The Biden administration is preparing to send bombs and other weapons to Israel that would add to its military arsenal even as the U.S. pushes for a cease-fire in the war in Gaza, according to current and former U.S. officials.

The proposed arms delivery includes roughly a thousand each of MK-82 bombs, KMU-572 Joint Direct Attack Munitions that add precision guidance to bombs, and FMU-139 bomb fuses, the officials said. The arms are estimated to be worth tens of millions of dollars. The proposed delivery is still being reviewed internally by the administration, a U.S. official said, and the details of the proposal could change before the Biden administration notifies congressional committee leaders who would need to approve the transfer.

The planned weapons transfer comes during a crucial moment in the war in Gaza as Israel prepares to launch an assault on the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, where more than one million Palestinians are sheltering from the war. Israel has said it needs to expand its military offensive in the area to attack Hamas militants hiding among civilians who have fled there from other areas of the strip.

An assessment of the proposed arms transfer drafted by the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, and viewed by The Wall Street Journal, said the Israeli government requested “rapid acquisition of these items for the defense of Israel against continued and emerging regional threats.”

The assessment said there were no potential human rights concerns with the sale. “Israel takes effective action to prevent gross violations of human rights and to hold security forces responsible that violate those rights. In the past, Israel has been a transparent partner in U.S. investigations into allegations of defense article misuse,” the assessment says.

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  • AndyEnglish
    12·
    5 months ago

    I see this stuff all the time, and I still don’t quite know what to say.

    I grew up on the same taking points as you. I’m aware of the failing of the Muslim leaders.

    Take a big step back. Antisemitism is skyrocketing. Children who grew up in a concentration camp and losing limbs and whole families in death from above. Over a thousand Israelis are dead. Something like 50 thousand Palestinians are dead or maimed, and millions could die of deliberate starvation. Concertgoers raped, elderly kibbutniks held hostage for months while Israeli radicals prevent the merger food and medicine allowed by the government to pass on that would feed hostages and children.

    So much has gone terribly wrong. Families in the West Bank are experiencing pogroms inflicted by the grandchildren of the victims of identical pogroms in Europe and Russia. Jewish Israeli hostages have been executed by the IDF. A Jewish Israeli civilian who killed two gunmen on a rampage in Jerusalem is executed by Israeli police. Journalists and their families – Palestinian and Jewish alike – are being hunted inside Gaza and Israel, while an emboldened right wing openly celebrates what they proudly recognize as genocide. And hostages continue to die. Bombed, starved, buried.

    STOP. It must stop. All of it. This isn’t about defending Israel’s right to exist. Even Israeli hawks and former prime ministers have acknowledged that this war has been hijacked for wicked ends that don’t make Israel safe.

    At this point, even Zionists need to wake up and call for a ceasefire. Because this is a shoah.

    God, give men mercy. I’m crying. I can’t bear watching this darkness. Wake up. Lovers of Israel: WAKE THE FUCK UP. Unchecked, the Jewish fascism movement is going to destroy Israel.