Senator Shaheen blocks $2.8 billion US arms sale to Israel
This digest was compiled by AI from multiple sources — links to the originals are below.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee ranking Democrat Jeanne Shaheen has blocked a $2.8 billion arms sale to Israel. The sale included 40,000 one-ton bombs that could contribute to high casualty rates in Gaza. The move follows similar action by Representative Gregory Meeks.
Key Facts
- Jeanne Shaheen, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, blocked a $2.8 billion arms sale to Israel.
- The blocked sale included 40,000 one-ton bombs that could contribute to high death rates in the Gaza Strip.
- Representative Gregory Meeks announced a hold on the same military sale on Wednesday.
- Shaheen has authority under US law to prevent the Trump administration from proceeding with arms sales above a certain threshold.
The Block
Jeanne Shaheen, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, blocked a $2.8 billion arms sale to Israel. The sale included 40,000 one-ton bombs that could contribute to high death rates in the Gaza Strip. Shaheen has authority under US law to prevent the Trump administration from proceeding with arms sales above a certain threshold.
Congressional Holds
Representative Gregory Meeks, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, announced a hold on the same military sale on Wednesday. Meeks expressed concerns about whether the Netanyahu government would use US-supplied weapons in accordance with international humanitarian law and US law.
Democratic Frustration
Shaheen and some Democrats were disappointed that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had done nothing to address their concerns about attacks causing mass civilian casualties in Gaza, the bombing of Syria, and increasing violence by Israelis seizing Palestinian land in the occupied West Bank. The Biden administration had previously blocked the shipment of these weapons to Israel.
2 sources
Time · lag behind first