Biden considers $18bn arms transfer to Israel, including F-15 jets: Report
Biden faces pressure from foreign partners, rights groups and some fellow Democrats in Congress to impose conditions on arms transfers to Israel.
Accelerating delivery of the aircraft was among the top requests from Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant, who visited Washington last week and held talks with US officials including National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, a second source said.
Biden faces pressure from foreign partners, human rights groups and some of his fellow Democrats in Congress to impose conditions on arms transfers to rein in Israel’s offensive in Gaza where health officials say at least 32,845 Palestinians have been killed, many of them civilians.
One US official said that even if formal notification were sent to Congress tomorrow and the deal was finalised immediately, the earliest the aircraft would be delivered would be 2029. Israel is seeking to beef up its already formidable fleet of warplanes not just for its continuing fight against Hamas but to ward off any further threat from the Tehran-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah on its northern border as well as from regional rival Iran.
House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul gave the green light for the F-15 sale on January 30, a committee aide told Reuters, when the relevant congressional offices responsible for approving major arms transfers were notified.
“Administration-Congressional deliberations on the F-15 case have already occurred,” the second source familiar with the matter said, but added that some of the four officers required to sign off on any arms transfers had yet to do so.
US law requires Congress to be notified of significant foreign military sales agreements and allows it to block such sales by passing a resolution of disapproval if there is concern about human rights violations or other issues, although no such resolution has ever passed and survived a presidential veto.
An informal review process allows the Democratic and Republican leaders of foreign affairs committees to vet such agreements before a formal notification to Congress.
Biden faces pressure from foreign partners, rights groups and some fellow Democrats in Congress to impose conditions on arms transfers to Israel.
The sale is separate from the $14bn in aid for Israel that Biden has asked the Congress to approve as part of a sweeping $95bn national security package
Published On 2 Apr 2024
US President Joe Biden’s administration is weighing whether to go ahead with an $18bn arms transfer package to Israel that would include dozens of F-15 aircraft, according to the Reuters news agency.
The sale of 25 F-15s has been under review since the US received the formal request in January 2023, Reuters reported, citing one of five sources familiar with the plans, long before Israel’s six-month-old military campaign in Gaza. This sale would boost that number to as many as 50 F-15s.
[File: Miriam Alster/Reuters]
Published On 2 Apr 2024
US President Joe Biden’s administration is weighing whether to go ahead with an $18bn arms transfer package to Israel that would include dozens of F-15 aircraft, according to the Reuters news agency.
The sale of 25 F-15s has been under review since the US received the formal request in January 2023, Reuters reported, citing one of five sources familiar with the plans, long before Israel’s six-month-old military campaign in Gaza. This sale would boost that number to as many as 50 F-15s.
US doubles down on its defence of arming Israel despite Gaza atrocities
Accelerating delivery of the aircraft was among the top requests from Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant, who visited Washington last week and held talks with US officials including National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, a second source said.
Biden faces pressure from foreign partners, human rights groups and some of his fellow Democrats in Congress to impose conditions on arms transfers to rein in Israel’s offensive in Gaza where health officials say at least 32,845 Palestinians have been killed, many of them civilians.
One US official said that even if formal notification were sent to Congress tomorrow and the deal was finalised immediately, the earliest the aircraft would be delivered would be 2029. Israel is seeking to beef up its already formidable fleet of warplanes not just for its continuing fight against Hamas but to ward off any further threat from the Tehran-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah on its northern border as well as from regional rival Iran.
House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul gave the green light for the F-15 sale on January 30, a committee aide told Reuters, when the relevant congressional offices responsible for approving major arms transfers were notified.
“Administration-Congressional deliberations on the F-15 case have already occurred,” the second source familiar with the matter said, but added that some of the four officers required to sign off on any arms transfers had yet to do so.
US law requires Congress to be notified of significant foreign military sales agreements and allows it to block such sales by passing a resolution of disapproval if there is concern about human rights violations or other issues, although no such resolution has ever passed and survived a presidential veto.
An informal review process allows the Democratic and Republican leaders of foreign affairs committees to vet such agreements before a formal notification to Congress.
Planes, munitions and support
The Israel package includes 50 F-15 aircraft, and support services, training, maintenance, sustainment and many years of contractor support during the jets’ lifecycle, which could typically go for up to two decades, the sources told Reuters.
One source said the Biden administration had expressed support to Israel for its F-15 request. Washington has publicly expressed concern about Israel’s proposed military offensive in Rafah, the southernmost city of the Gaza Strip where many Palestinians have taken shelter after being displaced by Israel’s assault.
Israel is also facing accusations it has violated international humanitarian law – a set of rules aimed at protecting civilians in armed conflicts, including the Geneva Conventions.
Witnesses and rights groups have accused Israel of indiscriminate bombing, targeting civilian infrastructure, mistreating detainees, extrajudicial executions and using humanitarian aid as a weapon of war, among other abuses.
But last week, the State Department said it had not found Israel to be in violation of international humanitarian law in any incident.
This sale is separate from the $14bn in aid for Israel that Biden has asked Congress to approve as part of a sweeping $95bn national security supplemental spending package that also includes aid for Ukraine and Taiwan.
Washington gives $3.8bn in annual military assistance to Israel, and the administration has so far resisted calls to condition any arms transfers even though senior US officials have criticised Israel over the high civilian death toll.
On Sunday, Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley invoked the Easter holiday to condemn the war on Gaza.
“We must also recognise that America is complicit in this tragedy by resupplying Israel with bombs and failing to use America’s leverage to increase aid delivered into Gaza,” he wrote in a series of social media posts.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA, REUTERS
The Israel package includes 50 F-15 aircraft, and support services, training, maintenance, sustainment and many years of contractor support during the jets’ lifecycle, which could typically go for up to two decades, the sources told Reuters.
One source said the Biden administration had expressed support to Israel for its F-15 request. Washington has publicly expressed concern about Israel’s proposed military offensive in Rafah, the southernmost city of the Gaza Strip where many Palestinians have taken shelter after being displaced by Israel’s assault.
Israel is also facing accusations it has violated international humanitarian law – a set of rules aimed at protecting civilians in armed conflicts, including the Geneva Conventions.
Witnesses and rights groups have accused Israel of indiscriminate bombing, targeting civilian infrastructure, mistreating detainees, extrajudicial executions and using humanitarian aid as a weapon of war, among other abuses.
But last week, the State Department said it had not found Israel to be in violation of international humanitarian law in any incident.
This sale is separate from the $14bn in aid for Israel that Biden has asked Congress to approve as part of a sweeping $95bn national security supplemental spending package that also includes aid for Ukraine and Taiwan.
Washington gives $3.8bn in annual military assistance to Israel, and the administration has so far resisted calls to condition any arms transfers even though senior US officials have criticised Israel over the high civilian death toll.
On Sunday, Democratic Senator Jeff Merkley invoked the Easter holiday to condemn the war on Gaza.
“We must also recognise that America is complicit in this tragedy by resupplying Israel with bombs and failing to use America’s leverage to increase aid delivered into Gaza,” he wrote in a series of social media posts.
SOURCE: AL JAZEERA, REUTERS
By Adam Taylor
WASHINGTON POST
April 2, 2024
Israel has received more U.S. military aid — and more U.S. aid of any type — than any other country since World War II.
That assistance has long been a matter of ironclad, bipartisan near-consensus. But in recent months, it has come under mounting scrutiny, including from some Democratic legislators, amid the emergence of rifts between the United States and Israel over Israel’s conduct in its war in Gaza — in which U.S.-provided weapons are in widespread use.
Israel has been waging war in Gaza since Oct. 7, when Hamas, the Palestinian group that has long controlled the territory, led a cross-border attack that left 1,200 people dead. The Israeli assault on Gaza has left the Strip in ruins, and has left at least 32,000 Gazans dead, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and noncombatants.
The United States has supplied Israel with weapons since the war began. While President Biden has pushed for Israel to allow more aid into the enclave to avert famine and has resisted Israeli plans to invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where displaced Palestinians are densely packed, military aid has remained untouched.
Here is what to know about U.S. military aid to Israel.
What weapons has the U.S. provided to Israel since Oct. 7?
Since Oct. 7, the Biden administration has made public two major military sales to Israel.
In December, the administration approved the sale of nearly 14,000 tank ammunition cartridges and equipment to Israel, worth $106.5 million, and the sale of 155mm artillery shells and related equipment worth $147.5 million. The White House bypassed congressional approval for both sales by invoking emergency authority.
These transfers represent only a small portion of total aid. U.S. officials have briefed Congress on more than 100 other transactions that fell under a set dollar amount required for notification. Among the weapons sold were precision-guided munitions, small-diameter bombs, bunker-buster rockets and other lethal aid, people with knowledge of the briefings told The Washington Post in March.
U.S.-made weapons have been used widely in Gaza since Oct. 7, though it is not clear when they were purchased or delivered. Independent analysts have said that many of the weapons used in Gaza appear to be 1,000- or 2,000-pound bombs such as the Mark 84, which can be retrofitted with Boeing-manufactured JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munition) kits to become precision weapons.
In March, the Biden administration authorized the transfer of 1,800 MK84 2,000-pound bombs and 500 MK82 500-pound bombs. The transfers had been approved by Congress several years ago but had not been fulfilled. The State Department has also authorized the transfer of 25 F-35A fighter jets and engines, U.S. officials told The Post last week.
The United States has maintained a stockpile of weapons in Israel, known as the War Reserve Stocks for Allies-Israel, since the 1990s. The U.S. military pulled 155mm shells out of the stockpile to send to U.S. reserves in Europe after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Defense officials told reporters in late October, following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, that many of the stockpiled shells had been redirected: to the Israel Defense Forces.
What is the history of U.S. military aid to Israel?
During the 1970s, Washington provided significant surges in military aid to Israel as the country rebuilt its forces after the 1973 Yom Kippur War, in which a coalition of Arab nations, led by Egypt and Syria, launched an attack on Israel.
Since then, military aid has remained largely steady if adjusted for inflation, with the stated aim of helping Israel maintain a “qualitative military edge” over its neighbors.
In recent years, funding has been outlined in 10-year memorandums of understanding. In the most recent memorandum, signed in 2016, Washington pledged $38 billion in military assistance between the 2019 and 2028 fiscal years.
Most U.S. military aid to Israel falls under the Foreign Military Financing program, which provides grants that Israel uses to purchase U.S. military goods and services. The United States also contributes about $500 million annually for joint missile defense systems. Since 2009, the United States has contributed $3.4 billion to missile defense funding, including $1.3 billion for the Iron Dome, which stops short-range rockets, the State Department said last year.
Israel has been granted access to some of the most coveted U.S. military technology. It was the first international operator of the F-35 fighter jet and used the craft in combat for the first time in 2018.
U.S. support, and industrial cooperation between U.S. and Israeli defense companies, has helped Israel build up its defense industry: The country is one of the world’s top arms exporters.
After the Oct. 7 attacks, the Biden administration requested a further $14 billion in military aid to Israel, to include money for missile defense. The funding request passed the Senate but has stalled in the House.
Why is U.S. military aid to Israel under increased debate?Return to menu
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Muhammad al-Durra, 41, who was displaced from Gaza City, prepares for iftar, the fast-breaking evening meal during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, with his children in a destroyed house in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on March 19. (Haitham Imad/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
The high impact of Israel’s Gaza offensive on civilians has led to renewed debate about U.S. military aid. Biden has called Israel’s bombing campaign “indiscriminate.”
U.S. laws govern the transfer of military equipment to foreign governments. Among them, the Leahy Law prohibits transferring military aid to foreign governments or groups that commit gross human rights violations. On Feb. 8, Biden issued a national security memorandum detailing these rules and adding a new requirement that the administration submit an annual report to Congress about whether recipients are meeting the standards.
To make that assessment, the State Department requested written assurances from countries receiving U.S. weapons that they are abiding by existing U.S. standards, including requirements related to the protection of civilians. The U.S. memorandum says recipient countries must “facilitate and not arbitrarily deny, restrict, or otherwise impede, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance” or U.S.-supported international efforts to provide aid.
The State Department received Israel’s written assurances ahead of a March 24 deadline. It now has until early May to formally assess whether these assurances are credible and to report to Congress. State Department spokesman Matt Miller said on March 25 that there were no indications of legal violations.
Humanitarian groups have called on the Biden administration to not accept Israel’s assurances at face value. They say Israel, despite its insistence otherwise, is impeding the flow of aid into Gaza by truck, through long inspections at checkpoints and by refusing to open new ones. “Given ongoing hostilities in Gaza, the Israeli government’s assurances to the Biden administration that it is meeting U.S. legal requirements are not credible,” Sarah Yager, Washington director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
In a letter to the Biden administration released on March 22, 17 Democratic senators said that acceptance of assurances from the Netanyahu government would be “inconsistent with the letter and spirit” of Biden’s national security memorandum, and would set an “unacceptable precedent” for “other situations around the world.
April 2, 2024
Israel has received more U.S. military aid — and more U.S. aid of any type — than any other country since World War II.
That assistance has long been a matter of ironclad, bipartisan near-consensus. But in recent months, it has come under mounting scrutiny, including from some Democratic legislators, amid the emergence of rifts between the United States and Israel over Israel’s conduct in its war in Gaza — in which U.S.-provided weapons are in widespread use.
Israel has been waging war in Gaza since Oct. 7, when Hamas, the Palestinian group that has long controlled the territory, led a cross-border attack that left 1,200 people dead. The Israeli assault on Gaza has left the Strip in ruins, and has left at least 32,000 Gazans dead, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and noncombatants.
The United States has supplied Israel with weapons since the war began. While President Biden has pushed for Israel to allow more aid into the enclave to avert famine and has resisted Israeli plans to invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where displaced Palestinians are densely packed, military aid has remained untouched.
Here is what to know about U.S. military aid to Israel.
What weapons has the U.S. provided to Israel since Oct. 7?
Since Oct. 7, the Biden administration has made public two major military sales to Israel.
In December, the administration approved the sale of nearly 14,000 tank ammunition cartridges and equipment to Israel, worth $106.5 million, and the sale of 155mm artillery shells and related equipment worth $147.5 million. The White House bypassed congressional approval for both sales by invoking emergency authority.
These transfers represent only a small portion of total aid. U.S. officials have briefed Congress on more than 100 other transactions that fell under a set dollar amount required for notification. Among the weapons sold were precision-guided munitions, small-diameter bombs, bunker-buster rockets and other lethal aid, people with knowledge of the briefings told The Washington Post in March.
U.S.-made weapons have been used widely in Gaza since Oct. 7, though it is not clear when they were purchased or delivered. Independent analysts have said that many of the weapons used in Gaza appear to be 1,000- or 2,000-pound bombs such as the Mark 84, which can be retrofitted with Boeing-manufactured JDAM (Joint Direct Attack Munition) kits to become precision weapons.
In March, the Biden administration authorized the transfer of 1,800 MK84 2,000-pound bombs and 500 MK82 500-pound bombs. The transfers had been approved by Congress several years ago but had not been fulfilled. The State Department has also authorized the transfer of 25 F-35A fighter jets and engines, U.S. officials told The Post last week.
The United States has maintained a stockpile of weapons in Israel, known as the War Reserve Stocks for Allies-Israel, since the 1990s. The U.S. military pulled 155mm shells out of the stockpile to send to U.S. reserves in Europe after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Defense officials told reporters in late October, following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, that many of the stockpiled shells had been redirected: to the Israel Defense Forces.
What is the history of U.S. military aid to Israel?
During the 1970s, Washington provided significant surges in military aid to Israel as the country rebuilt its forces after the 1973 Yom Kippur War, in which a coalition of Arab nations, led by Egypt and Syria, launched an attack on Israel.
Since then, military aid has remained largely steady if adjusted for inflation, with the stated aim of helping Israel maintain a “qualitative military edge” over its neighbors.
In recent years, funding has been outlined in 10-year memorandums of understanding. In the most recent memorandum, signed in 2016, Washington pledged $38 billion in military assistance between the 2019 and 2028 fiscal years.
Most U.S. military aid to Israel falls under the Foreign Military Financing program, which provides grants that Israel uses to purchase U.S. military goods and services. The United States also contributes about $500 million annually for joint missile defense systems. Since 2009, the United States has contributed $3.4 billion to missile defense funding, including $1.3 billion for the Iron Dome, which stops short-range rockets, the State Department said last year.
Israel has been granted access to some of the most coveted U.S. military technology. It was the first international operator of the F-35 fighter jet and used the craft in combat for the first time in 2018.
U.S. support, and industrial cooperation between U.S. and Israeli defense companies, has helped Israel build up its defense industry: The country is one of the world’s top arms exporters.
After the Oct. 7 attacks, the Biden administration requested a further $14 billion in military aid to Israel, to include money for missile defense. The funding request passed the Senate but has stalled in the House.
Why is U.S. military aid to Israel under increased debate?Return to menu
The high impact of Israel’s Gaza offensive on civilians has led to renewed debate about U.S. military aid. Biden has called Israel’s bombing campaign “indiscriminate.”
U.S. laws govern the transfer of military equipment to foreign governments. Among them, the Leahy Law prohibits transferring military aid to foreign governments or groups that commit gross human rights violations. On Feb. 8, Biden issued a national security memorandum detailing these rules and adding a new requirement that the administration submit an annual report to Congress about whether recipients are meeting the standards.
To make that assessment, the State Department requested written assurances from countries receiving U.S. weapons that they are abiding by existing U.S. standards, including requirements related to the protection of civilians. The U.S. memorandum says recipient countries must “facilitate and not arbitrarily deny, restrict, or otherwise impede, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance” or U.S.-supported international efforts to provide aid.
The State Department received Israel’s written assurances ahead of a March 24 deadline. It now has until early May to formally assess whether these assurances are credible and to report to Congress. State Department spokesman Matt Miller said on March 25 that there were no indications of legal violations.
Humanitarian groups have called on the Biden administration to not accept Israel’s assurances at face value. They say Israel, despite its insistence otherwise, is impeding the flow of aid into Gaza by truck, through long inspections at checkpoints and by refusing to open new ones. “Given ongoing hostilities in Gaza, the Israeli government’s assurances to the Biden administration that it is meeting U.S. legal requirements are not credible,” Sarah Yager, Washington director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
In a letter to the Biden administration released on March 22, 17 Democratic senators said that acceptance of assurances from the Netanyahu government would be “inconsistent with the letter and spirit” of Biden’s national security memorandum, and would set an “unacceptable precedent” for “other situations around the world.
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