In a major victory for the war-wrecked nation Israel, the US Senate on Thursday passed a bill to compel the Joe Biden administration to mandatorily transfer weapons, arms, and ammunition to Jerusalem to aid its war against the Hamas terrorist. The bill preventing Biden from withholding, halting, reversing, or canceling weapons transfers to Israel comes days after the US President asserted that he would halt shipments of weapons to Israel if PM Benjamin Netanyahu ordered a major invasion of the city of Rafah.
However, it is unlikely that the bill will be taken up by the Democratic-led Senate, and the White House has remarked that President Biden would veto the bill if Congress passes it. In an interview with news portal CNN, Biden had clarified that his administration would not allow the shipment of bombs to Israel for its invasion of Rafah, the southern Gaza city where more than a million civilians have been sheltering. However, the US President would continue providing defensive weapons to Israel, including its Iron Dome air defense system.
Notably, on Tuesday, the US shared its intention to move forward with a plan to sell more than $1 billion worth of new weapons to Jerusalem to assist the country in defending itself from the Hamas terrorist group. According to three congressional aides who are familiar with the deal, the Biden administration told Congress on Tuesday that it would send more than $1 billion in additional arms and ammunition to Israel.
Joe Biden had faced massive heat over its decision to halt weapons transfer to Israel, specifically from Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu, who declared that if needed “Israel will stand alone” and fight with its fingernails. BYTE: start to 0.48 Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel PM The Biden administration also came under severe criticism from numerous republican lawmakers, including Presidential candidate Donald Trump, who drew a comparison between Biden and pro-Hamas protestors demonstrating in large numbers across the US campuses, accusing him of “supporting the terrorist group, Hamas by blocking arms transfer to Jerusalem. BYTE: video 10: start to 0.24 Donald Trump, Republican Presidential Candidate
Since the past seven months of the war, from standing shoulder to shoulder with Israel to now halting weapon transfer, President Joe Biden’s stance on the Israel-Hamas war has kept dwindling. In the initial months of the war, the US sent arms, bombs, and ammunition to Israel, and even the US military to support the Israel Defense Force. Nonetheless, in the last couple of months, his stance has changed, with the US President condemning Israel for civilian casualties, and now halting weapons to the country.
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