Amid growing concerns about the killing of Palestinian civilians, it has been reported that the U.S. government will soon approve the largest amount of weapons support to Israel since the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas. Citing multiple officials, CNN reported on the 1st that the Biden administration has decided on a policy to sell 50 F-15 fighter jets to Israel and plans to request related approval from Congress soon. The sales volume is $18 billion, the largest since the Gaza war between Israel and Hamas.
The U.S. government reportedly plans to notify Congress of new sales of large-scale precision-guided munitions to Israel. CNN said, “The United States’ decision to sell cutting-edge weapons was made amid growing criticism of Israel over the killing of civilians in the Gaza Strip. Even Biden administration officials are raising voices of criticism about Israel’s killing of civilians.”
According to Gaza health authorities, more than 32,000 Palestinians have died in Israeli attacks to date. Since Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7 last year, the United States has continued to sell more than 100 weapons to Israel. Most of these were promoted privately without approval from Congress. The reason was that it was not subject to congressional approval because it did not exceed a certain amount. The Biden administration also recently approved providing Israel with 1,800 2,000-pound MK84 bombs and 500 500-pound MK82 bombs.
A plan to provide Israel with weapons worth $2.5 billion, including 25 F-35A fighter jets and engines, was also approved. There is a strong possibility that strong opposition will be raised in Congress regarding the sale of the F-15 fighter jet.
In particular, it is expected that criticism will boil down to the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, the ruling party of President Joe Biden. Democratic lawmakers are weighing the argument that Israel should limit arms support before expanding humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. President Biden has voiced opposition to Israel’s all-out attack on Gaza, but he has continued to fully support Israel since the outbreak of war.
For this reason, President Biden had to face a serious division of supporters within the Democratic Party, mainly among Middle Easterners, progressives, and young people, ahead of the presidential election in November. In fact, in some primaries (primary elections) where many Arabs live, including in Michigan, a large number of votes were poured in saying ‘no candidate supported’ as a sign of opposition to President Biden.