The Biden administration is preparing a $680 million weapons program for Israel, a US official confirmed to Times of Israel Wednesday, while insisting that the arms sale was in no way linked to the ceasefire concluded between Israel and Hezbollah, which came into effect at dawn Wednesday.
The Financial Times revealed the sale of thousands of Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) kits, just hours after Biden administration officials denied reports that Washington had agreed to transfer additional lethal weapons to Israel in exchange for the signing by Jerusalem of the agreement on Lebanon.
The American official who addressed the Times of Israel Wednesday stood by its statement, explaining that the JDAM sale had been in the works for several months and was just one of countless arms deliveries authorized since the Hamas attack on October 7, including in recent weeks, before the signing of the ceasefire in Lebanon.
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“There are constantly programs moving forward at different stages. This has nothing to do with the ceasefire in Lebanon,” the American official said.
“This case has been ongoing for some time now. Deliveries are not expected to begin for at least a year, and this must be seen in the context of long-term support for Israel’s defense and is not linked to yesterday’s ceasefire or any other current specific activity,” added another American official.
The State Department declined to confirm the progress of the JDAM sale, but said U.S. support for Israel’s security against Iranian-backed threats was “unwavering” and that no country could not tolerate the threats Israel faces.
US President Joe Biden speaks about the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC, November 26, 2024. (Credit: SAUL LOEB / AFP)
The State Department statement said all arms transfers are made in accordance with U.S. law, which prohibits their use to commit war crimes or by countries that block the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians.
“We have made clear that Israel must comply with international humanitarian law, that it has a moral obligation and strategic imperative to protect civilians, investigate allegations of wrongdoing and ensure that perpetrators of abuses or violations of international human rights law or international humanitarian law are held accountable for their actions,” the State Department said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Wednesday that the United States had delayed arms deliveries to Israel — delays that would soon end, he said, alluding not-so-subtly to the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump, January 20.
The Biden administration immediately denied Netanyahu’s claims, saying the only delivery that was held up was a batch of 1,000 kg bombs that Washington fears could be used in densely populated areas.
In recent days, Israeli media have cited anonymous Netanyahu aides as saying that the Biden administration has committed to releasing held up arms shipments in exchange for Israel agreeing to a ceasefire in Lebanon. . Other aides to the prime minister stressed that Donald Trump’s return to the White House would also ensure an end to the alleged delay in arms deliveries.
U.S. special envoy Amos Hochstein, who was the lead mediator of Lebanon’s ceasefire, said Wednesday that Netanyahu’s office’s claims that the United States had threatened to present a Security Council resolution UN calls for an immediate ceasefire if Israel rejected the US-brokered deal were also false.
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