Earlier this year, when Bibi Netanyahu told reporters that he was growing frustrated by the White House delaying weapons shipments to Israel in the middle of a war, the Biden administration flatly denied that they were doing that. They blamed Congress for a lack of approval of funding, logistical issues, or anything else they could think of. Now there has been a course reversal in Washington. Israel has been waiting months for shipments of 500-pound bombs that they had been promised, and the weapons will finally be on the way from the White House in the next week, ending a "two-month pause it had imposed in a bid to reduce civilian casualties in Gaza." However, other weapons that Israel previously ordered remain "on hold." (Wall Street Journal, subscription required)
The U.S. will soon begin shipping to Israel the 500-pound bombs that the Biden administration had previously suspended, ending a two-month pause it had imposed in a bid to reduce civilian casualties in Gaza, U.S. officials said.
The bombs βare in the process of being shipped,β and are expected to arrive in Israel in coming weeks, an administration official said. Heavier 2,000-pound bombs that were meant to be part of the same shipment are still on hold, the official added.
In May, the U.S. announced that it had held up one shipment that included 2,000-pound bombs and 500-pound bombs. Israel had already sent a ship to Charleston, S.C., to pick up the shipment before the decision was made, a U.S. official said.
Of all the lies that the Biden administration has tried to peddle to the American public, the claim that they haven't been holding up military aid to our allies in Israel is among the biggest whoppers and, frankly, the most stupid. Copious records exist in the archives showing that Israel has been purchasing all manner of weapons from us for ages. The idea that they would suddenly stop ordering them after they were attacked and war broke out is insane.
We're not even talking about any particularly cutting-edge or experimental weapons that might be considered controversial, like the long-range, hypersonic missiles that Ukraine is begging for. These are 500-pound and 2,000-pound bombs. And Biden is still refusing to send the 2,000-pound bombs. Israel is fighting an enemy that hides in well-fortified terror tunnels hidden under hospitals and civilian centers of population. Sometimes you need some bigger bombs to take out targets like those. (Bad things happen in war.)
The entire question of delaying military equipment sales to Israel is one of the issues that has probably had one of the most serious, negative impacts on Joe Biden's approval ratings. Support for Israel is at historic highs in the United States following the October 7 terror attacks. Yet Biden has continued to talk out of both sides of his mouth on the subject, claiming to support our ally while pushing them to relent in their war on Hamas in an effort to curry favor with a tiny minority of people in a couple of swing states.
At this point, they're not even trying to hide it anymore. A Biden administration official told reporters that their "main concern" is the potential use of 2,000-pound bombs in Rafah and elsewhere in the Gaza Strip. But that's precisely where the remaining Hamas battalions are hiding. This is war. In a war, you bomb the enemy where they are, not where you might wish them to be. A National Security Council spokesman admitted that the shipment of 2,000-pound bombs "remains paused." Unfortunately for Biden, this will not stop the protests against him or the cries of "Genocide Joe." The pro-Hamas rioters don't want to hear about limits on certain types of weapons. They want Israel to surrender completely. If Biden's handlers believe that this will somehow salvage his election prospects, I will confidently predict that they are sadly mistaken. And the only ones to suffer as a result will be the IDF forces in Israel who are being handicapped by the country that is supposed to be their strongest ally.
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