Outgoing US administration plans $8 billion arms sale to Israel
The outgoing administration of US President Joe Biden reportedly plans to propose to the Israeli regime an $8 billion arms deal as part of Washington’s unflinching support to the occupying entity’s genocidal war in the besieged Gaza Strip.
The American news website Axios cited two unnamed sources with direct knowledge of the matter as saying on Friday that the US State Department had notified Congress “informally” of an $8 billion proposed arms deal with Israel.
The package includes munitions for fighter jets and attack helicopters as well as artillery shells, small-diameter bombs and warheads, it said.
The Virginia-based news website cited one of the sources as saying that the arms sale, which needs approval from the House and Senate foreign relations committees, is aimed at “supporting Israel’s long-term security by resupplying stocks of critical munitions and air defense capabilities.”
Underscoring the Biden administration’s support for Israel against what was claimed to be “aggression from Iran and its proxy organizations,” the source said, “We will continue to provide the capabilities necessary for Israel’s defense.”
The deal, which is likely to be the last weapons sale Biden approves for Israel, comes a few months after his administration okayed the sale of $20 billion in fighter jets and other military equipment to the regime despite worldwide demand for an arms embargo against Tel Aviv amid the 15-month-old war on Gaza.
Biden is due to leave the White House on January 20, with Republican President-elect Donald Trump succeeding him to advance Washington’s pro-Israel policies and fuel the regime’s war machine.
Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against the Israeli regime in response to its decades-long campaign of oppression against Palestinians.
The regime’s bloody onslaught on Gaza has so far killed at least 45,658 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 108,583 others. Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under rubble.
Washington, Israel’s biggest ally and weapons supplier, has repeatedly vetoed UN Security Council resolutions on a ceasefire in Gaza
In November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel is also facing a genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for its atrocities in Gaza.
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