The State Department has officially informed Congress that it plans to move forward with the sale of more than 8 billion weapons to Israel, which ignores an informal review process that still a house committee I continue.
The move happened just two days after President Trump’s meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and said that the United States would “handle the Gaza Strip” and turn it into a “Middle East’s Rowera”.
The Foreign Ministry on Thursday formally informed the Congress with its intention. On the same day, the Pentagon released two news, one said it was selling $ 660 million worth of $ 660 million to Israel to Israel, and another said it was $ 6.75 billion Sending bombs and guidance kits. The Pentagon did not release any news for the sale of artillery shells, which did not require a detailed statement to the department as a direct commercial sale. Together, all sales are worth more than $ 8 billion.
The Biden administration announced the sale of $ 8 billion in early January, then sent the entire package to the Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for an informal review. During this process, the lawmakers may ask the State Department to ask detailed questions about sales before deciding whether or not to approve them.
Two top Republican legislators of the committees approved their approval, and eventually a Democratic Senator also did, but Gregory W. Max, the committee’s top Democrat New York, decided to use the review process to ask more questions. –
The Department of State proceeded with the package after more than 20 days of informal review, senior lawmakers to consider such matters as a normal amount of ordinary time.
The sale will definitely continue to be stopped, as Congress will need to vote in both houses to stop orders.
After the announcement that his grip would go ahead, Mr Max emphasized that he criticized his feature as a long -standing nazir, accusing the Trump administration of saying that he They ignore the Congress in the decision to move forward with the transfer of weapons.
“I keep supporting Israel’s important military needs because it faces regional threats,” Mr Max said in a statement. But his backing, he made it clear, was not unconditional. He engaged in a “close consultation” about the sale with administration officials, which raised numerous concerns – only to meet his inquiries quietly. The administration has failed to provide meaningful documents or justification for its decision, he said.
The move to perform the sale of the administration was lawful, but Mr Max said that he showed “a clear neglect of long -standing Congress prejudice”.
