XPost: rec.food.cooking, talk.politics.misc, talk.politics.guns
XPost: alt.politics.immigration, soc.culture.israel
The United States has approved another $20bn in weapons transfers to
Israel, despite concerns that Israeli forces are routinely violating international law in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
The State Department announced on Tuesday that Secretary of State
Antony Blinken had approved the arms sale, which includes dozens of
fighter jets alongside tank munitions and air-to-air missiles.
“The United States is committed to the security of Israel, and it is
vital to US national interests to assist Israel to develop and
maintain a strong and ready self-defence capability,” the State
Department said.
The announcement came as Israel prepares for expected retaliation from
Iran and the Lebanon-based group Hezbollah following the
assassinations of high-level Hamas and Hezbollah officials which have
raised concerns over the possibility of a regional war.
The US has said it is working to avoid such an escalation. President
Joe Biden on Tuesday said an Iranian retaliation might be avoided if a ceasefire agreement was reached to end the war in Gaza where Israeli
forces have killed nearly 40,000 people, largely women and children,
levelled entire neighbourhoods and blocked shipments of humanitarian assistance.
Critics have called on the the Biden administration to cut off weapons transfers to Israel, alleging that they make the US complicit in the destruction of Gaza and are an essential source of leverage that the administration has refused to exploit in its efforts to secure a
ceasefire agreement to end the war, which Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted will continue.
Reports that Israeli forces are systematically violating international
law and committing abuses such as torture have also failed to stop the
flow of weapons, despite requirements under US law that military units
credibly accused of gross human rights violations be cut off from
support.
Speaking before the United Nations on Tuesday, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said her country’s goal in the region was to “turn
the temperature down”.
“That starts with finalising a deal for an immediate ceasefire with
hostage release in Gaza. We need to get this over the finish line,”
she said in remarks to the UN Security Council.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/13/us-clears-20bn-in-arms-sales-for-israel-as-atrocities-continue-in-gaza
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