Patricia Zengerle
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The top Democrat on the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee said on Tuesday he would not approve a massive arms transfer to Israel until he received more information about how Israel would use the weapons.
“I’m looking for assurances,” Rep. Gregory Meeks told CNN. “…I want to make sure I know the types of weapons and what they will be used for,” he said.
On April 1, Reuters reported that President Joe Biden’s administration was weighing whether to continue an $18 billion arms package to Israel that would include dozens of Boeing (NYSE:) Co F-15 aircraft.
The news comes as Biden faces pressure from foreign partners, human rights groups and some of his Democratic colleagues in Congress to impose conditions on arms sales to curb Israel’s offensive in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
Six months after the start of Israel’s air and ground campaign in the Gaza Strip, sparked by a Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, the devastated Palestinian enclave faces hunger and widespread disease, with nearly all its residents now homeless.
U.S. law requires Congress to be notified of major foreign military sales agreements and allows it to block such sales by passing a resolution of disapproval of human rights abuses or other issues, although no such resolution has ever passed or survived a presidential veto.
The informal review process allows the Democratic and Republican leaders of the foreign affairs committees to review such agreements before formal notification to Congress, meaning either could delay the agreement for months or longer by asking for more information. Meeks is one of those four officials.
Meeks said there had been “enough indiscriminate bombing” in the Israeli campaign in the Gaza Strip. “I don’t want the weapons that Israel has to use to cause more deaths. I want to make sure that humanitarian aid is coming. I don’t want people to die of hunger, and I want Hamas to release the hostages.” “Meeks said.
Meeks said he will decide whether he will approve the gun transfer or not after he receives more information.
Israel is seeking to bolster its already impressive fleet of combat aircraft not only to continue the fight against Hamas, but also to counter any further threat from the Tehran-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah on its northern border, as well as from Iran, its regional archipelago . enemy.