The State Department has told Congress it intends to approve the purchase of US-made weapons by Israel, the department’s arms transfer office said Friday.
It would be the last set of arms transfers to Israel by President Biden, and it represents a sign of continued support from the administration to long-time allies as the growing death toll in Israel’s war in Gaza has fueled growing opposition within his party to continued arms embargoes. to sell.
The weapons package includes artillery shells, small-scale bombs, missiles for warplanes and helicopters, and GPS guidance systems for the bombs, according to an informal briefing provided by two congressional committees. Many of the weapons will not be for immediate use but will instead enter the production pipeline, and delivery may take years.
Israel will use the money given by the United States to buy weapons. Annual aid was about $3 billion, but Mr. Biden increased that amount after Israel began fighting in Gaza following a terrorist attack by Hamas that left nearly 1,200 people dead on October 7, 2023.
During the informal notice period, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the Foreign Affairs Committee are expected to review the proposed sale and ask questions of the State Department. They can hold the transfer if they are in doubt. Top Democrats on both committees were highly skeptical of arms transfers to Israel, while top Republicans quickly gave their approval.
If the top four members give approval to the State Department, the agency will give Congress formal notice, meaning the proposed sale will go through. Congress would need a two-thirds vote in each house to pass a resolution blocking the sale.
The informal announcement was previously reported by Axios.
Arms transfers to Israel have been a contentious issue that has drawn Mr. Biden among liberals. In November’s presidential election, some progressive voters and American Muslim voters said they would not be able to back Mr. Biden because of his support for Israel.
Israeli forces, supplied with American weapons, have killed more than 45,000 Palestinians, including many civilians, during the war, according to the Gaza health ministry. Critics of Israel’s conduct in the war have urged Mr Biden to withhold arms aid to Israel to pressure it to halt its military operations, which have devastated much of Gaza.
Mr. Biden and his top aides, including Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, have tried to walk a fine line, sometimes criticizing Israel’s actions even as they say Israel has a right to defend itself. At one time, Mr. Biden said he was withholding one shipload of 2,000 bombs to Israel to try to stop it from destroying Rafah, a city in southern Gaza, but Israeli forces reduced most of Rafah to rubble anyway.
At one point, the Biden administration proposed an order for 24,000 guns out of concern that settlers in the West Bank could use guns in violence against Palestinians there.
President-elect Donald J. Trump, who has a history of staunch support for Israel and backed heavy weapons shipments to the Jewish state during his first administration, has been urging Israel and Hamas to enter into a cease-fire agreement before he takes office this month. .
American officials working under Mr. Biden is trying to make a deal now to get the hostages taken from the Oct. 7 were released.
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