The United States has “quietly approved and delivered” more than 100 separate foreign military sales to Israel since the Gaza war began Oct. 7, according to a Washington Post report.
The sales amount to thousands of precision-guided munitions, small-diameter bombs, bunker busters, small arms and other lethal aid, the newspaper said, adding that the administration of President Joe Biden had notified members of Congress about the matter in a recent classified briefing.
Only two approved foreign military sales to Israel have been made public since the start of conflict: $106 million worth of tank ammunition and $147.5 million of components needed to make 155 mm shells. Those sales invited public scrutiny because the Biden administration bypassed Congress to approve the packages by invoking an emergency authority.
But in the case of the 100 other transactions, the weapons transfers were processed without any public debate because each fell under a specific dollar amount that requires the executive branch to individually notify Congress, according to US officials and lawmakers.
State Department spokesman Matt Miller said the Biden administration has “followed the procedures Congress itself has specified to keep members well-informed and regularly briefs members even when formal notification is not a legal requirement.”
He added that US officials have “engaged Congress” on arms transfers to Israel “more than 200 times” since Hamas launched a cross-border attack into Israel.
The dearth of publicly available information about US arms sales to Israel leaves unclear how many of the most recent transfers amount to the routine supply of US security assistance to Israel.
A senior State Department official declined to provide the total number or cost of all US arms transferred to Israel since Oct. 7 but described them as a mix of new sales and “active FMS cases.”
Democrats Worried
US officials have warned the Israeli government against waging an offensive in Rafah in the Gaza Strip without a plan to evacuate civilians.
But some Democrats worry that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will disregard Washington’s pleas as he has other US demands to allow more food, water and medicine into the enclosed enclave, and to dial back the intensity of a military campaign that has leveled entire city blocks and destroyed huge numbers of homes across the strip, The Washington Post said.
Democrat Representative Jason Crow said in an interview that the Biden administration should apply “existing standards” stipulating that the United States “shouldn’t transfer arms or equipment to places where it’s reasonably likely that those will be used to inflict civilian casualties, or to harm civilian infrastructure.”
Crow, also a member of the House Intelligence and Foreign Affairs committees, recently petitioned Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, seeking information on “any restrictions” that the administration had put in place to ensure Israel was not using US intelligence to harm civilians or civilian infrastructure.
Also, Arab and Muslim Americans, in addition to leftist and Jewish NGOs are asking the Biden administration to back off from his biased Israel support.
In the Democratic presidential primary ballots, Arab and Muslim American voters casted an “uncommitted” vote instead of voting for Biden, the party’s nominee, driving fears the President will risk losing their votes in the November presidential election, giving the advantage to the likely Republican nominee, Donald Trump.
In return, House Republicans unveiled a $17.6 billion offering new military assistance to Israel as it wages war against Hamas while former President Donald Trump on Tuesday said Israel has to “finish the problem” in its war against in Gaza, hinting to the “Hamas Movement.”
