www.washingtonpost.com
Open in
urlscan Pro
2.16.215.147
Public Scan
URL:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/03/06/us-weapons-israel-gaza/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&...
Submission: On March 06 via api from BE — Scanned from DE
Submission: On March 06 via api from BE — Scanned from DE
Form analysis
1 forms found in the DOM<form class="w-100 left" id="registration-form" data-qa="regwall-registration-form-container">
<div>
<div class="wpds-c-QqrcX wpds-c-QqrcX-iPJLV-css">
<div class="wpds-c-iQOSPq"><span role="label" id="radix-0" class="wpds-c-hdyOns wpds-c-iJWmNK">Enter email address</span><input id="registration-email-id" type="text" aria-invalid="false" name="registration-email"
data-qa="regwall-registration-form-email-input" data-private="true" class="wpds-c-djFMBQ wpds-c-djFMBQ-iPJLV-css" value="" aria-labelledby="radix-0"></div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="dn">
<div class="db mt-xs mb-xs "><span role="label" id="radix-1" class="wpds-c-hdyOns"><span class="db font-xxxs gray-darker pt-xxs pb-xxs gray-dark" style="padding-top: 1px;"><span>By selecting "Start reading," you agree to The Washington Post's
<a target="_blank" style="color:inherit;" class="underline" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/information/2022/01/01/terms-of-service/">Terms of Service</a> and
<a target="_blank" style="color:inherit;" class="underline" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/privacy-policy/">Privacy Policy</a>.</span></span></span>
<div class="db gray-dark relative flex pt-xxs pb-xxs items-start gray-darker"><span role="label" id="radix-2" class="wpds-c-hdyOns wpds-c-jDXwHV"><button type="button" role="checkbox" aria-checked="false" data-state="unchecked" value="on"
id="mcCheckbox" data-testid="mcCheckbox" class="wpds-c-cqTwYl wpds-c-cqTwYl-bnVAXI-size-125 wpds-c-cqTwYl-kFjMjo-cv wpds-c-cqTwYl-ikKWKCv-css" aria-labelledby="radix-2"></button><input type="checkbox" aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1"
value="on" style="transform: translateX(-100%); position: absolute; pointer-events: none; opacity: 0; margin: 0px; width: 0px; height: 0px;"><span class="wpds-c-bFeFXz"><span class="relative db gray-darker" style="padding-top: 2px;"><span
class="relative db font-xxxs" style="padding-top: 1px;"><span>The Washington Post may use my email address to provide me occasional special offers via email and through other platforms. I can opt out at any
time.</span></span></span></span></span></div>
</div>
</div>
<div id="subs-turnstile-hook" class="center dn"></div><button data-qa="regwall-registration-form-cta-button" type="submit"
class="wpds-c-kSOqLF wpds-c-kSOqLF-hDKJFr-variant-cta wpds-c-kSOqLF-eHdizY-density-default wpds-c-kSOqLF-ejCoEP-icon-left wpds-c-kSOqLF-ikFyhzm-css w-100 mt-sm"><span>Start reading</span></button>
</form>
Text Content
Accessibility statementSkip to main content Democracy Dies in Darkness SubscribeSign in Advertisement Close The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness Israel-Gaza WarLive updates Israeli hostages Gaza devastation ICJ ruling Who are the Houthis? Israel-Gaza WarLive updates Israeli hostages Gaza devastation ICJ ruling Who are the Houthis? U.S. FLOODS ARMS INTO ISRAEL DESPITE MOUNTING ALARM OVER WAR’S CONDUCT WASHINGTON HAS APPROVED MORE THAN 100 SEPARATE MILITARY SALES TO ISRAEL SINCE ITS INVASION OF GAZA, EVEN AS OFFICIALS COMPLAIN ISRAELI LEADERS HAVE NOT DONE ENOUGH TO PROTECT CIVILIANS By John Hudson March 6, 2024 at 10:21 a.m. EST A Palestinian family inspects their destroyed home after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, southern Gaza, in late-February. (Loay Ayyoub for The Washington Post) Listen 5 min Share Comment on this storyComment Add to your saved stories Save The United States has quietly approved and delivered more than 100 separate foreign military sales to Israel since the Gaza war began Oct. 7, amounting to thousands of precision-guided munitions, small diameter bombs, bunker busters, small arms and other lethal aid, U.S. officials told members of Congress in a recent classified briefing. Sign up for Fact Checker, our weekly review of what's true, false or in-between in politics.ArrowRight The triple digit figure, which has not been previously reported, is the latest indication of Washington’s extensive involvement in the polarizing five-month conflict even as top U.S. officials and lawmakers increasingly express deep reservations about Israel’s military tactics in a campaign that has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s health authorities. Only two approved foreign military sales to Israel have been made public since the start of conflict: $106 million worth of tank ammunition and $147.5 million of components needed to make 155 mm shells. Those sales invited public scrutiny because the Biden administration bypassed Congress to approve the packages by invoking an emergency authority. Advertisement Story continues below advertisement Skip to end of carousel ISRAEL-GAZA WAR (Said Khatib/AFP/Getty Images) The latest round of talks on a deal that would pause fighting and release hostages for Israeli-held Palestinian prisoners remains underway in Cairo. Hamas said Wednesday that it will continue to negotiate through mediators. For context: Understand what’s behind the Israel-Gaza war. End of carousel But in the case of the 100 other transactions, known in government-speak as Foreign Military Sales or FMS, the weapons transfers were processed without any public debate because each fell under a specific dollar amount that requires the executive branch to individually notify Congress, according to U.S. officials and lawmakers who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive military matter. Taken together, the weapons packages amount to a massive transfer of firepower at a time when senior U.S. officials have complained that Israeli officials have fallen short on their appeals to limit civilian casualties, allow more aid into Gaza, and refrain from rhetoric calling for the permanent displacement of Palestinians. “That’s an extraordinary number of sales over the course of a pretty short amount of time, which really strongly suggests that the Israeli campaign would not be sustainable without this level of U.S. support,” said Jeremy Konyndyk, a former senior Biden administration official and current president of Refugees International. Advertisement Story continues below advertisement State Department spokesman Matt Miller said the Biden administration has “followed the procedures Congress itself has specified to keep members well-informed and regularly briefs members even when formal notification is not a legal requirement.” He added that U.S. officials have “engaged Congress” on arms transfers to Israel “more than 200 times” since Hamas launched a cross-border attack into Israel that killed 1,200 people and took more than 240 hostage. When asked about surge of weapons into Israel, some U.S. lawmakers who sit on committees with oversight of national security said the Biden administration must exercise its leverage over the government of Israel. Story continues below advertisement “You ask a lot of Americans about arm transfers to Israel right now, and they look at you like you’re crazy, like, ‘why in the world would we be sending more bombs over there?’” Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Tex.), a member of the House Intelligence and Foreign Affairs committees, said in an interview. ” Share this articleShare “These people already fled from the north to the south, and now they’re all huddled in a small piece of Gaza, and you’re going to continue to bombard them?” Castro said, referring to Israel’s planned offensive in Rafah, where more than 1 million displaced Palestinians have sought shelter. U.S. officials have warned the Israeli government against waging an offensive in Rafah without a plan to evacuate civilians. But some Democrats worry that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will disregard Washington’s pleas as he has other U.S. demands to allow more food, water and medicine into the enclosed enclave, and to dial back the intensity of a military campaign that has leveled entire city blocks and destroyed huge numbers of homes across the strip. Advertisement Story continues below advertisement Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) said in an interview that the Biden administration should apply “existing standards” stipulating that the United States “shouldn’t transfer arms or equipment to places where it’s reasonably likely that those will be used to inflict civilian casualties, or to harm civilian infrastructure.” Crow, also a member of the House Intelligence and Foreign Affairs committees, recently petitioned Avril Haines, the director of national intelligence, seeking information on “any restrictions” that the administration had put in place to ensure Israel was not using U.S. intelligence to harm civilians or civilian infrastructure. “I am concerned that the widespread use of artillery and air power in Gaza — and the resulting level of civilian casualties — is both a strategic and moral error,” wrote Crow, a former Army Ranger who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Advertisement Story continues below advertisement A senior State Department official declined to provide the total number or cost of all U.S. arms transferred to Israel since Oct. 7, but described them as a mix of new sales and “active FMS cases.” “These are items that are typical for any modern military, including one that is as sophisticated as Israel’s,” said the official. The dearth of publicly available information about U.S. arms sales to Israel leaves unclear how many of the most recent transfers amount to the routine supply of U.S. security assistance to Israel as opposed to the rapid replenishing of munitions as a result of its bombardment of Gaza. Israel, like most militaries, does not routinely disclose data about its weapons expenditures, but in the first week of the war, it said it had dropped 6,000 bombs on Gaza. As the conflict drags on, Israel’s reliance on the United States to sustain the campaign has become ever more clear, said Konyndyk, the former Biden administration official. “The U.S. cannot maintain that, on the one hand, Israel is a sovereign state that’s making its own decisions and we’re not going to second guess them, and, on the other hand, transfer this level of armament in such a short time and somehow act as if we are not directly involved,” he said. ISRAEL-GAZA WAR Israel-Gaza war: The latest round of talks on a deal that would pause fighting and release hostages for Israeli-held Palestinian prisoners remains underway in Cairo. Hamas said Wednesday that it will continue to negotiate through mediators. Middle East conflict: Tensions in the region continue to rise. As Israeli troops aim to take control of the Gaza-Egypt border crossing, officials in Cairo warn that the move would undermine the 1979 peace treaty. Meanwhile, there’s a diplomatic scramble to avert full-scale war between Israel and Lebanon. U.S. involvement: U.S. airstrikes in Iraq and Syria killed dozens of Iranian-linked militants, according to Iraqi officials. The strikes were the first round of retaliatory action by the Biden administration for an attack in Jordan that killed three U.S. service members. Share 1348 Comments Israel-Gaza war HAND CURATED * Middle East conflict live updates: Hamas says it will continue cease-fire negotiations 1 hour ago Middle East conflict live updates: Hamas says it will continue cease-fire negotiations 1 hour ago * Blinken meets with Israel’s Gantz, as cease-fire negotiations continue March 5, 2024 Blinken meets with Israel’s Gantz, as cease-fire negotiations continue March 5, 2024 * The improbable U.S. plan for a revitalized Palestinian security force March 5, 2024 The improbable U.S. plan for a revitalized Palestinian security force March 5, 2024 Loading... Subscribe to comment and get the full experience. Choose your plan → Advertisement Advertisement TOP STORIES D.C. region Local news, weather, sports, events, restaurants and more Wizards finish game, and road trip, ice-cold with 15th straight loss Perspective|Washington is again dreaming of a homegrown star. Fingers crossed. The Commanders lost their stadium naming rights deal. Now what? Refresh Try a different topic Sign in or create a free account to save your preferences Advertisement Advertisement Company About The Post Newsroom Policies & Standards Diversity & Inclusion Careers Media & Community Relations WP Creative Group Accessibility Statement Sitemap Get The Post Become a Subscriber Gift Subscriptions Mobile & Apps Newsletters & Alerts Washington Post Live Reprints & Permissions Post Store Books & E-Books Print Archives (Subscribers Only) Today’s Paper Public Notices Coupons Contact Us Contact the Newsroom Contact Customer Care Contact the Opinions Team Advertise Licensing & Syndication Request a Correction Send a News Tip Report a Vulnerability Terms of Use Digital Products Terms of Sale Print Products Terms of Sale Terms of Service Privacy Policy Cookie Settings Submissions & Discussion Policy RSS Terms of Service Ad Choices washingtonpost.com © 1996-2024 The Washington Post * washingtonpost.com * © 1996-2024 The Washington Post * About The Post * Contact the Newsroom * Contact Customer Care * Request a Correction * Send a News Tip * Report a Vulnerability * Download the Washington Post App * Policies & Standards * Terms of Service * Privacy Policy * Cookie Settings * Print Products Terms of Sale * Digital Products Terms of Sale * Submissions & Discussion Policy * RSS Terms of Service * Ad Choices * Coupons 5.12.2 Already have an account? Sign in -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TWO WAYS TO READ THIS ARTICLE: Create an account or sign in Free * Access this article Enter email address By selecting "Start reading," you agree to The Washington Post's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. The Washington Post may use my email address to provide me occasional special offers via email and through other platforms. I can opt out at any time. Start reading Subscribe €2every 4 weeks * Unlimited access to all articles * Save stories to read later Subscribe WE CARE ABOUT YOUR PRIVACY We and our 46 partners store and/or access information on a device, such as unique IDs in cookies to process personal data. You may accept or manage your choices by clicking below, including your right to object where legitimate interest is used, or at any time in the privacy policy page. These choices will be signaled to our partners and will not affect browsing data. If you click “I accept,” in addition to processing data using cookies and similar technologies for the purposes to the right, you also agree we may process the profile information you provide and your interactions with our surveys and other interactive content for personalized advertising. If you do not accept, we will process cookies and associated data for strictly necessary purposes and process non-cookie data as set forth in our Privacy Policy (consistent with law and, if applicable, other choices you have made). WE AND OUR PARTNERS PROCESS COOKIE DATA TO PROVIDE: Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Create profiles for personalised advertising. Use profiles to select personalised advertising. Create profiles to personalise content. Use profiles to select personalised content. Measure advertising performance. Measure content performance. Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources. Develop and improve services. Store and/or access information on a device. Use limited data to select content. Use limited data to select advertising. List of Partners (vendors) I Accept Reject All Show Purposes