SO, WE SHOULD HAVE A FORMAL DEFENSE TREATY WITH ISRAEL AND STATION THOUSANDS OF SOLDIERS THERE: The latest meme among Democrats (and some Republicans) is that we should treat Israel “like every other ally,” i.e., no military aid. I think US aid to Israel is a mixed blessing for both countries, but I want to focus here on the underlying dishonesty. Yes, Israel officially gets “foreign military aid” and the others don’t. But that’s an artifact of budget shenanigans, in particular Democrats historically insisting that our military relationship with Israel be put in the foreign aid budget to help get the rest of the (unpopular) foreign aid budget passed. But the US provides massive in-kind subsidies to our other allies in the form of US soldiers stationed there and mutual defense pacts, allowing countries like Canada to freeload off US defense. And then they won’t even let the US use their bases when needed.