The U.S. threatens to stop selling offensive weapons to Israel if aid to Gaza doesn’t improve, or if a military operation in Rafah is launched without a credible plan.
By Ben Samuels
WASHINGTON – There is a very real chance that the United States will halt the sale of offensive weaponry to Israel by month’s end should it fail to dramatically improve the amount of aid entering Gaza, or if it launches a military operation in Rafah without a credible plan for the million-plus Palestinians sheltering there.
The end of the U.S.-Israel relationship as we know it, embodied by the rift between U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has been a frequent and enduring storyline in the months since October 7. Nearly every leak – strategic or otherwise – and every official expression of concern has been heralded as a tipping point that will sway the course of the war, sparking a ripple effect that will change both the U.S.’ stance toward Israel and the Middle East, as well as Israel’s own geopolitical relationships.
In reality, this has failed to lead to any realistic changes in the relationship. The coming weeks, however, may finally mark the moment where the U.S.-Israel relationship veers onto a new historical path.
By all accounts, the incident earlier this month surrounding the Gaza aid convoy that resulted in the death of more than 100 Palestinians marked a tipping point for U.S. officials. And while it would be shortsighted to deem this the sole catalyst for change in strategy, the tragedy did capture all of the points of concern long held by the White House.
Subsequent days saw unprecedented U.S. actions aimed at bolstering the aid entering into Gaza, via airdrops as well as the planned construction of a temporary seaport. The latter strategy was welcomed more warmly by critics than the airdrops, which have been derided as an unsafe and ineffectual measure.
Biden’s implicit frustration with Israel was made explicit during his State of the Union address in Congress last Thursday, where he delivered his most thorough acknowledgement of “heartbreaking” Palestinian casualties on the highest presidential stage.
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“More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed, most of whom are not Hamas,” he said, referring to the figures released by the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza. “Thousands and thousands of innocents – women and children. Girls and boys also orphaned. Nearly 2 million more Palestinians under bombardment or displacement. Homes destroyed, neighborhoods in rubble, cities in ruin. Families without food, water, medicine.”
He sent a pointed message to “the leadership of Israel,” warning that “humanitarian assistance cannot be a secondary consideration or a bargaining chip. Protecting and saving innocent lives has to be a priority.”
Biden went even further in a follow-up interview on MSNBC, warning that Netanyahu was harming Israel and expressing interest in addressing the Knesset – a step key foreign policy power players like former Council of Foreign Relations President Richard Haass have been advocating for weeks.
Perhaps most consequential, however, was Biden’s answer to MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart on whether a military operation in Rafah would serve as a red line.
“There is a red line, but I’m never going to leave Israel. The defense of Israel is still critical, so there’s no red line where I’m going to cut off all weapons so they don’t have the Iron Dome to protect them,” he said. “They cannot have 30,000 more Palestinians dead as a consequence of going after … there’s other ways to deal with the trauma caused by Hamas.”
Biden’s explicit focus on defensive weapons is notable. Israel has until March 25 to provide the Americans with written assurances that it will abide by international law while using U.S. weapons, as well as pledging to both facilitate and not obstruct the delivery of aid into Gaza. Sales would be suspended if Israel fails to provide written commitment by then.
The requirement was made clear by the national security memorandum Biden signed last month – his second groundbreaking measure taken toward Israel following his executive order clearing the path toward sanctions on extremist Israeli settlers.
The March 25 deadline looms as some U.S. lawmakers and a significant part of Biden’s electoral bloc have taken the level of their displeasure over U.S. policy regarding the Israeli-Hamas conflict to fever pitch.
Thirteen Senate Democrats have already effectively supported conditioning military aid, co-sponsoring an amendment to Biden’s foreign security supplemental that the White House eventually turned into the memorandum in question.
More recently, over 35 House Democrats warned Biden that a Rafah invasion would violate the national security memorandum, jeopardizing the legality of selling U.S. weapons to Israel (it should be noted, however, that defensive weaponry is exempt).
A growing number of U.S. lawmakers, including key Biden allies such as Sen. Chris Coons (an AIPAC favorite viewed as staunchly pro-Israel), have joined calls to condition U.S. military aid.
He told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer late last month that he would condition the aid if Netanyahu “goes ahead with a full-scale ground offensive against Rafah without having provided significant changes in how civilians are treated and how civilians are protected, and how humanitarian aid is being delivered.”
At least three U.S. senators, meanwhile, have argued that the United States must immediately suspend military aid to Israel given facts on the ground.
“It’s long past time for the United States to stop supporting, by commission and omission, actions that are inconsistent with our principles and our policies and which make peace between Israelis and Palestinians ever more elusive, ever more difficult to achieve,” Sen. Peter Welch said on the Senate floor last week.
“The U.S. government should make it clear that failure to open up access immediately and feed starving people will result in the Netanyahu government not getting another penny of U.S. taxpayer military aid,” added Sen. Bernie Sanders.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, behind the Senate amendment-turned-Biden memorandum, warned that “America cannot be complicit in this ongoing humanitarian catastrophe – we know what must be done, now we must do it.”
The Maryland senator, alongside a dozen of his colleagues, requested a briefing from senior cabinet officials on the memorandum’s implementation by the March 25 deadline.
Demands on transparency from U.S. lawmakers will only grow in the coming days and weeks following recent reports from The Washington Post and Wall Street Journal that the United States has made a series of more than 100 weapons sales that fall below the dollar-amount threshold necessitating congressional notification and review.
It is nearly impossible to quantify the implications of Biden suspending offensive weapons sales. For one, Israel would rapidly find itself in the same position Ukraine has found itself in over recent months: in desperate need of ammunition and, accordingly, forced to recalibrate its strategy in real time.
Israel would also possibly lose a significant element of its deterrence – viewed as key for holding off Hezbollah and other Iranian proxy organizations from launching a full-fledged war. It would also lend further urgency to cease-fire negotiations, which have already failed to meet Biden’s desired deadline of the beginning of Ramadan.
Any such move would catapult Israel to the top tier of electoral matters like never before. Already garnering unprecedented attention among the U.S. electorate, Republicans would rapidly seize upon the move as evidence of Biden’s animus toward the Jewish state.
The move might also potentially help Biden win back progressive and Arab-American voters, many of whom have voted “uncommitted” in state primaries in protest of Biden’s wartime policies.
Beyond this, the suspension of arms sales would draw a new line in the sand for future negotiations on the U.S.-Israel memorandum of understanding, which is set to expire in 2028. Whoever wins November’s election will be tasked with dictating the future of the U.S.-Israel relationship. Donald Trump has already said he wants all foreign aid to be treated as a loan to be paid back in full. Should Biden be reelected, his administration would go into negotiations with Israel’s conduct in Gaza front of mind.
Via Haaretz
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Comments
32 responses to “Biden’s Red Line: Why U.S. Could Be Days Away From Suspending Arms Sales to Israel”
Ben, I am afraid that everything you have heard about this from insiders and others is 100% hopium and/ or BS. Having said that, I would be delighted to be wrong.
I agree with you. All the Biden talk is too little too late. He doesn’t want to see another 30k dead us 59k acceptable? Just sad.
Biden bears total responsibility for this as he could have shut down the genocide last October 10th when he was in Tel Aviv with Netanyahu. Failure to do so should disqualify him from running for president.
Americans have to save the Republic from both Biden and Trump. Both are more than willing to do the the empire’s dirty work, even now as NATO is preparing to re-escalate its proxy war against Russia which could go nuclear.
So far everything is working in favor of the world resistance against world Zionism, and the coming destruction of the Israeli terrorist enclave. As for the possible US cancellation of weapons supply to Israel, is a measure not to the liking of the Biden administration or by extension of the US regime, but a political necessity given the backlash from the world’s population against Israel and America. All is needed is for the Zionist Israeli regime to continue with their extermination campaign, since despite its heavy cost it will bring the desired result in the end. Let’s pray for its consummation.
Biden has made it perfectly clear that he has no “red line” for Israel. We must understand that Biden is a serial liar who says anything he thinks will help him get re-elected. On appearances over the weekend he reiterated his staunchly Zionist stance that the U.S. will not stop supporting Israel’s ongoing genocide of the Palestinians. In fact, it is the U.S. which is primarily responsible for the genocide because Israel could not carry out the genocide without the military, financial and political support provided by the U.S. The U.S. is now engaging in acts of political theater by dropping pitifully small amount of aid into Gaza via its airdrops and talking about building a pier onto which aid would be delivered. It is all political showbiz. The fact of the matter is that, thanks to the totally corrupt legalized bribery we now have as our political system Israel owns and controls our Congress and the Executive Branch. Any politician who does not strictly follow the dictates of Israel is viciously attacked, usually resulting in the termination of that politician’s political career. The author of this article is dead wrong to think that the Biden Administration is going to do anything other than continue to fully support the genocide of the Palestinians. Genocide Joe has made a few mealy mouthed statements about what Israel “must do”, etc., then follows such comments by again confirming that the U.S. support for Israel is “unshakeable”.
Very true, but the situation as is normal in politics is fluid and evolving as we speak. Of the two forces pulling America’s foreign policy the aggressive one and the realist, the latter is coming to terms with world reality. Let’s give it a little more time to settle in, nobody can run away from reality, those who do work against their own interests.
Those dying in Gaza don’t have “a little more time”.
My dear friend, since 1948 many thousands of Palestinians including leaders like the great Yasser Arafat who was assassinated by the great Satan known as Israel, paid with their lives the price for redemption. Today they must endure more suffering, and continue the fight until the Zionist beast is erased from the map. There is no other way.
Jim, you said,
“In fact, it is the U.S. which is primarily responsible for the genocide because Israel could not carry out the genocide without the military, financial and political support provided by the U.S.”
and,
“It is all political showbiz. The fact of the matter is that, thanks to the totally corrupt legalized bribery we now have as our political system Israel owns and controls our Congress and the Executive Branch.”
But you fail to mention the people who are ultimately behind this government control, and they are easily identified. They are the Jewish leaders who head the US Jewish Lobby. You cannot bring a perpetrator to justice when you refuse to identify who it is. A list of the US Jewish political organizations can be found in the following link. It’s the leaders of these organizations who are the primary culprits.
https://articlebiz.com/article/1052218096-the-jewish-lobby
I’m sorry to say but we will never see the day that the US stops backing Israel. Israel is a “state” (not a country). It’s part of the US and a stepchild of the UK, but it runs both. It makes the rules, not the US or UK. I’m afraid it’s delusional to think Biden or any president will stop sending arms and/or our billions to Israel, regardless who the prime minister is, the Jewish pope, to whom everyone bows.
The true heart of world Zionism is in Merry Old England in the House of Rothschild, however eliminating Israel in this military confrontation, will put a dent into Zionism power in the world.
Sure…just after he returns Turtle Island to its rightful owners, kicks the £obbyi$ts put of Wa$hington, and scraps his nuclear arsenal.
It will make a great Disney movie.
This is encouraging news. Israel extremists have given a bad name for Biden and the USA. It is time to review this incestuous relationship which is causing bad reputation for the projected policy of the USA to the world.
The US has always had a ‘bad name’…look around and see all the nefarious actions all over our planet. Yankee go home…and stay home.
It sounds like a serious wishful thinking. There is no “rift” between Biden and Netanyahu. In fact, Biden said recently, he has “no red line for Israel”. Biden is just an old man on life support. The Nazi Jews have an iron grip on the U.S. and its foreign and domestic policies.
And if it weren’t election year…??? Stop supporting the ZIO-N-AZIS…in their murderous quest.
This administration is 100 percent behind what Israel is doing. They are completely complicit. This is a all theatre to buy Israel more time to cull the Palestinian population through famine, disease and two thousand pound bombs.
Hardly one of the more weighty credible pieces online. Has the tone of one too close to the criminal bloody regime. People shouldn’t lose heart. After all Satanyahu has achieved non of his aims. The resistance is going strong, the tunnels are still in place. No dead fighters bodies are displ;ayed in israeli videos means they’re not killing many hamas. The israeli military tech sector is doing badly and many are leaving the country. Add to that yemens blockade is working and the idf has a severe manpower problem means they are on borrowed time. Ivé no sympathy for them.
Even if the speculations from this author become true and the US halts offensive weapons to Israel, it means little concerning the background tragedy, which is the Jewish attempt to fulfill the objectives of the early Jewish Zionists; i.e., the theft of all the land of Greater Israel with as much ethnic cleansing of Palestinians as is humanly possible.
So for instance, the US would temporarily halt shipments, resume them after things cool down, then at some future time, Jews will again conduct a “mowing of the lawn,” and similarly planned acts of genocide, again in Gaza, and likely in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. And the US Jewish Lobby will continue to control both the US government and US public opinion.
The only significant change perhaps will be that US public opinion will be much less in favor of the Jewish narrative. But a large gap between that opinion and government action is likely.
Nothing will change. Jews have all of the money, and the politicians. They can do whatever they please. The only solution is to destroy Zionism and by extension, Israel.
That, my friend, is one tall order!!! Never forget, it has been said, I can’t recall by whom: “Jewish power is the ability to prevent the debate about Jewish power.” In order to deal effectively with this problem, a significant majority of people need to be crystal clear as to the source of the problem. Unfortunately, we are a very long way from that minimal threshold of collective awareness necessary to effect change. And, due to the aforementioned Jewish power structure in place here, they are more than expert at suppressing, as most of you are well aware, any dissenting voices. It is a task, as daunting as it is necessary and, keep in mind, that is only the first hurdle that needs to be cleared.
To think the only two choices for a real leader of the USA are Genocide Joe and X president Dump. Both are BFFs to israel. Every election year that comes along I feel hopeless but this time beats all the rest. Its the most hopeless one of all so far.
Dump’s comment:- “Let Israel fully solve the problem.”
As if the Palestinians are the problem, and we are in need of a “Final Solution”.
Dump makes it clear, that he will follow their rule.
Then we have R.F. Kennedy Jnr, who says exactly the same thing.
In summary:-
1) Israel owns the USA, and we can never vote Israel out of The Whitehouse.
2) The USA is The “Empire” which owns its vassal states: Five Eyes, Europe and many more.
3) The media’s audience is the people. but it acts on behalf of Israel and the “The Empire”
4) The USA calls itself “The world’s greatest democracy”, but it is a farce, because voting wont help one bit. And if that could ever change things, it would have been banned.
It’s not just Israel. It’s the Tribe, stupid.
I have been banned from all commenting platforms for quoting respectable American journalists. This is the only one left where I can comment.
Many American professional people and the self-respecting Jew Dr Gideon Polya had the courage to say that the “Emperor is na ked” but the “royal march” keeps going on. See:
Lying America Did 9/11 And Then Killed Over 30 Million Muslims By Dr Gideon Polya
https://countercurrents.org/2021/09/lying-america-did-9-11-and-then-killed-over-30-million-muslims/
Biden is a war criminal President and Trump probably will be the same if reelected.
Jamal, I’ve also been banned from a couple places, and many times my comments were not approved. For instance, I was banned twice on Mondoweiss.org for suggesting that the US Jewish community via the US Jewish Lobby is what forces the US government to give unconditional support to Israel. That was several years ago, and ironically, the founder of the website, Phil Weiss, is now saying that in his recent articles.
It is an irony that Phil Weiss disapproved what most people already know and now he owes you an apology.
There is no freedom of speech just because the Jews want to defend the indefensible and steal Palestine by hook or crook. Israel has no right to exist. Read:
Israel’s right to exist? By Alan Hart
https://countercurrents.org/hart041109.htm
….. The truth of the time was that the Zionist state, which came into being mainly as a consequence of pre-planned ethnic cleansing, had no right to exist and, more to the point, could have no right to exist UNLESS … Unless it was recognised and legitimized by those who were dispossessed of their land and their rights during the creation of the Zionist state. In international law only the Palestinians could give Israel the legitimacy it craved. And that legitimacy was the only thing the Zionists could not and cannot take from the Palestinians by force. ….
It’s not just Israel. It’s the Tribe, stupid.
Going to Ukraine instead.
According to Michael Maloof, former senior security analyst at the US Office of the Secretary of Defence, “Israel is following the old Talmudic notion that everyone else is beneath the Jews, that [everyone else] are animals to serve them, and that’s how they’re treating people today. They want ethnic cleansing, they want the Palestinians out, they want to expand and extend their Jewish state concept…. If Netanyahu deviates from that, then he is out.”
It follows that Jews are worse than wild dogs.
Biden doesn’t care if Netanyahu ethnically cleanse all the Palestinians to avoid the two states solution. Biden is complicit in the genocide. US already committed Muslim Holocaust five times greater than the alleged Jewish holocaust. Read:
Lying America Did 9/11 And Then Killed Over 30 Million Muslims
by Dr Gideon Polya
https://countercurrents.org/2021/09/lying-america-did-9-11-and-then-killed-over-30-million-muslims/