US Pauses Arms Shipments To Israel Over Rafah Concerns, Republicans Fume Over ‘Caving In To Anti-Israel Pressure’

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — The Biden administration confirmed Tuesday night reports that it had recently held up a large shipment of 2,000- and 500-pound bombs, as it feared Israel might use them in a major ground operation in the densely populated southern Gaza city of Rafah, according to a Times Of Israel report.

This is the first time since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war that the US has held up a weapons shipment for the IDF, which it has been supplying on a near-constant basis since October 7. The US opposes Israel’s offensive in Rafah, claiming that it cannot fight Hamas terrorists while ensuring the safety of civilians in the region.

The US held virtual meetings with top Israeli officials in recent months to express concerns regarding a potential Rafah operation and to present alternatives for how Israel could target Hamas in the city without conducting a full-scale invasion. The talks ended without an agreement on how to conduct the operation.

“As Israeli leaders seemed to approach a decision point last month on such an operation, we began to carefully review proposed transfers of particular weapons to Israel that might be used in Rafah,” the official said.

The review resulted in the pausing last week of a shipment of 1,800 2,000-lb bombs and 1,700 500-lb bombs, the official revealed, noting that the White House was particularly concerned that Israel would use the 2,000-pound bombs in densely populated Rafah as it has in other parts of Gaza.

The official stressed that no final determination had been made regarding this particular shipment.

The senior official also confirmed a report that the US had delayed a sale of Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs) to Israel but clarified that this transaction was in a much earlier stage than the shipment of heavy bombs it held up last week.

“For certain other cases at the State Department, including JDAM kits, we are continuing the review. None of these cases involve imminent transfers. They are about future transfers,” the official said.

“We are committed to ensuring Israel gets every dollar appropriated in the supplemental,” a senior administration official stressed, noting that the US had just approved another $827 million worth of weapons and equipment for Israel.

Republican senators reacted angrily to the delay in arms shipments, both because of Israel’s critical need for munitions and because the administration hid the pause in shipments from Congress.

Senators Joni Ernst (R., Iowa) and Ted Budd (R., N.C.), in a letter sent Monday evening to the White House,  asked the administration to immediately inform Congress about what types of ammunition are being withheld from Israel and why. The pause in these ammo shipments was approved last week, but only became publicly known over the weekend when the decision was leaked to Axios.

“We are shocked that your administration has reportedly decided to withhold critical ammunition to Israel,” the senators wrote, according to a copy of the letter obtained by the Free Beacon. “You promised your commitment to Israel was ironclad. Pausing much-needed military support to our closest Middle Eastern ally signals otherwise.”

The senators say the White House “failed to notify Congress about this decision,” leaving lawmakers to learn of the decision from press reports. The letter signals mounting GOP concern with the Biden administration’s increasingly hostile stance toward Israel as it launches an offensive campaign into the Gaza Strip’s Rafah neighborhood, which the United States has lobbied against. The reported halt in ammunition sales is being viewed as a sign the Biden administration is caving to pressure from anti-Israel advocates in the Democratic Party who want to see the Jewish state isolated.

“We must give Israel the arms it needs to fight the Hamas terrorists that continue to hold Americans hostage,” Ernst and Budd wrote. “We call on your administration to immediately restart the weapons shipments to Israel today as it continues to fight Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, and other Iran-backed threats.”

The State Department was slated to deliver a report this week to Congress determining whether the Biden administration has accepted assurances from Israel that it is using American weapons in accordance with international law.

The report to Congress, which will be released to the public, is part of a new policy instituted by Biden in February requiring foreign aid recipients to provide written assurances that they are using that aid in compliance with international law and that they are not obstructing the assistance of humanitarian aid.

The policy was outlined in a memo that required the State Department to issue a report to Congress by Wednesday. Miller indicated on Tuesday, though, that his office might need some more time to finish the report. “It’s possible it slips just a little bit.”

In the lead-up to the Wednesday deadline, progressive lawmakers have been intensifying their pressure on the administration to deem Israel out of compliance with international law in what would likely lead to a restriction on US military aid.

Eighty-eight Democrats signed a letter to Biden on Friday expressing “serious concerns regarding the Israeli government’s conduct of the war in Gaza as it pertains to the deliberate withholding of humanitarian aid.”

Israel insists that it does not block relief entering Gaza and that any shortages are the result of the inability of aid agencies to distribute it to those in need. It has also pointed to a surge in aid that began last month. The uptick followed a threat from Biden to shift his policy regarding the war if Israel didn’t take immediate steps to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, which human rights groups say is on the verge of famine.