President Biden late last week notified Congress that he will approve a last massive arms sale to Israel before leaving office. Axios reported on Friday, "The State Department has notified Congress 'informally' of an $8 billion proposed arms deal with Israel that will include munitions for fighter jets and attack helicopters as well as artillery shells."
The Biden White House is persisting in this despite being punished in the polls by the Progressive wing of Democrats, including in key states like Michigan, which has a large Arab-American population. The Israel issue assisted with Trump's sailing to an easy victory as these communities wanted to 'punish' Biden and the Democrats.
At this point Gaza health sources have said that at least 45,000 Palestinians have died in the Gaza war since the Hamas terror attack of Oct.7, 2023.
Amnesty International is among those humanitarian bodies alleging that Israel is conducting a genocide in Gaza and is calling on all countries to cut off the flow of arms.
"States that continue to transfer arms to Israel at this time must know they are violating their obligation to prevent genocide and are at risk of becoming complicit in genocide," said Agnès Callamard, Amnesty's secretary-general.
"All states with influence over Israel, particularly key arms suppliers like the USA and Germany, but also other EU member states, the UK and others, must act now to bring Israel’s atrocities against Palestinians in Gaza to an immediate end," she added.
Below is a partial list of the most controversial items to be included in the new sale:
- AIM-120C-8 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles
- Hellfire AGM-114 missiles
- 155 MM artillery rounds
- small-diameter bombs
- JDAM kits
- 500-pound bombs
Many of the above US weapons, especially the 500-pound bombs, have been condemned by rights groups and among some European politicians as causing mass civilian casualties. Israel has claimed it hits Hamas targets in precision strikes, but a 500-pound bomb is by design meant to inflict destruction with a large radius.
The Washington Post wrote in October, "The Biden administration has received nearly 500 reports alleging Israel used U.S.-supplied weapons for attacks that caused unnecessary harm to civilians in the Gaza Strip."
As for the incoming Trump administration, it is expected to sustain massive US taxpayer funded support to Israel's defense, despite the "America First" mantra. Both sides of the aisle in Congress are united especially in their unwavering and blank check support to Israel. It is a key element of US foreign policy that never changes.