The government of USA gave “emergency” approval, without going through Congress, for the sale to Israel of nearly 14,000 tank shells used in its war against the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza, official sources reported Saturday.
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According to press releases released on Saturday by the Department of Foreign Affairs and the Pentagon (Defense), the sale to its main ally of 13,981 120 mm projectiles used in the Merkava combat armored vehicles participating in the offensive in Palestinian territory against Hamas.
This military material represents a value of 106.5 million dollars.
The State Department notified Congress of the request on Friday, invoking an “emergency” authorization.
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“The Secretary of State (Antony Blinken) determined and justified in detail before Congress that it was urgent to immediately sell this equipment to the government Israeli (…) without the parliamentary review required by the legislation on arms export control,” the Department indicated in the note.
On Wednesday, Congress, divided with a House of Representatives with a Republican majority and a Democratic majority in senators although internally fractured, failed to advance a huge aid package aimed at Ukraine and Israel for more than 106,000 million dollars insistently demanded by the American president, the Democrat Joe Biden.
“USA is committed to Israel’s security and it is crucial to American national interests to help Israel develop and maintain a strong self-defense capability,” the State Department further justified.
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Despite sometimes tense diplomatic relations in recent years, Washington is the main ally of Israel and has provided $3.8 billion in military aid per year since 2016, under the presidency of fellow Democrat Barack Obama (2009-2017).
The United States on Friday afternoon vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire” in Loop in the midst of the incessant and intense Israeli bombings in the Palestinian enclave.
