The secretary of state Marco Rubio invoked the “emergency authorities” to get around the congress and send $ 4 billion to Israel, the second time in a month in which the Trump administration forced the approval process of the congress for sending weapons to the country.
Mr. Rubio did not explain in a statement that announced the decision on Saturday because he was using an emergency authority. He only said that the Trump administration “will continue to use all the tools available to fulfill the longtime commitment of America for the safety of Israel, including means to counter threats to security”.
The officials of the State Department referred to the two congress committees in the Chamber and the Senate who examine foreign weapons on the emergency declaration on Friday. At least one congress official expressed private alarm to the revision bypass.
Many of the cases of ammunition to be sent to Israel were in the Congress revision phase. But a large case of the value of about 2 billion dollars had not been sent by the State Department to the Congress for the Revision, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to speak candidly about the sensitive agreements of weapons.
The Pentagon announced the details of that sale to Israel on Friday. The announcement lists several possible mixtures of bombs that would be delivered, including over 35,000 bombs with 2,000 pounds.
Israel dropped 2,000 pound bombs in Gaza, a densely populated strip of 2 million people who have the size of Las Vegas. US military officers said that bombs are not suitable for urban combat.
President Joseph R. Biden Jr. sent several orders of bombs to Israel, so he retained an expedition last summer while Israel was preparing to attack Rafah, a refugee point for many displaced Palestinians. Israel still destroyed most of Rafah and Trump’s White House released the shipping days after President Trump came in office at the end of January.
Israel announced on Sunday that he was stopping all the goods and humanitarian aid in Gaza in a pressure campaign to convince Hamas to accept a temporary extension to a ceased the fire just expired. Most of the aid come from groups and governments outside of Israel and some legal experts have said that Halt of Israel has violated international law.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said that the proposal for the extension of ceased the fire was the idea of Steve Witkoff, special envoy of President Trump in the Middle East. Hamas had insisted on the fact that Israel took part in the interviews for a permanent respite during the ceased the fire just carved, that Israel did not do.
Hamas still holds dozens of Israeli hostages who were kidnapped in October 2023, when about 1,200 Israelis were killed in an assault led by Hamas in the southern Israel. The Israeli army then attacked Gaza, killing almost 50,000 Palestinians, according to the estimates of the Ministry of Health of Gaza. Most people killed on both sides were civil.
In addition to the case of bombs for a value of $ 2 billion, the other military equipment that must be sent to Israel under the emergency authorization includes bulldozer, more bombs and GPS driving kit to be inserted on not guided bombs or “stupid”.
The two relevant congress committees – the Committee for Foreign Affairs of the Chamber and the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee – had made an informal review of the equipment. During this process, assistants and legislators may ask questions to the State Department on orders before providing approval. The department usually provides that the informal revision process of weapons for Israel will not last more than 20 days.
At the beginning of February, the State Department circumvented the informal review process of the congress to announce that it was sending $ 8 billion to arms to Israel that the Biden administration had approved.
The State Department below Mr. Biden, led by Antonny J. Blinken, told the committees of that package in early January. Three of the four best republican and democratic officials in the committees approved the package during the normal 20 -day informal revision period. But a democratic representative, Gregory W. Meeks from New York, wanted to continue the revision, pushing the Trump administration to get around full approval days after Mr. Trump and Mr. Netanyahu met at the White House.
Rubio’s declaration of Saturday said that the Trump administration had approved the 8 billion dollars in weapons in Israel, when in reality the package had originated with the Biden administration.
The declaration also falsely stated that the decision of Mr. Rubio on the new $ 4 billion weapons and equipment has canceled a “Biden Administration’s” Embargo of partial weapons “on Israel. In fact, Mr. Biden and Blinken have approved almost all Israel orders for weapons.
The State Department would not comment on any statement.
Blinken has retained the emission licenses for Israel to buy 24,000 assault rifles of the United States from American societies for fear of helping to intensify violence by Israeli settlers against the Palestinians in the West Bank. This year, the Department of Mr. Rubio presented at least one request from Israel to the Congress for the revision for a license to buy 5,000 rifles.
During Mr. Trump’s first term, the administration invoked an emergency declaration to get around the congress to send weapons to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.