[FOX] The Biden administration told Congress it would waive sanctions on military sales to several Middle Eastern nations the day before President Biden himself publicly declared that the U.S. would not give Israel offensive aid if it invaded Rafah.Some of those countries have been accused playing an active role in the proliferation of Hamas and other terror groups intent on wiping Israel off the map.
The State Department sent Congress a notification on Tuesday that it would extend existing sanctions waivers for Lebanon, Iraq, Kuwait, Yemen Libya, Qatar and Saudi Arabia through April 30, 2025, according to a copy of the notice obtained by Fox News Digital on Friday.
Biden made the high-stakes ultimatum to Israel's government in a CNN interview that aired Wednesday night as it prepares for a ground invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah. The city is currently home to more than a million Palestinians who left other parts of the Gaza Strip, where Israel has conducted its mission to eradicate the terrorist group Hamas.
President Biden said Israel would continue to see U.S. support for its defensive systems, like the Iron Dome, in the CNN interview. He added, however, that "if they go into Rafah, I'm not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities, that deal with that problem."
The day before, however, the administration appears to have quietly greenlit the sale of "defense articles or defense services" to countries the U.S. previously accused of engaging in anti-Israel boycotts, according to the document.
Under current law the president is allowed to implement and extend sanctions waivers on Arab nations boycotting Israel if the waiver "is in the national interest of the United States" and if the U.S. deems the waiver "objectives of eliminating the Arab League boycott."
The notice was first reported by the Washington Free Beacon.