Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) on Thursday accused the Biden administration of delaying the supply of weapons and ammunition to Israel since January, when a group of left-wing Democratic lawmakers hostile to Israel urged the White House to end the aid.
As Breitbart News reported on Thursday, a spat has broken out between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Joe Biden over whether the White House is not supplying Israel with needed weapons.
Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Wednesday that Netanyahu was correct and that Biden was blocking congressionally approved arms deliveries by delaying informing Congress.
Cotton said Thursday. letter They went to the White House and demanded an explanation.
Your administration insists aid is flowing normally, with one official declaring “I have no idea what he’s talking about.” You claim the only holds or delays are the 2,000-pound and 500-pound bombs you refused to deliver earlier this year. Yet you are willfully misleading the American people and insulting a vital ally.
Your Administration has engaged in bureaucratic ploys to withhold this vital aid to Israel while the fighting continues. As you know, the Arms Export Control Act requires the Administration to notify Congress before sending weapons to a foreign country. Your Administration has exploited this requirement to withhold formal notification to Congress of approved arms sales, including F-15s, tactical vehicles, 120 mm mortars, 120 mm tank rounds, Joint Direct Attack Weapons, and Small Caliber Bombs. This allows the Administration to say weapons are “in production” and never deliver them.
But the law also contains an “emergency” exception that allows arms sales to be expedited without congressional review. Your administration is apparently aware of this exception, since it only applied it last year. But after receiving a letter in January from about 20 Democratic members of Congress calling for an immediate halt to arms sales to Israel, you appear to have no longer recognized Israel’s emergency. Your administration reportedly released a ship carrying at least some of these weapons on Wednesday, but this modest measure will not repair the damage caused by the delays.
Cotton’s letter fleshes out the story behind rumors and allegations that have been building since the beginning of the year. In March, Israeli military officials said they believed the Biden administration was “slowly moving” munitions, as reported by Breitbart News and other outlets. And reports earlier this week that arms shipments had resumed could refer to one of the ships Cotton mentioned, which was released on Wednesday.
As Cotton noted, this need is urgent, as the Jewish state faces increasing threats from the Iranian-backed Hezbollah terrorists’ illegal occupation of southern Lebanon.
Cotton called on the White House to enumerate and explain delays in shipments of U.S. weapons from Israel.
Joel B. Pollack is executive editor of Breitbart News. Breitbart News Sunday The show airs Sunday nights from 7 to 10 p.m. (4 to 7 p.m. ET) on SiriusXM Patriot. He is the author of his recently published e-book,The Zionist Conspiracy (And How to Join It)” is available on Audible. He is also the author of an e-book. Not Free or Fair: The 2020 US Presidential ElectionHe is the recipient of the Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship in 2018. Follow him on Twitter. Joel Pollack.
