The US is reported to have made more than 100 weapons sales to Israel, including thousands of bombs, since the start of the war in Gaza, but the deliveries escaped congressional oversight because each transaction was under the dollar amount requiring approval.
“This doesn’t just seem like an attempt to avoid technical compliance with US arms export law, it’s an extremely troubling way to avoid transparency and accountability on a high-profile issue,” Ari Tolany, director of the security assistance monitor at the Centre for International Policy thinktank, said.
She added that, in exploiting the loophole, the Biden administration was following the steps of its predecessor. “They’re very much borrowing from the Trump playbook to dodge congressional oversight,” Tolany said.
In defending its continued arms sales to Israel, despite ever more public misgivings about its conduct of the Gaza war, the administration has argued that they are part of the US’s basic commitment to Israel’s self defence.
Your tone is aggressively confrontational, but you’re agreeing with what I explained to you in the previous comment.
Thanks.
I disagree with your idea of rapid policy reversal or that Biden has changed his support (anymore than empty rhetoric), but for the most part we agree. I didn’t intend any confrontational tone, but I like providing sources to help spread awareness
Sources are important, as is context.
Two forms of contexts are important here: 1) rational historical context and 2) influential and active diplomatic context
1)Withholding weapons from one of the longest active allies of the US is an unreasonable expectation in such a short time frame immediately following such a complex terrorist attack and more than half a century of active mutual defense between the US and Israel.
The short time frame is especially important here as a ties into context two, as the US is an indirect party to this conflict and has to ascertain and verify intelligence before making any sort of major policy decision.
He’s practically proven over 16 years that he has no problem with Palestinian colonization, invasion and executions by the IDF, and now with Oct. 7th has a huge excuse that for at least a month was globally and popularly supported.
The defence ministry of Israel stated that Palestinians are animals and Israel is behaving accordingly.
Israel is a militarized state with mandatory military service and the Israeli civilian population widely abohors Palestinians as much as the government and military do.
So you have an executive branch, the military, and most of the general population with more than enough weapons from dozens of countries willing to kill literally every palestinian from dozens of countries constantly flowing in and a legacy of global popular support, being directed by a dictator to respond violently to an admittedly horrific terrorist attack.
How can you stop them?
You want Biden and the US, who is not a direct party to this conflict, to immediately break off the 70-year alliance and stop sending them weapons?
Israel has plenty of other weapons and plenty of other countries supplying weapons.
The us cutting funding and weapons won’t stop Israel pursuing this genocide, but it will remove any American influence in Israeli policy and severely damage America’s practical policy-making diplomatic influence and reputation.
Now think about the steps that have been taken so far.
For a month following the oct. 7 attack, the entire world acted as they have always done, saying they stand with Israel and darn those evil hamas terrorists.
Then it’s repeatedly irrefutably proven and documented in real time that Israel is lying about many military justifications, is severely prejudiced against Palestinians and is continuing a 70 year long policy of illegal colonization and genocide.
Second month occurs, Biden says that they still stand with Palestine, but the rhetoric is obviously chilled.
January comes up, netanyahu says that they’re going to completely demilitarize Palestine and Palestinians will not ever have a country, shows everybody a map without Palestine on it at all.
Biden says the US supports a two-state solution.
Netanyahu says that this war will continue for years, biden tells him that the US won’t support an extended war.
We come to February, last month, the Biden administration sends aid be given to Gaza despite Israel’s insistence that no aid be given, and asks the pentagon to come up with land, sea and air aid packages for Palestine.
Biden holds talks with a political opponent of netanyahu, Benny gantz.
Israeli settlers make a new push to illegally colonized Palestinian land, so Biden enacts specific sanctions against those settlerd, financially and travel based.
Then, all of a sudden after these measures that contradict and directly circumvent netanyahu by supporting and even dropping aid directly to Palestinians, israel is suddenly ready for a ceasefire.
If the biden administration was as inactive as people who don’t care about the full story assume, that ceasefire deal would not have been possible.
There’s no practical reason for them to stop. They have enough weapons and technology and funding to, as trump encouraged them to do “finish the problem”.
But Biden made sure of the facts, then progressively contradicted specific stated policies of netanyahu, enactrf sanctions against Israeli settlers, held talks with a political rival of netanyahu, then directly supported Palestinians by providing aid.
These are clear escalating steps in diplomatically convincing Israel to stand down that retain American international influence, and Israel has already agreed to a ceasefire.
Israel was pressured with multiple actions, not empty rhetoric, and that pressure worked and is still working.