US considers major new weapons sale to Israel

The Biden administration is mulling a serious new arms sale to Israel amid calls to cease sending weapons to the ally as civilian casualties in Gaza mount, The Hill confirmed Monday. 

The U.S. authorities is contemplating promoting Israel as much as 50 new F-15 fighter jets, 30 AIM-120 Superior Medium-Vary Air-to-Air Missiles, in addition to Joint Direct Assault Munition kits, gear that may alter dumb bombs into precision-guided weapons, Politico first reported. 

A Home International Affairs Committee aide later confirmed to The Hill that the administration informally notified the related congressional panels of the sale. 

The aide confirmed that “the chairman authorized the transaction to proceed to formal congressional notification.”

The Pentagon referred questions in regards to the attainable sale to the State Division, which didn’t reply to a request for remark. 

The sale, which continues to be pending U.S. authorities approval, comes as there are rising requires President Biden to withhold arms for Israel if it gained’t take actions to restrict civilian casualties within the Gaza Strip. A brutal air and floor marketing campaign launched by the Israeli army towards Hamas militants within the enclave since October has already killed greater than 31,000 Palestinians, the bulk ladies and kids.

Many, together with these inside Biden’s personal occasion, have additionally argued that the commander in chief ought to refuse to present Israel weapons ought to it launch a large-scale invasion into Gaza’s southern metropolis of Rafah. Greater than 1 million Palestinian civilians are sheltering there after being pushed from northern components of the territory as a consequence of combating. 

American officers have warned towards a floor invasion of the town with out an accepted plan to maneuver civilians from hurt’s manner.  

Senate International Relations Committee member Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) mentioned Sunday the USA must make use of its “leverage” to make sure humanitarian support reaches Gaza. He additionally criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying he “continues to rebuff the president of the USA time and time once more.” 

“We now have totally different components of leverage and one in every of them is sending extra offensive weapons. So, President Biden must be as critical about making certain extra humanitarian help will get into Gaza as Netanyahu has been in making his calls for,” Van Hollen mentioned on ABC Information’s “This Week.” 

He added, “So, my view … is till the Netanyahu authorities permits extra help into Gaza, to assist people who find themselves actually ravenous to loss of life, we shouldn’t be sending extra bombs.” 

And Josh Paul, who labored for the State Division for greater than a decade, resigned in October in protest of Biden’s dealing with of the Israel-Hamas warfare, writing in his resignation letter that the hurt brought on by the “provision of deadly arms to Israel” outweighed the nice he might do in his function.