Trump plans to send $ 8 billion in weapons to Israel, bypassing some legislators

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs submitted an official notification that it was planning to move forward in sales of more than $ 8 billion of weapons to Israel, bypassing an informal review operation that was ongoing in the House of Representatives Committee.

This step occurred a few days after President Trump met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from Israel and said The United States “will take over” the devastating Gaza Strip And turned it into “Riviera in the Middle East”.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has officially reported its intention on Friday. On the same day, the Pentagon released two news, one of which says that he was selling to Israel 3,000 air missiles to the ground worth $ 660 million, and another says he was sending 6.75 billion dollars of bombs and steering tools. The Pentagon did not issue a news statement to sell artillery shells, which did not require a commercial sale directly from the administration to provide a detailed statement. American officials also included additional bombs. Together, all sales are worth $ 8.4 billion.

Biden Administration I announced the sale of $ 8 billion in early JanuaryThen the entire package was sent to the Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee for informal review. During this process, legislators can ask detailed questions to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about sales before deciding on whether or not he will agree to them.

Senior Republican legislators in the committees gave their approval, and the Democratic Senate decided at the end, but the actor Gregory W. Mix from New York, the great Democrats of the committee, decided to use the review process to ask more questions.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs applied to the package after it sat in an unofficial review of more than 20 days, which is the extent of the typical time granted to senior legislators to consider it in arms sales to Israel. The time of the unofficial review varies depending on the partner’s country.

Certainly sales will continue without obstacle, because Congress will need to mobilize two -thirds of voting in both councils to stop orders.

After announcing that sales will advance despite his suspension, Mr. Mix sharply criticized what he described as long -term erosion, accusing the Trump administration of marginalizing Congress in its decision to move forward.

“I still support the decisive military needs of Israel because it faces a set of regional threats,” Mr. Mix said in a statement. But his support, made clear, was not conditional. He had participated in what he described as a “close consultation” with the administration officials in sales, which raised a number of concerns – only to find his inquiries with silence. He said that the administration failed to provide documents or justifications for its decision.

The administration’s move to implement sales was legally, but Mr. Mix said it showed “a flagrant disregard for the generation of Congress long ago.” He said more than a slightly slight bureaucratic, was a fundamental challenge in the balance of power between the volatile government branches.

In 2019, during his first administration, Mr. Trump Advertise “Emergency Case” Iran should allow Pompeo, then the Foreign Minister, to move forward to send weapons to the United Arab Emirates and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, although Congress was still asking questions about weapons in the initial review process. Mr. Pompeo’s move led to the investigation conducted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Inspector.

Friday’s notification was sent in the absence of an emergency ad. In 2023, the Biden Administration used a mechanism similar to the defrauding congress Arms sales to Israel By calling the same emergency saving.

Separate from the $ 8 billion in package, Congress reviews a request from Israel for a license to purchase 5,000 offensive rifles from American arms makers. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs can soon Submit more requests for assault gun To Congress for informal review. During the Biden administration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs kept a license that would allow Israel to buy 24,000 United States offensive rifles. In direct commercial sales, a foreign country requests a license to purchase weapons from a company.