The Biden administration is said to be threatening to withdraw key aspects of US military aid to Israel if it doesn't reign in the devastating humanitarian situation in Gaza.
Like with prior such 'warnings' (this isn't the first), the message seems more timed for the November election. Kamala Harris has wedded herself to Biden's policies on Israel and Gaza, alienating Arab-Americans in some key swing states like Michigan, where the 'uncommitted' movement is growing.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin this week issued a letter to the Israeli government telling it to take "urgent and sustained action" to reverse course on the spiraling humanitarian situation in Gaza or risking seeing select US military assistance cut off. The US has reportedly given Israel 30 days to demonstrate progress.
"The Departments of State and Defense must continually assess your government’s adherence to your March 2024 assurances that Israel would ‘facilitate and not arbitrarily deny, restrict, or otherwise impede, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance’ to and within Gaza," the letter states.
It continues: "The Department of State will need to conduct a similar assessment under section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act in order to provide additional Foreign Military Financing assistance to Israel. We are now writing to underscore the U.S. government’s deep concern over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza, and seek urgent and sustained actions by your government this month to reverse this trajectory."
The allegations come after several NGOs and rights groups have allege that Israel has blocked vital aid from getting into the Gaza Strip, including aid sent from the US.
"Blinken and Austin raise alarm in the letter that the amount of aid entering Gaza has dropped by 50 percent compared to assurances provided in March and April," The Hill notes.
This also comes as Israel has begun to lose the NY Times. Its opinion editor wrote on Tuesday:
A recent opinion essay gathered first-hand testimonies from 65 U.S.-based health professionals who worked in Gaza over the past year, who shared more than 160 photographs and videos with Times Opinion to corroborate their detailed accounts of treating preteen children who were shot in the head or chest. Following publication, some readers questioned the accuracy of the accounts and the authenticity of three CT images shown. Those criticisms are unfounded.
...While our editors have photographs to corroborate the CT scan images, because of their graphic nature, we decided these photos — of children with gunshot wounds to the head or neck — were too horrific for publication.
Despite all of this, throughout the totality of the conflict and amid an avalanche of allegations of war crimes against Israel's military (often involving use of American-supplied weapons), the Biden administration has merely paused one single shipment of bombs - it appears based on public reporting.
The reality is that Washington is unlikely to ever significantly block military aid to Israel, no matter what its actions are. This will remain true whether a Republication or Democratic administration is in the White House.