Achi news desk-
Billions of dollars worth of US weapons remain on the way to Israel, despite a delay in sending one shipment of bombs and a review of others by President Joe Biden’s administration, concerned that their use in an attack could wreak more havoc on Palestinian civilians.
The administration delayed a shipment of 2,000-pound heavy bombs to Israel after reviewing the delivery of weapons that Israel could use for a major assault on Rafah, a city in southern Gaza where more than a million civilians have sought refuge, the Defense Secretary confirmed. the United States Lloyd Austin in public Wednesday.
Washington has long urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government not to invade Rafah without safeguards for civilians, seven months into a war that has devastated Gaza.
Congressional aides estimated the delay in sending bombs to be worth “tens of millions” of US dollars.
A wide range of other military equipment is set to go to Israel, including joint direct attack weapons (JDAMS), which convert silent bombs into precision weapons; and tank rounds, mortars and armored tactical vehicles, Senator Jim Risch, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters.
Risch said those munitions were not moving through the approval process as quickly as they should have been, noting that some had been in the works since December, while aid to Israel more typically sails through the review process within weeks.
Biden administration officials have said they are reviewing additional arms sales, and Biden warned Israel in a CNN interview Wednesday that the United States would stop supplying weapons if Israeli forces make a major breakthrough in Rafah.
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Israel’s attack on Gaza was triggered by an October 7 attack by Islamist militants Hamas, which killed 1,200 through its airstrikes. The ensuing Israeli bombardment has killed around 35,000 Palestinians, according to local health authorities, and displaced most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people.
Separately, Representative Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has blocked an $18 billion arms transfer package to Israel that would include dozens of Boeing Co. planes. F-15 as he waits for 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, as he runs for re-election this year. It led to a wave of “non-committed” protest votes in primaries and has sparked pro-Palestinian protests at US universities.
None of those 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 US lawmakers – the Senate Foreign Relations chairman and ranking member and the House Foreign Affairs chairman and ranking member – who review major foreign arms deals.
Israel will ‘fight with their nails,’ Netanyahu said
Netanyahu issued a video statement on Thursday saying Israelis would “fight with their nails” in an apparent rebuke of Biden.
Republicans accused Biden of backing his commitments to Israel.
“If the Commander-in-Chief cannot muster the political courage to stand up to radicals on his left flank and stand up for an ally in the war, the consequences will be dire,” Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said in a speech in the Senedd .
McConnell and Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson sent a letter to Biden on Wednesday asking for information about the review that led to the delay in the shipment of bombs.
Ten other Senate Republicans held a press conference Thursday to announce a non-binding resolution condemning “any action by the Biden Administration to freeze or limit arms to Israel.”
White House National Security spokesman John Kirby told reporters that Israel still has the weapons it needs to defend itself. “He (a Biden) is going to continue to provide the capabilities that Israel needs, all of them,” Kirby said.
Some Congressional Democrats welcomed Biden’s action.
Senator Chris Murphy, the Democratic chairman of the Mideast Foreign Relations subcommittee, cited concern about Rafah.
“I don’t think it is in our strategic or moral interest to help Israel conduct an operation in Rafah that is likely to kill thousands of innocent civilians and likely not affect the long-term strength of Hamas in a meaningful way,” he told Reuters.
