{"id":18489,"date":"2026-02-01T08:22:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T08:22:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/us-approves-new-arms-to-israel-worth-6-67-billion\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T08:22:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T08:22:15","slug":"us-approves-new-arms-to-israel-worth-6-67-billion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/us-approves-new-arms-to-israel-worth-6-67-billion\/","title":{"rendered":"US approves new arms to Israel worth $6.67 billion"},"content":{"rendered":"<div xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\">\n<div>\n<p>                                <bsp-timestamp data-timestamp=\"1769823682000\" data-recent-thresholdinhours=\"1\">                    <template data-date-tpl>Updated [hour]:[minute] [AMPM] [timezone], [monthFull] [day], [year]<\/template>                    <span data-date><\/span>                <\/bsp-timestamp>            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>                                    <bsp-page-actions>                            <\/bsp-page-actions>                                                            <\/div>\n<div>\n<p>WASHINGTON (AP) &mdash; The Trump administration has approved a massive new series of arms sales to Israel totaling $6.67 billion and to Saudi Arabia worth $9 billion. <\/p>\n<p>The State Department announced the sales to America&rsquo;s allies in the Middle East late Friday as <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/trump-iran-united-states-protests-nuclear-5cac82fc0230b761361706cdd9b249d9\">tensions rise in the region<\/a><\/span>  over the possibility of U.S. military strikes on Iran. They were made public after the department notified Congress of its approval of the sales earlier Friday. <\/p>\n<p>The sales also come as President Donald Trump pushes ahead with <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/israel-hamas-gaza-trump-ceasefire-plan-22d24eb0c279e192e4726b6acb32f005\">his ceasefire plan for Gaza<\/a><\/span>  that is intended to end the <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/israel-hamas-war\">Israel-Hamas conflict<\/a><\/span>  and reconstruct the Palestinian territory after two years of war left it devastated, with tens of thousands dead.<\/p>\n<p>While the ceasefire has largely held, <span><a data-gtm-enhancement-style=\"LinkEnhancementA\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/israel-hamas-gaza-trump-ceasefire-plan-22d24eb0c279e192e4726b6acb32f005\">big challenges await in its next phases<\/a><\/span>including the deployment of an international security force to supervise the deal and the difficult process of disarming Hamas. <\/p>\n<h2>The sale to Saudi Arabia<\/h2>\n<p>The Saudi sale is for 730 Patriot missiles and related equipment that &ldquo;will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by improving the security of a Major non-NATO Ally that is a force for political stability and economic progress in the Gulf Region,&rdquo; the department said.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;This enhanced capability will protect land forces of Saudi Arabia, the United States, and local allies and will significantly improve Saudi Arabia&rsquo;s contribution&rdquo; to the integrated air and missile defense system in the region, it said. <\/p>\n<p>It was announced after Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman met with top Trump administration officials like Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.<\/p>\n<h2>A series of arms packages to Israel<\/h2>\n<p>The sales to Israel are split into four separate packages, including one for 30 Apache attack helicopters and related equipment and weapons, with another for 3,250 light tactical vehicles. <\/p>\n<p>The Apache helicopters, which will be equipped with rocket launchers and advanced targeting gear, are the biggest part of the total package, coming to $3.8 billion, according to the State Department.<\/p>\n<p>The next largest portion is the light tactical vehicles, which will be used to move personnel and logistics &ldquo;to extend lines of communication&rdquo; for the Israel Defense Forces and will cost $1.98 billion, it said.<\/p>\n<p>Rep. Gregory Meeks, the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, accused the Trump administration of rushing to announce the deals for Israel in a way that would &ldquo;disregard Congressional oversight and years of standing practice.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>He said in a statement that &ldquo;the Trump Administration has blatantly ignored long-standing Congressional prerogatives while also refusing to engage Congress on critical questions about the next steps in Gaza and broader U.S.-Israel policy.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Under the deals, Israel will spend an additional $740 million on power packs for armored personnel carriers it has had in service since 2008, the State Department said. The remaining $150 million will be spent on a small but unreported number of light utility helicopters to complement similar equipment it already has, it said.<\/p>\n<p>In separate but nearly identical statements on Israel, the State Department said none of the new sales would affect the military balance in the region and that all of them would &ldquo;enhance Israel&rsquo;s capability to meet current and future threats by improving its ability to defend Israel&rsquo;s borders, vital infrastructure, and population centers.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The United States is committed to the security of Israel, and it is vital to U.S. national interests to assist Israel to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defense capability,&rdquo; the statements said.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/israel-arms-sale-trump-iran-tensions-e73d1fe40974abca838a1a08590934d3\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Updated [hour]:[minute] [AMPM] [timezone], [monthFull] [day], [year] WASHINGTON (AP) &mdash; The Trump administration has approved a massive new series of arms sales to Israel totaling $6.67 billion and to Saudi Arabia worth $9 billion. The State Department announced the sales to America&rsquo;s allies in the Middle East late Friday as tensions rise in the region [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18490,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trump"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}