According to the report, the sales included thousands of precision-guided munitions, small-diameter bombs and other weapons. They did not need to first be approved by Congress as the cost of each sale fell below the minimum amount that would require them to be considered, according to the report.
Speaking to the Washington Post, former Biden administration official Jeremy Konyndyk said that the "extraordinary number of sales over the course of a pretty short amount of time" suggests that Israel would not be able to maintain its operation against Hamas
...a regional Iranian catspaw,...in Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with an iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about
oppressionand
disproportionate response...
"without this level of US support." Konyndyk is the current president of Refugees International and has called on the US to use weapons sales to pressure Israel to cease fire in Gaza.
State Department front man Matt Miller tells the Washington Post that the Biden administration has "followed the procedures Congress itself has specified to keep members well-informed and regularly briefs members even when formal notification is not a legal requirement."
US officials have "engaged Congress" on arms deliveries to Israel "more than 200 times" since October, Miller says.
The report says a senior State Department official declined to provide the total number of all US weapons transferred to Israel, or their costs, since October 7, but says they include new sales and "active" Foreign Military Sales or FMSs
"These are items that are typical for any modern military, including one that is as sophisticated as Israel’s," the official says.
Biden reportedly mulling moves to keep Israel from using American weapons in Rafah
[IsraelTimes] The US is apparently considering taking steps to prevent Israel from using American arms on a planned offensive in the southern Gazan city of Rafah, the Washington Post says.
Trial balloon planted with a friendly editorialist by someone in the administration, since we know poor President Biden isn’t capable of mulling anymore.
Columnist David Ignatius writes that US President Joe Biden and other officials “haven’t made any decision about imposing “conditionality” on U.S. weapons. But the very fact that officials seem to be debating this extreme step shows the administration’s growing concern about the crisis in Gaza.”“If Israel launches an offensive in Rafah without adequately protecting the displaced civilian population, it may precipitate an unprecedented crisis in U.S.-Israel relations, even involving arms supplies,” former US ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk is quoted saying.
The column also says that the US appears to have backed off hopes for a diplomatic initiative pairing Saudi normalization with a pathway to a Palestinian state.
Ignatius, sometimes seen as a cipher for administration thinking, telegraphs deep White House frustrations with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Behind the growing tension with Netanyahu is Biden’s feeling that Israel hasn’t been listening to U.S. warnings and advice, and that the U.S.-Israeli relationship has been a one-way street,” he writes. “The administration feels it supports Israeli interests, at considerable political cost at home and abroad, while Netanyahu isn’t responsive to American requests. Israel argues that any space between U.S. and Israeli policy only benefits Hamas. But Israel doesn’t make compromises to narrow that gap.”
White House said to ask for list of upcoming arms sales to Israel
[IsraelTimes] The White House is seeking information about upcoming arms transfers to Israel, Axios reports, but US officials cited by the news outlet insist the move is unconnected to recent murmurs suggesting the administration could rethink weapons sales to Israel.
The report, quoting four US officials, says US President Joe Biden requested that the State Department and Pentagon provide lists of arms set to be shipped to Israel or up for approval.
However, officials describe the move as routine and deny it signals any intention to cut or slow down military. One official says the request was made so the White House can check the transfers against a list provided by Jerusalem of weapons being prioritized by Israel.
“The source added the White House wanted the list in order to help the State Department in prioritizing specific arms transfers and to see if there are any issues that demand White House ‘deconfliction.'”
Nonetheless, the timing of the request, the first such ask since October 7 according to Axios, raises eyebrows. Earlier Thursday, The Washington Post reported that US officials had informed Congress that over 100 arms shipments were sent to Israel in five months of war, and another report in the paper suggested that the administration was mulling slapping restrictions on military aid to ensure its weapons are not used in an Israeli offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
Axios also reports that Israel’s cabinet will in the coming days discuss signed assurances sought by Washington regarding the use of arms sold by the US, which could imperil weapons transfers if not provided by March 25.