US approves arms sale to Israel amidst strained ties

President Joe Biden’s administration recently authorized the transfer of military equipment, including bombs and aircraft, to Israel despite its concerns about the next phase in the war against Hamas in Gaza.

This military aid legislation, which Congress approved years ago, includes more than 1,800 MK84 2,000-pound bombs and 500 MK82 500-pound bombs, the Washington Post reported, citing Pentagon and State Department officials familiar with the matter. The State Department also authorized the transfer of 25 F-35A fighter jets and engines, per the Post.

“We are unable to confirm potential or pending U.S. arms transfers before they are formally notified to Congress,” a State Department spokesperson told the Washington Examiner, adding, “In accordance with the Arms Export Control Act, fulfilling an authorization from one notification to Congress can result in dozens of individual [Foreign Military Sales] cases across the decadeslong life cycle of the congressional notification.”

Congress authorized the United States to provide the equipment to Israel years ago.

The Biden administration has faced calls from more progressive members of his own party to condition U.S. aid to Israel, or to stop it altogether, due to the increasing death toll and destruction in Gaza. Despite that criticism, the president has remained supportive of Israel’s efforts to defeat Hamas, though he has repeatedly urged Israel to do more to prevent civilian casualties and to let more aid into the strip.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) shared the Post’s story on X, calling the administration’s decision “obscene.”

“The U.S. cannot beg [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu to stop bombing civilians one day and the next send him thousands more 2,000 lb. bombs that can level entire city blocks,” Sanders wrote. “This is obscene. We must end our complicity: No more bombs to Israel.”

The administration does not support Israel’s intention to carry out a ground operation in Rafah, the southern city along the Gaza-Egypt border. Israeli officials have said they need to carry out large-scale operations in the city in order to defeat the remaining Hamas battalions.

The Biden administration supports Israel’s efforts to go after those battalions but believes a ground invasion would pose grave threats to the more than 1 million Palestinians who are sheltering in Rafah with nowhere to go.

The U.S. is hoping to convince Israeli leaders that they can achieve their war goals without a Rafah ground invasion. U.S. officials were hoping to express that sentiment to two of Netanyahu’s top advisers, but the prime minister canceled the trip after a U.S. abstention allowed a United Nations Security Council resolution about the war to pass.

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