Israel Set to Receive Billions of Dollars More in US Weapons Despite Biden Pause

Washington:

Billions of dollars in U.S. weaponry remains in the pipeline for Israel, despite the delay of one shipment of bombs and the review of others by President Joe Biden’s administration, concerned that their use in an attack could cause further devastation to Palestinian civilians.

A senior US official said this week that the administration had reviewed the delivery of weapons that Israel could use for a major invasion of Rafah, a city in southern Gaza where more than 1 million civilians have sought refuge, and as a result halted a shipment of bombs for Israel.

Washington has long urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government not to invade Rafah without safeguards for civilians, seven months after the start of a war that devastated Gaza.

Congressional aides estimated the value of the delay in shipping the bomb at “tens of millions” of US dollars.

A wide range of other military equipment is expected to go to Israel, including joint direct attack munitions (JDAMS), which convert dumb bombs into precision weapons; and shells from tanks, mortars and armored tactical vehicles, Sen. Jim Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters.

Risch said these munitions were not moving through the approval process as quickly as they should have, noting that some had been in the works since December, while assistance to Israel typically goes through the review process within weeks.

Biden administration officials have said they are reviewing additional arms sales, and Biden warned Israel in an interview with CNN on Wednesday that the US would stop supplying weapons if Israeli forces made a major invasion of Rafah.

Israel’s attack on Gaza was triggered by an attack on October 7, carried out by Islamic Hamas agents, which, according to their calculations, killed 1,200 people. The subsequent Israeli bombing killed around 35,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, and displaced the majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million inhabitants.

Separately, Rep. Gregory Meeks, top Democrat on the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, suspended an $18 billion arms transfer package to Israel that would have included dozens of Boeing Co. F-15 aircraft pending more information on how Israel would use them.

Biden’s support for Israel in its war against Hamas has emerged as a political liability for the president, especially among young Democrats, who is running for re-election this year. This fueled a wave of “disengaged” protest votes in the primaries and sparked pro-Palestinian protests at US universities.

None of these arms deals are part of a spending package signed by Biden last month that included about $26 billion to support Israel and provide humanitarian aid.

Risch and Meeks are two of four U.S. lawmakers — the chairman and ranking member for Foreign Affairs of the Senate and the chairman and ranking member for Foreign Affairs of the House — who review major foreign arms deals.

‘NAILS’

Netanyahu released a video statement on Thursday saying Israelis would “fight with their fingernails,” in an apparent rebuff to Biden.

Republicans accused Biden of backtracking on his commitments to Israel. “If the commander in chief cannot muster the political courage to confront the radicals on his left flank and defend an ally in war, the consequences will be grave,” Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said in a speech on the Senate floor. .

Ten other Senate Republicans held a press conference to announce a non-binding resolution condemning “any action by the Biden administration to withhold or restrict weapons for Israel.”

White House Homeland Security spokesman John Kirby told reporters that Israel was still obtaining the weapons it needed to defend itself. “He (Biden) will continue to provide Israel with the capabilities it needs, all of them,” Kirby said.

Some congressional Democrats welcomed Biden’s action.

Senator Chris Murphy, Democratic chairman of the Middle East Foreign Relations subcommittee, cited concerns about Rafah.

“I do not believe it is in our strategic or moral interest to help Israel conduct a campaign in Rafah that is likely to kill thousands of innocent civilians and will not have a significant impact on Hamas’s long-term strength,” he told Reuters.

(Except the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)