Despite the Biden administration has been critical of Israel’s invasion of Rafah and has warned that Israel limits its attack, Washington just announced another $1 billion in military aid to Tel Aviv.
According to White House officials, the Biden administration just approved this Tuesday a new aid package to Israel worth over $1 billion amid the invasion of Rafah by the Israeli military. “The President has told key lawmakers it is sending a new package of more than $1 billion in arms and ammunition to Israel,” a White House official noted.
This new aid package would be in total contrast with Biden’s last week announcement when he said he would freeze sales of offensive weapons includes ammunition for tanks, mortar rounds and tactical vehicles to Israel to keep it from using the bombs in its growing offensive in the crowded southern Gaza city of Rafah.
Asserting that the new aid package has not yet been made public, the official also said that “the package being sent includes about $700 million for tank ammunition, $500 million in tactical vehicles and $60 million in mortar rounds.”
It was first the Wall Street Journal that reported the plan to move the package but didn’t specify when the arms would be sent to Israel.
Senate is making things easier for Israel amid Rafah invasion!
House Republicans have also been supportive of Israel’s invasion of Rafah and they are planning this week to advance a bill to mandate the delivery of offensive weaponry for the Israeli military to put in use in Rafah.
This has created a new internal challenge for Washington as the Biden administration has said it is opposed to such a radical move. The White House said this Tuesday that Biden would veto the bill if it were to pass Congress. The bill also has practically no chance in the Democratic-controlled Senate. But House Democrats are somewhat divided on the issue, and roughly two dozen have signed onto a letter to the Biden administration saying they were “deeply concerned about the message” sent by pausing the bomb shipment.
“We strongly, strongly oppose attempts to constrain the President’s ability to deploy US security assistance consistent with US foreign policy and national security objectives,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said this week, adding that the administration plans to spend “every last cent” appropriated by Congress in the national security supplemental package that was signed into law by Biden last month.
But as the Senate is in charge of approving sales of weapons and military aid to foreign countries, things could most probably get worse as neither side seems to be willing to get off the high horse.
At the same time as Bide is telling the world that he is opposed to a massive invasion of Rafah by the Israeli military, agreeing to send a new aid package is at best ironical.
To make matters even worse, it was on the same Tuesday that the White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters in a briefing that the US would “continue to provide the military assistance provided in a $26 billion supplemental funding bill passed last month, but the White House paused the bombs because we do not believe they should be dropped in densely populated cities.”
