US Approves $20 billion in Weapons Sales to Israel

FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to a joint meeting of Congress at the Capitol in Washington, July 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, File)
FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to a joint meeting of Congress at the Capitol in Washington, July 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, File)
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US Approves $20 billion in Weapons Sales to Israel

FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to a joint meeting of Congress at the Capitol in Washington, July 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, File)
FILE - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to a joint meeting of Congress at the Capitol in Washington, July 24, 2024. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, File)

The US has approved $20 billion in arms sales to Israel, including scores of fighter jets and advanced air-to-air missiles, the State Department announced Tuesday, The AP reported.

Congress was notified of the impending sale, which includes more than 50 F-15 fighter jets, Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missiles, or AMRAAMs, 120 mm tank ammunition and high explosive mortars and tactical vehicles and comes at a time of intense concern that Israel may become involved in a wider Middle East war.

However, the weapons are not expected to get to Israel anytime soon, they are contracts that will take years to fulfill. Much of what is being sold is to help Israel increase its military capability in the long term, the earliest systems being delivered under the contract aren't expected until the 2026 timeframe.

“The United States is committed to the security of Israel, and it is vital to US national interests to assist Israel to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defense capability. This proposed sale is consistent with those objectives,” the State Department said in a release on the sale.

The Biden administration has had to balance its continued support for Israel with a growing number of calls from lawmakers and the US public to curb military support there due to the high number of civilian deaths in Gaza. It has curbed one delivery of 2,000-pound weapons amid continued airstrikes by Israel in densely populated civilian areas in Gaza.

The contracts will cover not only the sale of new 50 aircraft to be produced by Boeing. It will also include upgrade kits for Israel to modify its existing fleet of two dozen F-15 fighter jets with new engines and radars, among other upgrades. The jets comprise the biggest portion of the $20 billion in sales with the first deliveries expected in 2029.



Wars Top Global Risk as Davos Elite Gathers in Shadow of Fragmented World

A view of a logo during the 54th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, January 19, 2024. (Reuters)
A view of a logo during the 54th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, January 19, 2024. (Reuters)
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Wars Top Global Risk as Davos Elite Gathers in Shadow of Fragmented World

A view of a logo during the 54th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, January 19, 2024. (Reuters)
A view of a logo during the 54th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, January 19, 2024. (Reuters)

Armed conflict is the top risk in 2025, a World Economic Forum (WEF) survey released on Wednesday showed, a reminder of the deepening global fragmentation as government and business leaders attend an annual gathering in Davos next week.

Nearly one in four of the more than 900 experts surveyed across academia, business and policymaking ranked conflict, including wars and terrorism, as the most severe risk to economic growth for the year ahead.

Extreme weather, the no. 1 concern in 2024, was the second-ranked danger.

"In a world marked by deepening divides and cascading risks, global leaders have a choice: to foster collaboration and resilience, or face compounding instability," WEF Managing Director Mirek Dusek said in a statement accompanying the report.

"The stakes have never been higher."

The WEF gets underway on Jan. 20 and Donald Trump, who will be sworn in as the 47th president of the United States the same day and has promised to end the war in Ukraine, will address the meeting virtually on Jan. 23. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy will attend the meeting and give a speech on Jan. 21, according to the WEF organizers.

Among other global leaders due to attend the meeting are European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and China's Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang.

Syria, the "terrible humanitarian situation in Gaza" and the potential escalation of the conflict in the Middle East will be a focus at the gathering, according to WEF President and CEO Borge Brende.

Negotiators were hammering out the final details of a potential ceasefire in Gaza on Wednesday, following marathon talks in Qatar.

The threat of misinformation and disinformation was ranked as the most severe global risk over the next two years, according to the survey, the same ranking as in 2024.

Over a 10-year horizon environmental threats dominated experts' risk concerns, the survey showed. Extreme weather was the top longer-term global risk, followed by biodiversity loss, critical change to earth's systems and a shortage of natural resources.

Global temperatures last year exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius (34.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above the pre-industrial era for the first time, bringing the world closer to breaching the pledge governments made under the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

A global risk is defined by the survey as a condition that would negatively affect a significant proportion of global GDP, population or natural resources. Experts were surveyed in September and October.

The majority of respondents, 64%, expect a multipolar, fragmented global order to persist.