Above photo: Abir Sultan/EPA, via Shutterstock.
The approval of the F-15 sale comes the month after US President Joe Biden promised to hold off on arms to Israel if it chose to expand the assault on Rafah.
Two Democratic lawmakers in the US Congress have signed off on a massive arms sale to Israel, which will include $18 billion worth of F-15 fighter jets, the Washington Post reported on 17 June.
Representative Gregory Meeks and Senator Ben Cardin agreed to the deal after months of holding up the sale due to concerns over Israel’s conduct in its genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.
“Any issues or concerns that Chair Cardin had were addressed through our ongoing consultations with the administration, and that’s why he felt it appropriate to allow this case to move forward,” Eric Harris, Communications Director of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told the Washington Post.
In a statement, Meeks said the sale would take years to be delivered and that he supported US President Joe Biden’s plans to hold back the sale of other weapons to Israel.
“I have been in close touch with the White House and National Security Council about this and other arms cases for Israel, and have repeatedly urged the administration to continue pushing Israel to make significant and concrete improvements on all fronts when it comes to humanitarian efforts and limiting civilian casualties,” Meeks said.
The end of the informal consultation process will allow the US State Department to move ahead with officially notifying Congress of the arms sale, marking the last step before the deal is fully approved.
The State Department has declined to comment on the arms sale to Israel, which was one of the largest in years.
In early May, Washington paused a shipment of weapons to Israel over concerns about Tel Aviv’s plans to invade the city of Rafah, which it had been claiming was Hamas’ final stronghold. Israel seized the Rafah border crossing on 7 May and has since been pushing ground troops into the overpopulated city under heavy bombardment, resulting in numerous massacres.
“I’ve made it clear to Bibi [Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] and the war cabinet: They’re not going to get our support if they go [into] these population centers,” Biden told CNN on 8 May, signaling that he would hold off on weapons shipments if the attack on Rafah was expanded.
The Israeli assault on Rafah has forcibly displaced around one million Palestinians and has killed hundreds, including those seeking shelter in tent camps. Israel continues to indiscriminately bombard the southernmost city as its ground troops face fierce resistance from Hamas’ Qassam Brigades and other groups.
The Biden administration has already approved over 100 US arms sales to Israel since the start of the war in Gaza in October.