Vox Sentences - The US-Israel weapons pipeline

Monday, November 20, 2023

Welcome to another week of Sentences! Here’s what we’re discussing today: 

UP FIRST: Most of Israel’s weapons imports come from the US. Now Biden is rushing to send even more arms.

CATCH UP: What’s going on with OpenAI? 

—Rachel DuRose, Future Perfect fellow

Most of Israel’s weapons imports come from the US. Now Biden is rushing in even more arms.

Jabin Botsford/Washington Post via Getty Images

US support of Israel has been invaluable in the latter’s war against Hamas. Israel is the single largest beneficiary of US security aid — it has received $3 billion from the US annually for the last 50 years, and 80 percent of Israel’s imported weapons are provided by the US. 

The lowdown: In the wake of Hamas’s October 7 attacks on Israel, US President Joe Biden is seeking “an unprecedented support package” of $14.3 billion in weapons for Israel. 

• Israel’s airstrikes and its ground invasion of Gaza have killed at least 13,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Ministry of Health. The IDF has destroyed and raided residential buildings and hospitals. A country, such as the US, “providing weapons that knowingly and significantly contribute to unlawful attacks” in places like schools and hospitals could make it “complicit in war crimes,” Human Rights Watch said. 

• The US has already sent Israel a plethora of supplies. Leaked documents from the Pentagon, published by Bloomberg, reveal the US provided Israel with 2,000 Hellfire missiles, “36,000 rounds of 30mm cannon ammunition, 1,800 of the requested M141 bunker-buster munitions and at least 3,500 night-vision devices.”

• The Biden administration has been a surprisingly huge proponent of arms sales to allied countries. In 2022, the US provided $46.7 billion in military aid to Ukraine; that same year, Biden’s arms sales overtook President Donald Trump’s. 

• Biden is finding workarounds to avoid the need for congressional support. Generally, congressional approval is needed for aid packages, but due to a variety of factors — including congressional gridlock on whether to link Israel and Ukraine military aid — the administration is allowing American weapon manufacturers to sell directly to Israel and is directing US stockpiles to Israel. 

• Many top US officials — including Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken — have strong ties to weapon manufacturers. That has helped smooth the way for weapons transfers to allies. 

The stakes: Human rights organizations’ claims that weapons the US sent to Israel are being used to commit war crimes are growing. As these organizations — and members of the public — increase pressure on the White House, that “may be setting up Israel for a collision with the Biden administration,” writes senior foreign policy writer Jonathan Guyer. 

Early last year, the Biden administration highlighted a desire to “elevat[e] the importance of protecting civilians” when making decisions about arms transfers in its Conventional Arms Transfer policy. In continuing to provide weapons to Israel, the US could be violating its own rules. The Biden administration, however, denies it is abandoning its commitment. 

Read Jonathan’s full story on US support of Israel here.

If you have questions about the ongoing war, let us know here. And here’s where you can keep track of all our developing coverage.

What’s going on with OpenAI? 

SeongJoon Cho/Bloomberg via Getty Images

The tech world was shocked when OpenAI’s board fired its CEO and co-founder Sam Altman last Friday. OpenAI is the American company behind the artificial intelligence language model ChatGPT; before his firing, Altman had led it since 2018.

Here’s what we know thus far:

• It’s still not clear exactly why Altman was fired. OpenAI’s statement announcing Altman’s firing said: “Mr. Altman’s departure follows a deliberative review process by the board, which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities.” [The Verge] 

• Initially, OpenAI’s CTO Mira Murati replaced Altman as interim CEO. However, following reports Altman might come back to the company, OpenAI announced Sunday that Emmett Shear, the co-founder of Twitch, would take over as interim CEO. [Fortune] 

• Monday, Microsoft hired Altman.  Microsoft invested billions of dollars in OpenAI and said it's still committed to maintaining a relationship with the AI startup — despite hiring Altman. [AP] 

• More than 500 of OpenAI’s 700 employees signed a letter requesting the board resign. “The process through which you terminated Sam Altman ... jeopardized all of this work and undermined our mission and company,” read the letter. “Your actions have made it obvious that you are incapable of overseeing AI.” [X] 

• On Sunday, mental health advocate and former first lady Rosalynn Carter died. She was 96. During her husband Jimmy Carter's presidency, she “revolutionized” the role of first lady — testifying before Congress, and attending Cabinet meetings. [NPR]

• A series of fall thunderstorms will likely disrupt Thanksgiving travel in the US this week. Rain and snow across the central and southern US threaten what’s expected to be the busiest travel season in years. [CNN]
  

• On Monday, 28 premature babies were moved from Gaza to Egypt to receive medical care. Most of the babies were then taken to nearby hospitals in the North Sinai province. At least 12 of the babies require emergency medical treatment and will be airlifted to Cairo. [ABC News]
  

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Today’s crossword

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