Secretary of State Marco Rubio cited “emergency agencies” to bypass Congress and sent $4 billion in weapons to Israel, the second time in a month the Trump administration bypassed a process approved by Congress to send weapons to the country.
Mr Rubio did not explain in a statement on Saturday announcing why he used the emergency agency. He said the Trump administration will “continue to use all available tools to achieve the long-term U.S. commitment to Israeli security, including means to address security threats.”
State Department officials reviewed foreign arms sales on Friday’s emergency declaration on two congressional committees in the House and Senate. At least one congressional official privately expressed an alarm to accompany the review.
Several ammunition cases that Congress is under review are under review. But the State Department has not sent a major case worth about $2 billion to Congress for review, and he spoke frankly about sensitive weapons deals on anonymity, the official said.
The Pentagon announced details of the sale to Israel on Friday. The announcement lists several possible bomb combinations to be delivered, including over 35,000 pounds of bombs.
Israel has been throwing 2,000-pound bombs in Gaza, a densely populated 2 million people, about the size of Las Vegas. US officers say bombs are not suitable for urban combat.
President Joseph R. Biden Jr. Israel destroyed much of Rafa anyway, and the Trump White House released the cargo a few days after President Trump took office in late January.
Israel announced on Sunday that it would stop all commodities and humanitarian aid from entering Gaza in a pressure campaign to allow Hamas to accept temporary expansion of temporary fires. Most of the aid comes from groups and governments outside of Israel, and some legal experts say Israel's pause violates international law.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the proposal for a ceasefire delay was the idea of President Trump’s special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff. Hamas insisted that Israel had earnestly participated in the permanent truce talks during the just-reached ceasefire, and Israel did not do so.
Hamas still occupied dozens of Israeli hostages, which were kidnapped in October 2023, when about 1,200 Israelis were killed in a Hamas-led attack in southern Israel. According to estimates from the Gaza Ministry of Health, the Israeli military subsequently attacked Gaza, killing nearly 50,000 Palestinians. Most of the people who died on both sides were civilians.
In addition to the $2 billion bomb case, other military equipment sent to Israel under emergency authorization include bulldozers, more bombs and GPS protection kits that can be installed on unguided or “stupid” bombs.
Two relevant congressional committees – the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee – have been conducting informal reviews of the equipment. In the process, assistants and legislators can ask questions about the order before approval. The department usually expects Israel's informal review process to be no more than 20 days.
In early February, the State Department bypassed the informal review process of Congress and announced that it would send $8 billion in weapons to Israel approved by the Biden administration.
The State Department, led by Antony J. Blinken, told the committee in early January. During the normal 20-day informal review, three of the committee’s four Republican and Democratic officials approved the plan. But, a Democratic representative, Gregory W. Meeks of New York
Mr Rubio's statement on Saturday claimed that the Trump administration approved Israel's $8 billion weapon, when the package actually originated from the Biden administration.
The statement also falsely asserted that Mr Rubio's decision on new $4 billion weapons and equipment reversed the “partial arms embargo” of Israel's Biden administration. In fact, Mr. Biden and Mr. Blinken approved almost all Israeli weapons orders.
The State Council will not comment on any claim.
Mr. Blinken did deduct Israel’s license to purchase 24,000 US-made assault rifles from U.S. companies because they feared it would help Israeli settlers escalate violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. This year, Mr. Rubio's department submitted at least one Israeli request to purchase 5,000 rifles to Congress.
During Mr. Trump's first term, the government cited an emergency statement to bypass Congress and send weapons to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
