U.S. House Approves Funds for Anti-Terror Campaign, Israel Gets $200 Million
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U.S. House of Representatives gave Israel $200 million
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WASHINGTON,
July 24 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The U.S. House of
Representatives late Tuesday, July 23, approved 28.9 billion U.S.
dollars in emergency spending for the war on terror, including a new
“aid package” for Israel to help it prevent new bombings.
Less
than two days after the Israeli F-16 missile attack on a densely
populated area in Gaza that killed 15 Palestinians, most of them
children, and injured 150 more, Israel gets 200 million dollars from
the U.S. to continue its atrocities against Palestinian civilians.
Residents
of the West Bank and Gaza will receive 50 million dollars in
humanitarian aid, but the legislation strictly prohibits assistance to
the Palestinian Authority, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
The
bill, passed by lawmakers 397-32 after a brief debate, also contains a
strict ban on U.S. cooperation with the International Criminal Court
(ICC) set up by the United Nations to prosecute genocide and other
crimes against humanity.
Israel
too has earlier declared it would take steps, media gag included, to
protect its officers and officials from being legally tried
before the ICC.
The
supplement budget request has already been reconciled with the Senate
in a conference and is largely expected to be approved there.
Half
of the money, 14.5 billion dollars, will go to the Department of
Defense.
Another
3.8 billion dollars will be spent on bolstering security at the
nation’s airports, 5.5 billion dollars on helping New York recover
after the September 11 attacks, while the Federal Bureau of
Investigation will be given an additional 175 million dollars for its
counter-terrorism activities, AFP reported.
The
bill includes a 110-million-dollar aid package for countries of the
former Soviet Union, primarily Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan,
which have allowed the United Stated to use their bases in the war in
Afghanistan.
But
at the same time, it restricts U.S. participation in international
peacekeeping missions unless U.S. servicemen are exempted from the
jurisdiction of the tribunal.
The
administration of President George W. Bush has withdrawn the U.S.
signature from an international accord which set up the court, arguing
member nations had practically no tools to control it.
The
supplemental anti-terror budget request had been bogged down on
Capitol Hill for weeks, after senators attached to it dozens of items
in unrelated election-year spending, bringing the total to more than
31 billion dollars and prompting a White House veto threat.
But
White House officials said Bush was “encouraged” by the compromise
version of the bill because it addressed his goals of training and
arming U.S. troops and making airports safer while keeping total
spending under control.
The
supplemental budget will fund the war on terror through September 30
when the current financial year ends.
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