In a classic weekend news dump, the White House announced they were using an “emergency” provision to expedite an arms sale to Israel – on Friday, at 11 pm.
The move came just hours after the United States was the only country to veto a Gaza ceasefire resolution at the United Nations, sparking intense criticism.
“The combination of the United States’ veto of a ceasefire resolution in the UN, and this expedited provision of lethal arms to Israel, should cause some serious consideration of whether [Secretary Blinkin’s] repeated assertions that the U.S. seeks to minimize civilian casualties in Israel’s operation in Gaza are sincere,” said Josh Paul, a former State Department official.
Paul worked on arms sales within the US State Department before resigning in October, writing a scathing letter in the process slamming the Biden administration’s “moral compromise” and support for Israeli “apartheid.”
The move seems destined to provoke controversy as 13 Democratic senators had announced Thursday they were drafting legislation to place conditions on future weapons transfers in order to prevent “war crimes.”
Various international figures have used the term to describe Israel’s ongoing and proposed actions in the besieged Gaza Strip. Most recently Russia warned the country that a plan to flood tunnels underneath the enclave would amount to a war crime. Other analysts have speculated over the degree to which the United States would be held complicit for crimes against humanity when Israeli officials are brought to justice.
Iran recently warned the United States of a potential “explosion” in the Middle East as countries in the region witness Israel’s ongoing violence in Gaza. The territory’s health ministry reports that more than 17,400 have been killed in the ongoing military operation, most of them civilians.