The Biden-Harris administration has quietly threatened an arms embargo against Israel, citing humanitarian concerns over the war in Gaza, where Hamas continues to hold Israelis hostage as Israel tries to prevent them from regrouping.
The revelation about a possible arms embargo was revealed Tuesday in a leaked letter from Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to his Israeli counterpart Lloyd Austin, in which he said he would withhold weapons if the situation in Gaza worsened. Threatened me.
The letter claims without evidence that Israel is blocking aid to Gaza and that humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza have plummeted. (Israel claims to the contrary, saying it continues to expand humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza.)
The aid comes as Israel “surges” aid to Gaza and ends the “isolation” of northern Gaza, where the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has ordered the evacuation of Palestinian civilians due to continued attacks on Hamas. is requesting.
The letter does not support UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in distributing aid, even though Austin acknowledges UNRWA's links to terrorism and the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that triggered the start of the war. It also supports the role of
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin (right) is greeted by Israeli Defense Minister Job Gallant as he arrives at the Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv, Friday, October 13, 2023. Austin is in Israel to meet with government officials and get a first-hand look at some of the U.S. weapons and security aid that Washington quickly provided to Israel in the first weeks of its war with the militant group Hamas. (AP Photo/Lolita Baldor)
In effect, the letter calls for an end to the current Israeli offensive in Gaza and holds Israel accountable for the war's harm to civilians. The letter does not mention the remaining 101 hostages or include any demands on Hamas.
“Failure to demonstrate a sustained commitment to implementing and maintaining these measures could have implications for U.S. policy.” [National Security Memorandum]-20 and related U.S. laws,” the letter states.
NSM-20 and other U.S. laws and regulations require recipients of U.S. military aid to comply with human rights norms. A review of Israel's actions in May was sloppily worded and left the administration's position unclear.
Countries that fail to meet international law standards could end up losing access to U.S. weapons, as determined by State Department officials widely believed to have anti-Israel bias.
A Pentagon spokesperson was on the defensive at a Tuesday briefing, insisting that Austin's letter was “personal” or “private” and was not intended for leaking. Left-wing critics of Israel have called for an arms embargo on Israel since the start of the war.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, told pro-Palestinian activists in August that she was “open” to discussing an arms embargo on Israel.
Joel B. Pollack is a senior editor at Breitbart News. Breitbart News Sunday Sunday nights from 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM ET (4:00 PM to 7:00 PM PT) on Sirius XM Patriot. he is the author of Agenda: What should President Trump do in his first 100 days in office?available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of Trumpian Virtues: Lessons and Legacy of the Donald Trump Presidencynow available on Audible. He is the recipient of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter @joelpolak.
