US President Joe Biden has approved the potential sale of $735 million in precision-guided weapons to Israel.
On Monday, Congressional sources said US lawmakers are not expected to object to the deal, even though three leftist Democratic Representatives have been attempting to block the deal.
It is the precision-guided bombs that have enabled Israeli combat pilots to carry out surgical strikes in Gaza with pinpoint accuracy, minimizing civilian casualties. Curtailing the availability of these high tech weapons would instead lead to a significant increase in civilian Gaza deaths.
Without precision-guided missiles that target only Hamas terrorists, Israel would have to use “dumb bombs” that would kill everyone instead.
Nevertheless, New York’s US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) — better known to the public as “AOC” — this week joined with Representatives Rashida Tlaib (D-MN) and Mark Pocan (D-Wi) to introduce a Congressional joint resolution of disapproval (JRD) calling for a halt to the already-approved $735 million arms sale to Israel.
“The United States should not be rubber-stamping weapons sales to the Israeli government as they deploy our resources to target international media outlets, schools, hospitals, humanitarian missions and civilian sites for bombing,” AOC wrote in a tweet she posted on Wednesday. “We have a responsibility to protect human rights,” she wrote.
It’s expected the resolution will be dead on arrival, as most House lawmakers still support US aid to Israel.
House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairperson Gregory Meeks (D-NY) nixed sending a letter to the White House to ask for a delay in the sale, according to a report by Politico.
Likewise, such a resolution would find stiff resistance in the Senate.
“The people of Israel have a right and expectation that they can protect themselves from thousands of rockets and missiles being fired into their cities,” said Republican Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR). “They should only de-escalate once they destroy Hamas’ war machine,” he told NBC News. “Joe Biden should stand up to the radical anti-Israel voices in the Democratic Party.”
Even though President Joe Biden told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a fourth phone conversation Wednesday that he “expected to see a significant de-escalation today” the Israeli prime minister remained firm in his commitment to protect his citizens, despite the possible political cost.
“I am determined to continue this operation until its objective is achieved: to restore quiet and security to . . .the citizens of Israel,” Netanyahu said in a statement, adding however that he “especially appreciates the support of our friend US President Joe Biden for the State of Israel’s right to self-defense.”