Politico: Biden Administration Holding Up Delivery of Bombs to Israel to

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On Sunday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez couldn’t contain her pleasure over a report that the United States was halting shipments of military aid to Israel:

The United States has an obligation to uphold its own laws and to respect human rights globally.

Amidst the Israeli gov’s siege on Gaza, blocking humanitarian aid, and threats on Rafah, withholding US military aid is a major development towards ceasefire.https://t.co/MY2WFn94rb

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 5, 2024

Bethany Mandel called out AOC on her poor timing about “blocking humanitarian aid” on the same weekend that Hamas killed four Israeli soldiers in a rocket attack on the Kerem Shalom humanitarian aid corridor. NSC spokesman John Kirby on Monday declined to confirm the reports that aid was being withheld.

POLITICO is backing up the report, saying that the Biden administration is holding up shipments of bombs “to send a political message to Israel.”

BREAKING: The Biden administration is holding up shipments of two types of Boeing-made precision bombs to send a political message to Israel, according to a U.S. official and six other people with knowledge of the deliberations. Team effort w @LeeHudson_ @paulmcleary @reporterjoe…

— Lara Seligman (@laraseligman) May 7, 2024

POLITICO reports:

The U.S. has yet to sign off on a pending sale of Boeing’s Joint Direct Attack Munitions — both the munitions and kits that convert them to smart weapons — and Small Diameter Bombs, according to six industry and congressional sources with knowledge of the discussions.

While the Biden administration has not formally denied the potential sale, it is essentially taking action through inaction — holding off on approvals and other aspects of the weapons transfer process — to send a message to Israel, a U.S. administration official familiar with the process told POLITICO. The official, along with others, was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive internal deliberations.

This appears to be the first time the U.S. administration has delayed a potential weapons sale for Israel since Hamas attacked the country on Oct. 7. President Joe Biden has been under pressure from some in his party to set conditions on aid to Israel after the Israeli bombing campaign in Gaza began to exact a heavy toll on civilians, and after Israel hit humanitarian convoys delivering aid to the enclave.