Democratic Congressional calls to halt arms sales to Israel picks up steam

• Published date: 10 April 2024
• Author: HANNAH SARISOHN
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Some 56 Democratic Representatives have signed onto a letter, first circulated last week, calling for US President Joe Biden to halt arms transfers to Israel until completion of the investigation into the IDF airstrike that killed seven aid workers from the World Central Kitchen while they were delivering food in Gaza

"Our letter to withhold offensive arms transfers to Israel picked up steam today. We added 16 signers for our final push – 56 Members of Congress total. A shift is underway!," said Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI).

He co-authored the letter together with Representatives James McGovern (D-MA) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL).

Letter says amount of aid not enough for Palestinian civilians

Although it focused on the WCK incident, it urged Biden to hold Israel to a stricter set of standards for arms shipments and to halt such transfers if Israel failed to comply.

"We strongly urge you to reconsider your recent decision to authorize the transfer of a new arms package to Israel and to withhold this and any future offensive arms transfers until a full investigation into the [IDF] airstrike [on the WCK aid workers] is completed.

"If this strike is found to have violated US or international law, we urge you to continue withholding these transfers until those responsible are held accountable.

"We also urge you to withhold these transfers if Israel fails to sufficiently mitigate harm to innocent civilians in Gaza, including aid workers, and if it fails to facilitate – or arbitrarily denies or restricts – the transport and delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza," the representatives stated.

Biden's efforts to increase the delivery of aid into Gaza will not be sufficient to meet the needs on the ground, according to the letter.

Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY), who is the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said on Tuesday he would not approve a massive arms transfer to Israel until he has more information about how Israel would use the weapons.

"I'm waiting for assurances," Meeks told CNN. "I want to make sure that I know the types of weapons and what the weapons would be utilized for," he said.

Reuters reported on April 1 that President Joe Biden's administration was weighing whether to go ahead with an $18 billion arms transfer package for Israel that...