Watan-In documenting the American role in the Israeli war on Gaza, the American newspaper “The Washington Post” revealed that the United States secretly agreed to conclude more than 100 different foreign arms sales deals and deliver them to Israel since the beginning of the Gaza war on October 7th.
The newspaper described this as the latest indicator of Washington’s involvement in the war.
The weapons included thousands of precision-guided munitions, small-diameter bombs, bunker-busting bombs, light weapons, and other lethal aids according to testimonies of American officials before members of Congress in a recent classified briefing.
The newspaper said that this number of deals is the latest indicator of Washington’s significant involvement in the war, despite senior American officials and lawmakers increasingly expressing deep reservations about Israeli military tactics.
Only two foreign military sales approved for Israel have been announced since the conflict began: $106 million worth of tank ammunition and $147.5 million of components for manufacturing 155-millimeter artillery shells.
However, in the case of the other hundred transactions, known in government parlance as Foreign Military Sales or FMS, the weapons transfers were processed without any public debate because each falls under a dollar threshold requiring executive branch notification to Congress on an individual basis, according to American officials and lawmakers who spoke, like others, on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive military matter.
According to the newspaper, American officials complained that Israeli leaders did not respond to their pleas to limit civilian casualties, allow more aid into Gaza, and refrain from rhetoric advocating permanent displacement of Palestinians.
Unusual number of deals Jeremy
Konyndyk, a former senior official in the Biden administration and current head of the International Refugee Organization, said, “This is an unusual number of sales over a very short period, strongly indicating that the Israeli campaign would not be sustainable without this level of American sales.”
Meanwhile, State Department spokesman Matt Miller said the Biden administration “followed procedures set by Congress itself to keep members well informed and regularly briefed even when official notification is not a legal requirement.”
He added that officials have engaged with Congress on weapons transfers to Israel more than 200 times since October 7th.
For his part, Joaquin Castro (Democrat), a member of the House Intelligence and Foreign Affairs Committees, wondered in an interview: “Why on earth are we sending more bombs there?”
He added, “These people have already fled from north to south, and they are now all gathered in a small piece of Gaza, and we are going to continue bombing them?”