BEIJING, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- Secretary of State Antony Blinken approved "urgent" arms sales to Israel for the second time this month, with a total contract value of about 1, the United States said on Dec. 29$500 million. The United States has continuously provided ammunition to Israel, and has been criticized for being inconsistent with its words and deeds urging Israel to reduce civilians in military operations in the Gaza Strip, raising questions.
The United States said in a statement on the 29th that Blinken determined that there was an "emergency that requires immediate arms sales to Israel" and therefore needed to bypass the U.S. Congressional review required for conventional arms sales.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, left, meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv on October 12. Xinhua News Agency (Photo courtesy of the Israeli Information Office) According to the United States, the equipment sold this time comes from the U.S. stockpile, including 155 mm caliber artillery shells.
Earlier this month, the United States approved more than $100 million in "urgent" arms sales to Israel. U.S. exports** are generally subject to approval by the Foreign Relations Committees of the Senate and House of Representatives. However, the U.S. Export Control Act gives a privilege to bypass Congress to approve exports in order to maintain the U.S. during a state of emergency.
"Urgent" arms sales are "rare", but there is no shortage of precedents. In 2019, then-Donald Trump bypassed congressional scrutiny and directly approved arms against Saudi Arabia. Because the part involved in the arms sale has not yet been made and is difficult to deliver urgently, the arms sale was once accused of violating the law, and then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was subject to an internal investigation. In addition, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush (George H.W. Bush) and George W. Bush (George W. Bush) used this privilege in the '80s, during the Gulf War and the Iraq War, respectively.
This is a photograph of Israeli troops on the Israeli side of the Gaza border on December 27. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Jill Cohen Magen) The Associated Press noted that in response to criticism of arms sales about human rights violations, the United States claimed to maintain continuous communication with the Israeli side on reducing the number of civilians.
Josh Paul, who used to work in the Bureau of Political and Military Affairs in charge of the U.S. deal, resigned after the outbreak of the new Palestinian-Israeli conflict, due to dissatisfaction with the increasing military aid to Israel in the absence of scrutiny.
Paul said in an interview that the combination of the U.S. veto of the cease-fire resolution while speeding up the supply of lethal services to Israel raises doubts about the sincerity of the U.S. claim that Israel is reducing civilians in its operations.
On December 26, in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, people look at the damage following Israeli airstrikes. Xinhua News Agency (Photo by Yasser Qudi) Behind the "calmly" support of Israel by the United States is the flight of a large number of people from Gaza. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, about 85 per cent, or more than 1.9 million Palestinians, of the original 2.3 million people in the Gaza Strip, have been left without their homes. According to data from the health department of the Gaza Strip, Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip have caused more than 210,000 deaths, 5More than 50,000 people were injured. The Israeli side said that more than 1,300 people died in the current round of clashes. (Wang Yijun).