In an ironic moment, Secretary of State visited with the Foreign Minister of Egypt to ask for Egypt’s help.  She wanted her counterpart to end aid to the Palestinians while Hamas was controlling the funds.  Egypt said no.

While the exchange tells us a great deal about the difficult situation the United States and Israel finds itself in, it raises a question that is long overdue for an answer: should Egypt be receiving $2 billion a year in US aid?

I support foreign aid.  I’ve voted for every foreign aid bill since I arrived in Congress in 1999.  Foreign aid is a very inexpensive way for us to export our values, improve infrastructure for those in great need and live up to our ideals about democracy and tolerance.

But there is smart foreign aid and there is dumb foreign aid.

For years I have been arguing against aid to the West Bank and Gaza.  It lacked transparency. It propped up a corrupt regime and it certainly wasn’t getting us a more pro-America populace.  Any doubt that the non-governmental organizations that delivered the aid were doing more harm than good was put to rest in the weeks leading up to the Palestinian elections.   The administration all but admitted it was rushing us funded projects to prop up Fatah.  Obviously that didn’t work, but it left us worse off than if we had done nothing at all.

Now, after sending $947 million of taxpayer dollars since 2000, we are left with a government of virulently anti-Semitic terrorists in the West bank and Gaza. 

Dumb foreign aid.

Since the signing of the Camp David agreement, the United States of America has been doing our part by providing billions to the parties - Egypt and Israel.   The money was wisely spent.  It sent the message: lay down arms, peacefully coexist with Israel and you will be rewarded.

But lately two trends have emerged which argue for a reassessment of the deal.  First, Egypt has become more and more virulent in its anti-Israel and anti-American sentiment.  Behind the increasingly frail Hosni Mubarak is an increasingly strident second team.  The banned opposition party, the Muslim Brotherhood, claims that “The United States doesn’t want freedom for Arab people,” while the government’s daily newspaper publishes editorials saying that “The crimes of the Zionists against the Palestinians far outweigh any of the crimes committed by the Nazis.”

Even more alarming than the new generation of leaders that are stewing in Egypt is the way our aid has been spent - mostly on weapons.  $1.43 billion or 74% of all U.S. aid has gone not for water desalination plants or schools, but rather for F-16 jets and M-1 tanks.

Why does Egypt need such a military of US purchased weapons?  Where are its threats?   When you look carefully the conclusion is apparent - we should stop arming Egypt.

Just like in the territories where we woke up to find a terror organization had been helped to power with U.S. aid, Egypt could be another more dangerous nightmare.  A radical administration with a muscular military of U.S. arms.

Congress should continue to fund Egypt but with conditions.  Call it smart foreign aid.  First, 100% of our aid should be economic and humanitarian.  No more military.  Second, all aid should be based on actual performance.  They must do a better job of patrolling their borders to prevent arms smuggling into the West Bank.  They must live up to the Camp David accord by resuming normal diplomatic relations with Israel.  (They have withdrawn their ambassador.)

The situation in the Middle East is complex.  We are bound to make missteps.  But as we ponder how to allocate our Foreign aid in the future, lets at least not make the same mistakes again.