The United States has greenlighted the switch of a brand new $2.5bn weapons package deal, comprising bombs and fighter jets, to Israel, in keeping with US media experiences.
Despite expressing concern about civilian casualties in Gaza, the White House arms package deal consists of greater than 1,800 MK84 2,000-pound (900kg) bombs and 500 MK82 500-pound (225kg) bombs, in keeping with Pentagon and Department of State officers, the Washington Post reported.
The 2,000-pound bombs, which may inflict harm to folks as much as 1,000 ft (300 metres) away, have been “linked to previous mass-casualty events throughout Israel’s military campaign in Gaza”, the US publication stated.
Many leaders and human rights activists all over the world have criticised the US for sending extra arms to Israel, particularly because the Benjamin Netanyahu authorities guarantees to launch an offensive in Rafah, the final refuge of greater than 1,000,000 displaced Palestinians in Gaza.
Here are some key reactions:
Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
In a press release posted on X, the ministry condemned Washington’s actions and stated that “demanding Netanyahu to stop killing civilians and supplying him with weapons is an unprecedented principled and moral contradiction”.
The ministry additionally expressed remorse on the “ongoing failure” on the a part of the UN Security Council and of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to make sure Israel respects their choices.
Former Palestinian politicians
Hanan Daoud Ashrawi, a Palestinian politician who additionally served because the official spokesperson of the Palestinian delegation to the Middle East peace course of, stated US President Joe Biden’s actions have been astounding.
“The hypocrisy of Biden’s hollow words & crocodile tears on the ‘humanitarian disaster’ in Gaza while showering Israel with the most lethal & destructive military supplies capable of pulverising buildings & human beings instantly is astounding!” she stated in a put up on X.
Jordan’s Foreign Minister
Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi referred to as on the worldwide neighborhood to cease supplying Israel with weapons.
“UN agencies are telling horror stories of suffering in Gaza. Over 30,000 killed. Over two million people starved. These facts shame the world,” he posted on X.
“Weapons must stop flowing to Israel. Israel must be forced to end this catastrophe. This is what international law, what human values, demand,” he added.
Greece’s former finance minister
Yanis Varoufakis, the previous finance minister of Greece and founding father of the Greek political occasion MeRA25, referred to as Biden a warfare prison.
“In 2001, [Russian President Vladimir] Putin earned the war criminal label over Chechnya. In 2003, Bush-Blair were the war criminals viz Iraq. Over the past six months, Biden became complicit in Israel’s war crimes. Today, with this latest release of weapons, Biden has become a fully fledged war criminal too,” he stated in a put up on X.
US Senator Bernie Sanders
Sanders slammed the transfer as “obscene”.
“The US cannot beg Netanyahu to stop bombing civilians one day and the next send him thousands more 2,000-pound bombs that can level entire city blocks,” he stated in a put up on X.
“We must end our complicity: No more bombs to Israel,” he added.
Pro-Palestine protesters
At pro-Palestine demonstrations in San Francisco within the US, protesters denounced the US authorities’s actions of arming Israel as “outrageous and unacceptable”.
Demonstrators blocked roads on Friday after a US warship within the port was suspected of getting used to hold weapons to Israel. They additionally stated they’re involved the vessel, USNS Harvey Milk, might ship provides to Israel’s army because it continues its lethal assault on Gaza.
“It is outrageous and unacceptable that our government continues to fund and supply the Israeli military as it carries out genocide against the people of Gaza,” stated Lara Kiswani of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center.
Jewish Voice for Peace Action
The world motion of Jewish folks and allies working in the direction of justice and equality for all Palestinians and Israelis expressed on X that “cruelty knows no bounds”.
“Over 32,000 Palestinians brutally massacred by Israel, youngsters being starved to demise below siege, the World Court investigating believable genocide, tons of of 1000’s of voters protesting on the poll field.
“And Biden keeps sending Israel weapons,” the group stated.
Activists
In a put up on X, Kenneth Roth, the previous government director of Human Rights Watch, slammed the US for arming Israel.
“Biden is sending Israel 1,800 MK84 2,000-pound bombs. These are the huge bombs that Israel has repeatedly used even though they are utterly inappropriate for a populated place like Gaza because they predictably kill, main, and destroy over very wide areas,” he stated.
Sarah Leah Whitson, government director of Middle East-focused rights organisation DAWN, referred to as President Biden “two-faced”.
She added that whereas Biden has criticised Israel for his or her atrocities in Gaza, “he’s actually rewarding them for their filthy fight with billions more in the most lethal weapons – including 2,000 pound bombs that even the US & other countries no longer use in battle because of their catastrophic impacts”.
Academics
Marc Owen Jones, affiliate professor of Middle East research at Hamad bin Khalifa University in Qatar, advised Al Jazeera that whereas Washington is publicly pressuring Israel to “dial back” its warfare in Gaza, its coverage strikes are sending a completely totally different sign.
The unfettered help to Israel, which help teams say is hindering help to Gaza as famine-like circumstances unfold, is undermining Biden’s efforts to reposition the US as a “moral authority in the world,” he famous.
“Biden is breaking, or at least not enforcing, the Leahy laws,” he stated, referring to US human rights legal guidelines that bar the US from supplying weapons to nations plausibly engaged in rights abuses.
“How is Biden going to position himself as any kind of moral authority when he is contravening laws that are meant to defend the human rights of people like those in Palestine? The US’s policy is actually just business as usual.”
Laura Blumenfeld, a Middle East analyst on the Johns Hopkins University, advised Al Jazeera that cargo to Israel “puts Biden on a tightrope.”
“It’s all about balance,” she stated. “From the left-wing of the Democratic Party, the political winds favour conditioning aid. But from the right, Donald Trump and his Republican allies in Congress will blast the President if he appears to appease Hamas.”
“Despite the fog of war, the administration has been clear about its red lines legally, morally and diplomatically,” the analyst stated, including that the choice to ship extra weapons instructed Israel had not but crossed that line within the eyes of Biden.
“In the Middle East, it’s easy for outsiders to get dragged into areas of ambiguity”, whereas Biden was trying to run a marketing campaign based mostly on clear contrasts, she stated.
“Decency versus revenge. Hope for the future versus antagonism from the past,” Blumenfeld added.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/30/complicity-leaders-activists-slam-us-for-sending-more-arms-to-israel?traffic_source=rss
