The Pentagon said Tuesday that U.S. arms are flowing to Israel “at an unprecedented rate” since Hamas carried out the Oct. 7 terrorist attack and amid calls from Democrats to condition or limit its support. “
During a background briefing, a reporter asked whether Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin had discussed limiting these weapons or putting conditions on efforts to get humanitarian aid to the Palestinians with the Israeli side of the Pentagon. In response, a senior defense official said:
Your question about security assistance, as you know, security assistance has been a long-standing feature of the U.S.-Israel relationship and the U.S. commitment to Israeli security, and since the October 7 attacks, it has increased more rapidly than ever before. It’s flowing. And he made it very clear that we will defend Israel’s right to defend itself in accordance with the law of armed conflict and international humanitarian law, and we will ensure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself.
The Biden administration has come under intense pressure from Democrats to limit the flow of U.S. weapons to Israel, concerned about Israel’s overreaction to the Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas that killed more than 1,200 people. Many of them were women and children. , and the elderly.
About 200 people were kidnapped, and only about half were released.
Since Israel launched its counterattack, progressives have called for a ceasefire, citing Palestinian civilian casualties. President Joe Biden has become increasingly critical of Israel, and his administration on Monday abstained from a U.N. Security Council vote calling for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and the release of all hostages.
The abstention infuriated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who canceled the Israeli delegation’s visit to the White House. However, the Israeli Defense Minister’s visit to the Pentagon continued.
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“It is unusual for the United States to refuse to protect Israel from a resolution that it vehemently opposes by not using its veto power,” said Hussein Ibish, a senior fellow at the Arab and Gulf States Institute in Washington. Stated. Said CNBC.
A senior defense official said Mr. Austin expressed the U.S. goal of finding “alternatives” to a full-scale Israeli military operation in Rafah.
“In Rafah, the Secretary reiterated our commitment to help Israel find alternatives to a full-scale, and perhaps premature, military operation that could endanger the more than 1 million civilians sheltering in Rafah. “This requires ensuring that civilians can leave safely and their humanitarian needs are met as they travel to other parts of Gaza,” the official said.
The official said Mr. Austin also asked the minister to expand aid entry points to Gaza. He said a temporary pier being built by the US military to further increase aid to Gaza would be “operational in the coming weeks.”
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The official said six ships were heading to the Eastern Mediterranean as part of the pier construction and would arrive in the “coming weeks.”
“Once built, we estimate it will be able to provide more than 2 million meals per day to the Palestinian people,” the official said.
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