Israel is in trouble. Once again their mouth has written another check that their backsides can’t cash. Bravado and excessive testosterone have been trumped by a whole host of unconsidered realities now coming back like chickens to roost. Should we be surprised? Judging by their past actions and a nagging inability to listen and heed a good word in due season, Israel ’s actions are as predictable as day and night.

Are we to be held captive to the continuous folly of the Israeli government’s mindset? God is clearly telling Israel will be like a knife twisting in our backs until He returns and takes His throne to rule over the nations. Does that mean we sit back and let Israel hold the world hostage? As Christians, we are commanded to not only to confront, but to fight evil, suited up for battle in the Armor of God, so my guess is no, we are not to turn a blind eye and pretend we don’t see the elephant on the couch.

Please understand what I’m actually saying: there is nothing wrong, anti-semitic or racist to question governmental policies and their impact. When you attack a person due to their nationality or religion, then you are no longer arguing the issue – you are spearheading a direct assault against the individual, which conveniently sidelines the original discussion in the total absence of facts.

But the fact is Israel ’s big mouth wrote a check its butt can’t cash this time around, and the world knows it. What secret information do I possess to make such a lofty and brazen claim? I could claim I’m channeling Johnny Carson’s “The Great Karnack”, but the reality is most of these stories have been unobtrusively reported in various media outlets. My job is to gather those factual elements and put them together into a coherent piece of work as to illustrate my point. So come with me while we explore the finer points of “Bounced Checkgate”.

Haaretz reported on August 30, 2006 the Israeli Defense Ministry was demanding a NIS 19.2 billion increase ($4.37 b) , but recently their budget had been examined and it was determined they could afford a $350 million cut in military spending over the next five years. Right off the bat, one has to ask how they go from a position of a viable reduction to requiring such an infusion of cash. Generally speaking, the article has little value except for one line that’s buried in the story: “ Israel has promised the U.S. it would not exceed its spending limits. ” Spending limits?! United Piggy Bank of America ?

This has me wondering exactly how much foreign aid Israel receives from the United States . For argument’s sake, let’s say Israel receives $2.5 billion in support from us but requires $6 billion a year in various expenditures to meet their needs. If we look at the history of our government and its unnatural love in terms of “off the book” military programs where the expense of these secret operations are “hidden” under some other indescribable line item in the national budget, who’s to say (and I admit this is conjecture on my part) that the Israeli national budget isn’t fully funded under multiple generic line items? What a frightening thought!

“ At the time of the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in September 2001 according to the Government Accounting Office (GAO), Pentagon had incurred $3.4 trillion of ‘undocumentable transactions,’ that is to say that there were $3.4 trillion worth of financial transactions for which there was no discernible purpose. ”

The reality is, EVERY transaction can be properly accounted for according to generally accepted accounting practices – unless you’re the government. One can hide Israel ’s entire operating budget in the $3.4 trillion with room to spare, and no one would be the wiser.

Any administration wouldn’t have to be sneaky about it; the federal government has been keeping two sets of books and pulling an Enron style game with Joe Q. Taxpayer for quite awhile, hiding the true state of our economy. The deficit situation becomes more abysmal as you take into account the rumored amount of the black budget exceeds one trillion dollars . $1,000,000,000,000+. Let that sink into your brain for a moment…I’ll wait. Why do I mention “rumor”? Well, even though this is Cold War stuff we’re talking about and for the average American that ended in the early 1990’s, the programs have not shut down. Those involved in the programs argue strenuously the release of such information could “hurt” them. I can’t see how – what are a few million angry taxpayers?

If one looks at the health of Israel , it becomes alarming for a number of reasons . “The government’s official annual poverty report, issued just last week by the National Insurance Institute, showed that despite strong economic growth, the ranks of the poor grew yet again last year, reaching more than 1.6 million Israelis, a quarter of the population. The number of children below the poverty line rose from 23% in 1998 to 35% in 2005, reportedly the highest proportion in the West.”

It is hard to figure out how this is happening when you take into account several factors:

• The level of foreign aid received by the country.
• The level of tax revenues collected by the state (income, utilities, gasoline, business taxes, real estate – to name a few).
• The level of charity received from outside sources (Christian, Jewish, Muslim groups).
• Expatriate remittances sent to loved ones still residing in Israel .
• Tourism dollars brought in as the result of cities like Jerusalem being the home of three major faiths (hotels, restaurants, souvenirs, tax services, airport taxes, extra film, special charter services, additional packages sold on site for additional visit locations).

By all accounts if you think about this, the country on a whole should be doing much better than compared to its neighbors. If you take into account the 2000 intifada, then yes, there were lean times that impacted the revenues in some cases, but not all. For instance, the intifada wouldn’t have reduced gasoline taxes.

Wars have a strange impact on budgets. They strain them. Funny how that happens…that is, unless you’re in the defense industry, then you love war because it lines your pockets. When Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was “goaded into war”, it seems he didn’t have a conversation with the Finance Minister Abraham Hirchson, which in retrospect, might have been a wise first move.

“Do we have the cash?”

“Nope.”

“ USA , we’ve taken your plan under advisement and have decided a war with Lebanon does not appear to be appropriate at this time.”

If news reports in this case are credible, the Israeli finance ministers did look at the budget and they concluded there was an NIS 8 billion surplus ($1.82 billion) with a one percent growth in the economy. A surplus is always a good thing, but let’s face it – $1.82 billion is chump change jingling in your pocket when you’re sporting a big stick and looking to clock your neighbor with it. A military conflict is much more than the immediate needs of weapons and ammunition rounds:

• Replacement of damaged military hardware.
• Replacement of stock shells post hostilities.
• Salaries of average workers lost
• Lost revenue of businesses.
• Damage claim payouts to businesses .
• Infrastructure repairs.
• Emergency first responders in the affected areas – their equipment, salaries, replacement of damaged equipment (through overuse, improper or poor maintenance, or enemy shelling).
• Lost payroll and other business taxes in areas of intense conflict
• Control of wild fires set off by enemy shells – planes, gasoline to fly them, chemical retardant sprays to treat areas, and water which is always in short supply in the Middle East .
• State aid in evacuating, feeding, medical care, and housing a segment of the displaced population. Evacuating the most vulnerable of the population: children, elderly, the disabled

Animal control (or removal of dead animals to prevent the spread of disease) of all the abandoned animals left behind by owners unwilling or unable to take them along during an exodus .