US delays the dispatch of precision weapons to Israel

Biden administration has held up delivery of Joint Direct Attack Munitions as it pressures its ally not to go into Rafah.

Israeli tanks take position in southern Israel near the border with the Gaza Strip as smoke billows over Gaza during Israeli bombardment on Monday. Picture: AFP

The Biden administration has delayed the sale of thousands of precision weapons to Israel, raising questions about whether the US is deliberating slowing the delivery of weapons to its top Middle Eastern ally amid growing domestic political pressure.

The US decision also comes as the administration is pushing back on Israel’s declared plan to launch an attack on the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. The White House has publicly resisted calls to limit weapons sales despite mounting criticism about the death toll and destruction within Gaza through US-provided weapons.

At issue is the sale of up to 6500 joint direct attack munitions – kits that enable unguided bombs to be steered to a target – according to officials familiar with the proposed deal. Congress first learned in January about the proposed sale, which is worth as much as $US260m ($393m), but the Biden administration hasn’t moved forward with the deal.

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby declined on Monday to comment on whether any arms sales to Israel had been put on hold. “Our security commitments to Israel are iron-clad,” he said during the White House briefing.

The State Department is required to notify Congress when the US plans to sell weapons to other countries when the deal rises above specific dollar thresholds. The State Department typically provides information to the House foreign affairs and Senate foreign relations committees ahead of those potential arms sales, followed by the formal congressional notification.

In the case of the JDAMs, however, the administration never followed up with the official notification about the sale, triggering an effective pause in the deal, according to current and former US officials. “It’s unusual, especially for Israel, especially during a war,” said a congressional official familiar with the arms sales process.

The official said, however, that they didn’t know the reason for the delay.

If the delay to the JDAMs is deliberate, it “would be the first instance since this war began where the administration took such an action on weapons we know have been used in Gaza”, said Seth Binder, of the Washington-based Middle East Democracy Centre.

Since March, the Biden administration has also not advanced the congressional notification process on another $US1bn in weapons deals for Israel that includes tank ammunition, military vehicles and mortar rounds, US officials said.

Those deals included the transfer of $US700m in 120mm tank ammunition, $US500m in tactical vehicles and less than $US100m in 120mm mortar rounds. The sales would take months or years to be delivered.

The administration is under pressure from a growing number of Democrats in congress to cut back weapons supplies to pressure Israel into doing more to prevent the killing of civilians in Gaza, where more than 34,000 people have died.

The JDAMs delay also comes amid nationwide protests at college campuses about the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza, including weapons sales. According to an ABC News/Ipsos poll released last week, 38 per cent of Americans said the US is doing too much to support Israel, compared with 32 per cent in January.

Most of Israel’s weapons purchases from the US are made using the billions of dollars in government funding that Washington gives to help Israel shore up its military each year. Israel is among the largest recipients of US military aid in the world.

Following months of legislative gridlock stemming from Republican objections to aiding Ukraine, congress passed a bill last month to provide an additional $US26bn in assistance for Israel, including more than $US5bn to replenish Israel’s air defences. President Joe Biden signed the bill, along with separate measures to send weapons to Ukraine and Taiwan, in late April.

The US sent tens of thousands of bombs, artillery shells and other munitions to Israel in the initial months of the war following Hamas’s October 7 attack.

The flow dropped off in recent months as the Pentagon has run short of munitions it can provide Israel quickly, while also meeting Ukraine’s needs and maintaining sufficient US stockpiles.

The Wall Street Journal