Biden Administration Halts Weapons Shipment to Israel

Weeks after President Joe Biden signed a bill to allow weapons to keep flowing to Israel, the Biden administration is preventing some weapons from reaching it.

Last week, the Biden administration halted a planned shipment of bombs to Israel because it does not want Israel to attack Rafah, a city in southern Gaza where Israel believes the last major organized Hamas forces have gathered, according to Reuters. Other shipments have been halted for two weeks.

The official, who Reuters did not name, said that once it seemed clear Israel would defy the Biden administration, “We began to carefully review proposed transfers of particular weapons to Israel that might be used in Rafah.”

“As a result of that review, we have paused one shipment of weapons last week. It consists of 1,800 2,000-lb bombs and 1,700 500-lb bombs,” the official said.

Trending:

Watch: Trump Sidesteps Judge’s Gag Order, Reads CNN’s News Report on the Trial

“We are especially focused on the end-use of the 2,000-lb bombs and the impact they could have in dense urban settings as we have seen in other parts of Gaza. We have not made a final determination on how to proceed with this shipment,” the official said.

The report noted that some of the weaponry stopped would convert bombs that are not precision-guided into ordinance that can be precisely targeted.

Should the Biden administration be more supportive of Israel?

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the administration’s commitment to Israel was “ironclad.”

In speaking about the stalled shipment, she said, “Two things could be true, in the sense of having those conversations, tough, direct conversations with our counterparts in Israel … in making sure citizens’ lives are protected … and getting that commitment.”

The delays were the first since Israel responded to the Oct. 7 terrorist attack by Hamas by invading Gaza.

Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said differences between the U.S. and Israel would be resolved “behind closed doors,” according to the Times of Israel.

Preferring to dwell on the positive, he said American support for Israel has assumed “a scope without precedent, I think, in Israel’s history.”

He sidestepped any definitive comment about an Israeli attack on Rafah.

Related:

Israel Shuts Down News Outlet, Takes Them Off the Air for Being a ‘Hamas Mouthpiece’

“We will deal with Rafah in a way that is right for us,” Hagari said, adding, “even after we deal with Rafah, there will be terrorism. Hamas will move north and try to regroup, even in the coming days. Wherever Hamas returns to, both in the north and in the center of the Strip, we will return to action.”

This week, the State Department will deliver a report passing judgment on Israel’s use of weapons in Gaza, according to the Times of Israel.

“That is our intention, to provide it on time,” State Department representative Matthew Miller said on Monday. The report is due Wednesday.

In February, Biden began to require foreign aid recipients to prove they are abiding by international law and not blocking humanitarian aid.


An Important Message from Our Staff:

 

In just a few months, the world is going to change forever. The 2024 election is the single most important election of our lifetime. 

 

We here at The Western Journal are committed to covering it in a way the establishment media simply will not: We will tell the truth, and they will lie.

 

But Big Tech and the elites don’t want the truth out. That’s why they have cut us off from 90% of advertisers. Imagine if someone cut your monthly income by 90%. That’s what they’ve done to people like us. 

 

As a staff, we are asking you to join us to fight this once-in-a-lifetime fight. Without you not only will The Western Journal fail, but America will fail also. As Benjamin Franklin said, “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.”

 

Will you support The Western Journal today and become a member

 

A Western Journal Membership costs less than one coffee and breakfast sandwich each month, and it gets you access to ALL of our content — news, commentary, and premium articles. You’ll experience a radically reduced number of ads, and most importantly you will be vitally supporting the fight for America’s soul in 2024.

 

This is the time. America will live or die based on what happens this year. Please join us to get the real truth out and to fight the elites, Big Tech, and the people who want America to fail. Together, we really can save the country.

 

Thank you for your support!

 

P.S. Please stand with us!



Source link