The new US arms program for Israel, worth billions of dollars of fighter jets and bombs, is the subject of major criticism from some political leaders.
The Biden administration has authorized the transfer of more than 1,800 2,000-pound bombs to Israel, the Washington Post reported, citing unnamed Pentagon and State Department officials familiar with the matter.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders called the move “obscene” in a statement. job on . »
“It’s obscene. We must end our complicity: no more bombs against Israel,” he added.
The Hamas attacks on October 7 killed around 1,200 people and around 240 others were kidnapped and taken hostage in Gaza.
Israel responded to the attacks with relentless airstrikes and a ground invasion of the territory. More than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed so far, Al Jazeera reported.
Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley also commented on the news in a job on X, saying the decision was “wrong on every level.”
“The Biden administration cannot credibly push for increased humanitarian access to Gaza while simultaneously sending the same weapons that the Netanyahu government is using to indiscriminately kill innocent Palestinians,” he wrote .
In a statement to the Post, a White House official said they had “continued to support Israel’s right to defend itself and that ‘conditioning on aid has not been our policy.’
President Joe Biden on Friday highlighted “the pain felt” by Arab Americans because of the conflict, saying he was “devastated” by the suffering, according to Reuters.
A Palestinian woman walks past buildings damaged by Israeli airstrikes on October 10, 2023 in Gaza City, Gaza. Ahmad Hasaballah/Getty Images
Some Republicans and Democrats, however, strongly oppose imposing conditions on US military support for Israel.
In a Washington Examiner column, Representatives August Pfluger and Don Davis, along with Jewish Institute for National Security of America President and CEO Michael Makovsky, wrote that “America must stand with of its partners when they face barbaric attacks.
“This is also morally right and in the interests of the United States,” they added.
The new package includes more than 1,800 2,000-pound MK84 bombs and 500 500-pound MK82 bombs, according to The Post.
The Collective Awareness to UXO (CAT-UXO) website, which collects information on explosive devices, states that the MK84 bomb “can penetrate up to 15 inches (381 mm) of metal or 11 feet (3.4 m) of concrete”.
Such bombs have the potential to devastate large areas and destroy buildings, putting civilians in the densely populated Gaza Strip at grave risk.
A New York Times analysis found that Israel frequently used these bombs to strike targets in designated safe zones in Gaza during the first six weeks of the conflict.
The other bomb in the package, the MK82, is a “general purpose free-fall bomb,” according to the U.S. Air Force website.
It is one of the most widespread aerial bombs in the world, according to CAT-UXO.
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