange is still something like, "Disneyland gives you a free hamburger." And by hamburger I mean "tank" or something.

Well that, and the hamburger vendor buys a big house in the DC metro area. And everybody else's ticket prices go up a little.

But still, draw a control volume, and it's just hamburgers flowing out.

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