Achi news desk-
US President Joe Biden has secretly authorized billions of dollars in new bombs and fighter jets for Israel in recent days, according to a report published on Friday.
Israel’s war on Gaza continues to rage with widespread destruction, displacement and death throughout the coastal enclave. Tel Aviv has vowed to take its offensive to the southern city of Rafah where some 1.5 million displaced people have sought refuge despite warning of the humanitarian consequences that would follow.
The weapons approved this week by the US president include 1,800 2,000-pound MK84 bombs and 500 500-pound MK82 bombs, unnamed State and Defense Department officials told the Washington Post newspaper. The State Department last week approved the transfer of 25 F-35A jets and fighter jets, a US official added.
The planes and engines are estimated to be worth about $2.5 billion.
The sale has not been publicly notified, and there are no corresponding announcements on the Defense Security Cooperation Agency website where such notices are usually posted.
Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been increasingly at odds in recent weeks, most recently clashing after the US failed to veto a UN Security Council resolution demanding immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Netanyahu retaliated by abruptly postponing a planned visit to Washington by an Israeli interagency delegation that was to discuss US alternatives to the Israeli attack on Rafah. The meeting is now being rescheduled. But the row does not appear to have affected Biden’s willingness to continue supplying arms to Israel.
The decision to quietly greenlight billions of dollars in weapons comes over the demands of a growing number of Biden’s fellow Democrats who have urged the president to condition any additional arms provision to Israel on its military behavior and remove obstacles to the provision of international humanitarian aid .
Two weeks ago, half a dozen Democratic senators sent a letter to Biden urging him to stop the sale of arms to Tel Aviv, because it is currently in violation of a 1961 law that prohibits the sale of arms to nations that impede the provision of aid American.
“The United States should not provide military aid to any country that interferes with US humanitarian aid,” wrote senators Bernie Sanders, Chris Van Hollen, Jeff Merkley, Mazie Hirono, Peter Welch, Tina Smith, Elizabeth Warren and Ben Ray Lujan.
“Federal law is clear, and, given the urgency of the crisis in Gaza, and the fact that Prime Minister Netanyahu has repeatedly refused to address US concerns on this matter, it is necessary take immediate action to ensure a policy change from his government,” they added. .
