Israel-Hamas War: Biden says US will not supply weapons to Israel to attack Rafah

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden said on Wednesday it would not supply offensive weapons that Israel could use to launch an attack total assault on Rafah — Hamas’s last major stronghold in Gaza — out of concern for the well-being of more than a million civilians taking refuge there.

Biden, in an interview with CNN, said the United States was still committed to defending Israel and would provide Iron Dome rocket interceptors and other defensive weapons, but that if Israel enters Rafah, “we are not going to supply the weapons or artillery shells. used.”

Historically, the United States has provided enormous amounts of military aid to Israel. That has only accelerated following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that killed about 1,200 people in Israel and led to about 250 being captured by militants. Biden’s comments and his decision last week to suspend a shipment of heavy bombs to Israel are the most striking manifestations of the growing daylight between his administration and the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Biden said on Wednesday that Israel’s actions around Rafah had “not yet” crossed his red lines, but he repeated that Israel needs to do much more to protect the lives of civilians in Gaza.

The shipment was supposed to consist of 1,800 2,000-pound (900-kilogram) bombs and 1,700 500-pound (225-kilogram) bombs, according to a senior U.S. administration official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter. The focus of US concern was larger explosives and how they could be used in a dense urban area.

“Civilians have died in Gaza as a result of those bombs and other ways in which they attack population centers,” Biden told CNN. “I made it clear that if they go to Rafah (they haven’t gone to Rafah yet), if they go to Rafah, I will not provide them with the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities, which deal with that problem.” .

“We will not walk away from Israel’s security,” Biden continued. “We are moving away from Israel’s ability to wage war in those areas.”

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed the delay in weapons supplies early Wednesday, telling the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee that the United States stopped “a shipment of high-payload munitions.”

“We will continue to do whatever is necessary to ensure that Israel has the means to defend itself,” Austin said. “But having said that, we are currently reviewing some short-term security assistance shipments in the context of the events unfolding in Rafah.”

It also comes as the Biden administration is must issue a formal verdict, the first of its kind this week about whether Airstrikes in Gaza and restrictions on aid delivery They have violated international and US laws designed to spare civilians the worst horrors of war. A decision against Israel would further increase pressure on Biden to stop the flow of weapons and money to the Israeli army.

Biden signed the pause in an order transmitted last week to the Pentagon, according to US officials who were not authorized to comment on the matter. The White House National Security Council sought to keep the decision out of public view for several days until it better understood the scope of Israel’s stepped-up military operations in Rafah and until Biden could achieve a long-planned response. . Tuesday speech to commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day.

In April, the Biden administration began reviewing future transfers of military assistance as Netanyahu’s government appeared to move closer to an invasion of Rafah, despite months of opposition from the White House. The official said the decision to suspend shipping was made last week and a final decision had not yet been made on whether to continue shipping at a later date.

U.S. officials had declined for days to comment on the halted transfer, news that came as Biden on Tuesday described U.S. support for Israel as “battleships, even when we disagree.”

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, in an interview with Israeli television channel 12, said the decision to suspend the shipment was “a very disappointing, even frustrating decision.” He suggested the move was due to political pressure on Biden from Congress, protests on US campuses and the upcoming election.

The decision also drew a sharp rebuke from House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who said they only learned about the military aid delay through media reports, despite assurances from the Biden administration that no such pauses were in the works. Republicans asked Biden in a letter quickly end the blockade, saying it “risks emboldening Israel’s enemies,” and brief lawmakers on the nature of the policy reviews.

Biden has faced pressure from some on the left and condemnation from critics on the right who say Biden has moderated his support for an essential ally in the Middle East.

“If we withhold the weapons needed to destroy the enemies of the State of Israel at a time of great danger, we will pay a price,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., raising his voice in anger during an exchange with Austin. . “This is obscene. It’s stupid. Give Israel what it needs to fight the war it cannot afford to lose.”

Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a Biden ally, said in a statement that the pause on big bombs should be a “first step.”

“Our influence is clear,” Sanders said. “Over the years, the United States has provided tens of billions of dollars in military aid to Israel. “We can no longer be complicit in Netanyahu’s horrible war against the Palestinian people.”

Meanwhile, Austin told lawmakers that “it’s about having the right type of weapons for the task at hand.”

“A small diameter bomb, which is a precision weapon, is very useful in a dense, built-up environment,” he said, “but maybe not so much a 2,000-pound bomb that could create a lot of collateral damage.” He said the United States wants Israel to conduct “more precise” operations.

Israeli troops took control of Gaza’s vital Rafah border crossing in what the White House described as a limited operation That fell short of the full Israeli invasion of the city that Biden has repeatedly warned against, most recently in a Monday call with Netanyahu.

Israel has ordered the evacuation of 100,000 Palestinians from the city. Israeli forces also carried out what they describe as “targeted strikes” in the eastern part of Rafah and captured the Rafah crossing, a critical conduit for the flow of humanitarian aid along the Gaza-Egypt border.

Privately, concern has grown within the White House about what is happening in Rafah, but publicly administration officials have emphasized that they did not believe the operations had defied Biden’s warnings against a large-scale operation in the city. .

The State Department is separately considering whether to approve the continued transfer of joint direct attack munitions kits, which put precision guidance systems on bombs, to Israel, but the review did not address imminent shipments.

Itamar Yaar, former deputy director of Israel’s National Security Council, said the US move is largely symbolic, but it is a sign of trouble and could become a bigger problem if it continues.

“It’s not some kind of American embargo on American support for munitions, but I think it’s kind of a diplomatic message to Mr. Netanyahu that he needs to take American interests into consideration more than he has in recent months.” , said. “At least for now it will not affect Israeli capabilities, but it is a kind of signal, a ‘be careful.'”

The United States dropped the 2,000-pound bomb sparingly in its long war against the Islamic State militant group. Israel, by contrast, has used the bomb frequently during the seven-month war in Gaza. Experts say the weapon’s use, in part, has helped fuel the huge Palestinian toll that the Hamas-run Health Ministry estimates at more than 34,000 dead, although it does not distinguish between militants and civilians.

The relationship between the United States and Israel has been close during both Democratic and Republican administrations. But there have been other moments of deep tension since Israel’s founding in which American leaders have threatened to cut off aid in an attempt to influence Israeli leadership.

President Dwight Eisenhower pressured Israel with threats of sanctions to withdraw from the Sinai in 1957 amid the Suez Crisis. Ronald Reagan delayed the delivery of F16 fighter jets to Israel at a time of escalating violence in the Middle East. President George HW Bush withheld $10 billion in loan guarantees to force a halt to Israeli settlement activities in the occupied territories.

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Associated Press writers Josef Federman in Jerusalem and Lolita C. Baldor and Matthew Lee contributed to this report.