American Aid to the Middle East

The United States' ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haily, was furious on Monday that all other members of the Security Council voted for a resolution for America to withdraw its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Now, the UN general assembly is set to vote on the resolution, condemning President Donald Trump's unilateral decision to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. Trump in turn has threatened those countries who might vote for the resolution with depriving them of U.S. aid money.

Amongst them are set to be many countries in the Middle East, some of which are Israel's direct neighbors. As our infographic shows, Iraq has been the recipient of the single largest sum of U.S. aid money in the region. 5.3 billion dollars were invested in the country, of which 89 percent were earmarked for military use, amounting to 4.7 billion dollars.

Israel itself got the second largest share of aid, amounting to 3.1 billion dollars, all of it for military means. Even Syria received aid, according to the data provided by USAID. Of the $915m, $810 were dished out for humanitarian means, most of it to NGOs. So, giving aid to Syria doesn't mean financing the regime in Damascus.