News Brief

Israel’s gross national product (GNP) is estimated between $22-$23 billion and one quarter of it goes to defense and defense-related needs, according to Prof. Eitan Berglass, a leading economist, in a report to a joint panel of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Security Committee and Finance Committee. Berglass noted that Israel pays to the U.S. each year about $1 billion in interest and principal on military aid loans. That burden has been eased.