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Israel/Zionism See other Israel/Zionism Articles Title: Biden pauses bombs shipment to Israel over humanitarian concerns in Gaza Biden pauses bombs shipment to Israel over humanitarian concerns in Gaza President Joe Biden is grappling with a pledge to support Israel militarily and concerns U.S. bombs could be used in an invasion of Rafah. Francesca Chambers, Riley Beggin USA TODAY 8 May 2024 WASHINGTON — The Biden administration has paused the shipment of 3,500 bombs to Israel over concerns they could be used in a major military operation in Rafah, where more than 1 million refugees have been sheltering, a senior U.S. official said. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed the pause at a Senate hearing on Wednesday. "As we have assessed the situation, we have paused one shipment of high payload munitions," he said. "We've not made a final determination on how to proceed with that shipment," he added. The administration began a review of some weapons transfers to Israel last month, a senior U.S. official said. The president then paused a shipment of 1,800 2,000-lb bombs and 1,700 500-lb bombs last week, as Israel ramped up plans for a ground invasion of the southern Gaza city. Hamas fighters and Israeli troops battled on Wednesday on the outskirts of Rafah. President Joe Biden has been grappling with a pledge to support Israel militarily no matter what and concerns that the U.S. ally is not doing enough to protect civilian lives in Gaza. The State Department was due to issue a report to Congress on Wednesday assessing Israel's treatment of civilians in its war against Hamas, before acknowledging that it was likely to miss the self-imposed deadline by a day or more. Democratic lawmakers have pushed the Biden administration to obtain fresh assurances the ally is not violating U.S. policy and international humanitarian law in Gaza as the administration evaluates its military support for Israel. But the admission on Wednesday that there was a review taking place prompted a wave of complaints from Republican lawmakers, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. The GOP leaders chastised Biden in a Wednesday letter for not informing them sooner and demanded to know when the review would be completed. "This news flies in the face of assurances provided regarding the timely delivery of security assistance to Israel," they argued. The White House reiterated on Tuesday that Biden's support for Israel is ironclad. And the president has himself said there is no red line over which he would cut off all aid to Israel. Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari also described coordination between Israel and the U.S. as reaching "a scope without precedent, I think, in history" while speaking at a Wednesday conference. "We are responsible for the security interests of Israel and we pay attention to the U.S. interests in the arena,” he said. Palestinians gather to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, amid shortages of aid supplies, in the southern Gaza Strip on May 8, 2024. But with Israel drawing closer to making a decision on Rafah, the Biden administration says its concerns about humanitarian access have not been fully addressed. More than 33,000 Palestinians have died in the war, and last week a United Nations official said northern Gaza is suffering from famine. The Democratic president is facing pressure from lawmakers within his party to reconsider arms shipments and promised earlier this year to issue report by May 8. He said in a February memo that did not mention Israel that his administration would collect "credible and reliable written assurances" from countries the U.S. gives or sells weapons to that they are adhering to U.S. policy and following international humanitarian law. He also pledged to "provide periodic congressional reports to enable meaningful oversight" and said "remediation could include actions from refreshing the assurances to suspending any further transfers of defense articles or, as appropriate, defense services." U.S. policy prevents the transfer of arms that "risk facilitating or otherwise contributing to violations of human rights or international humanitarian law." "If a transfer had previously been authorized and circumstances have changed in ways that would materially increase the risk" of serious violations, the administration's policy is to "re-assess and, as appropriate, review options for ceasing the transfer of or support for a previous authorization." Democrats in Congress worried over US weapons killing civilians Poster Comment: Time to send Bibi a wake up call. Biden has been feeling the heat from Congressional Democrats. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
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