The Biden administration for the second time this month has bypassed Congress to approve the transfer of nearly $150 million in military equipment to Israel

Secretary of State Antony Blinken informed Congress that he has made an emergency determination to immediately approve the transfer of “155mm ancillary items including fuzes, charges, and primers that make 155mm shells functional,” a State Department spokesperson said Friday.

The spokesperson said the additional items were added to previous sales, which “increased the total value of the sale to $147.5 million.”

Earlier this month, the administration rushed forward a sale of thousands of munitions to Israel, bypassing the standard 20-day period that congressional committees are typically afforded to review such a sale. The State Department sent an emergency declaration to the oversight committees that more than 13,000 tank shells would be delivered to Israel without any “further information, details or assurances.”

  • paddirn@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    Can’t we just bypass Congress to immediately transfer weapons to Ukraine instead? That seems to be 1) the more important conflict, and 2) an actual “morally just” conflict where our support can make a real difference, and 3) an amazing return on investment and a pittance compared to what the Ukrainians themselves are having to sacrifice.

    • manucode@infosec.pub
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      10 months ago

      The difference might be that Israel has the financial ability to buy such weapons while Ukraine relies on funding from the US and other countries. The White House can probably green lit the sale of arms to Israel but not the transfer to Ukraine as that would involve the government paying on which Congress has oversight. I could be completely wrong though.

      • McDropout@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Israel consistently receives an annual aid package of 3 billion dollars from the U.S., a fixed amount regardless of relative peace or conflict. However, due to the ongoing genocide, they’re receiving extra funds this year. This parallels a scenario where if I give you 10 dollars, and you spend the same amount on something from me, the financial interaction remains balanced, akin to the U.S.-Israel financial dynamics.

      • Lysol@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        You have a good point here, didn’t even think about that at first. It’s of course always about the money…

      • Linkerbaan@lemmy.worldOP
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        10 months ago

        So far it seems like the president can do just about anything if he just calls it a “major security risk to the country.”

        Biden could 100% get Ukraine their weapons if he really wanted to. Zelensky just keeps forgetting to send a portion of the American taxpayer dollars back to bribe him.

    • Linkerbaan@lemmy.worldOP
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      10 months ago

      The guys over at /Politics told me that It’s impossible to bypass Congress to provide weapons they were extremely certain of it.

      It’s not that Biden only wants to help the Zionists because of the huge bribes he receives from AIPAC.

      Genocide Joe surely has no way to provide weapons to Ukraine other than bowing his head to the Republicans, accepting their demands to buid the wall and waiting until next year.

      He probably just forgot that he can’t do this bypassing congress thing twice this month already. Silly senile old man.

      • that guy@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        People forget Joe Biden is a republican, a DINO, it’s why he was saddled with Obama to make him more palatable to voters who saw Obama as too extreme with campaign promises to close Guantanamo, end the wars, codify Roe V Wade, and introduce single payer healthcare.

        After all these years Biden is getting his wish of having a strong republican party. The emperor’s new clothes: there are no sides.