Israel gave US Congress weapons wishlist – Politico

Israeli officials handed US lawmakers a list of weapons they want fast-tracked during Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington, Politico reported on Thursday. President Joe Biden’s administration denies that it is delaying these arms transfers.

The list in question was given to lawmakers and senior Biden administration officials before Netanyahu addressed a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, anonymous sources told the news site. Politico’s sources said it includes seven weapons systems, which they would not name for fear of revealing Israel’s battlefield plans.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Michael McCaul (R-Texas) told Politico that the Biden administration asked Congress to approve these weapons deliveries two months ago, and that both the House and Senate Foreign Affairs Committees had informally agreed. However, McCaul claimed that the administration never returned to ask for a formal approval.

“That hasn’t happened, and it typically would be a matter of days, and now it’s been two months, so it’s obvious they’re withholding them,” McCaul claimed.

During his speech on Wednesday, Netanyahu hinted that he was frustrated with the pace of weapons deliveries from the US. “Give us the tools faster, and we’ll finish the job faster,” he said, adding that Israel “will settle for nothing less” than “total victory” over Hamas. 

“There is no policy guidance to slow down transfers to Israel,” a State Department official told Politico. “We are looking tactically at the timing. It is not a question of whether, it is a question of when.”

McCaul, however, said he believes Biden is either delaying the weapons to give himself leverage over Netanyahu, or to bypass opposition by seeking approval when Congress is in recess next month.

Israel declared war on Hamas in October, after the Palestinian militants killed around 1,100 people and took roughly 250 hostages in a surprise assault on the Jewish state. In the months since, Washington has given West Jerusalem $6.5 billion worth of military aid, a Biden administration official told the Washington Post last month. That figure will likely rise, as a foreign aid bill passed by Congress in April allocates a total of $14.1 billion in aid for Israel.

This support for Israel has angered the Democratic Party’s progressive wing, many of whom skipped Netanyahu’s speech on Wednesday. Among those who attended was Michigan Representative Rashida Tlaib, who held up a sign reading “Guilty of Genocide” and “War criminal” as the Israeli prime minister spoke. 

Back in May, Biden froze the delivery of around 1,800 2,000-pound bombs to Israel as an apparent gesture to the progressives. However, his administration has given Israel more than 14,000 of the same bombs since October, Reuters reported last week. 

According to Politico’s sources, the Israeli weapons list did not include 2,000-pound bombs.