"Unbelievable but true: the Bush Administration gives more federal aid to the average Israeli citizen in one year than it gives to the average American citizen."- Yvonne Ridley

Is that true?

It's difficult to calculate total aid to Israel, as this 2002 article points out. Aid can be disguised as forgiven loans, loan guarantees, or even as bombs "on loan". The article comes up with a figure of '$540 per capita benefit' for 'the Jewish population of Israel (5.24m)' in 2001. Of course, much of the aid is military - no ordinary Israeli citizen gets a sack of loot from the US.

The article compares that (fairly arbitrary) per capita aid amount to the 2001 tax cut for US citizens - I wonder if that was what Ridley was talking about.

I don't think she's comparing like with like. If much of the US aid is for weaponry, then maybe we ought to compare how much the US government spends, per capita, on the US military with how much it subsidises the IDF.

I think this is the Zunes article referred to.

In the end - you can prove anything with statistics, I guess.

It's difficult to find a neutral source on this topic.

Here's the Christian Science Monitor on the money to Israel:

'Israel gets about $420 per capita each year in aid from the US, partly as a result of the 1979 Camp David peace accords between Israel and Egypt. Though that's more aid per capita than Palestinians get, Israel is less dependent on it.'
(Feb 2006)

And here are some figures on money to the US:

'Alaskans get about twice as much federal aid as people in Nevada where average per-person federal spending was less than $5,000 last year, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released June 4.

The report showed that per capita federal spending was highest in Alaska ($11,746), followed by Virginia ($10,220), North Dakota ($10,151), New Mexico ($9,422) and Maryland ($9,076).

Federal spending per capita, which is influenced by the number of federal employees or federally funded programs in a state, also was high in Hawaii, South Dakota, Montana, Alabama and Missouri...

...The report showed that U.S. average per capita spending was just over $6,527.' stateline.org (2003)

Now, you need to work out the difference between 'spending' and 'aid', but it looks like Ridley's wrong.

According the the CIA World Factbook, Israel received $240 million in aid from the United States in Fiscal year 2006. With a population of 6.352 million, this works out at $37.78 per person.

It appears Ridley's statement is meant to be inflammatory.

Although Ridley's figures do seem to be out by a factor of at least ten, that $240m figure is hardly the whole story either. That's only straightforward 'economic aid', not including the "hidden subsidies" outlined in one of the links above. And...

'The US is Israel's biggest military donor, offering about $2bn of aid and assistance each year.' news.bbc.co.uk