The Biden administration continues to speak out of both sides of its mouth when it comes to Israel and Gaza policy as Progressive Democratic voters continue peeling off in droves, declaring that they can't in good conscience vote for Biden in November.
On Tuesday, the contradictions continued and abounded, as the White House informed Congress it is planning a new $1 billion arms transfer to Israel. And ironically this will mark the first new package since Biden earlier this month announced it paused a weapon shipment to Israel on human rights concerns.
A State Department report has since found that US weapons have likely been used in a way contrary to international humanitarian law, but stopped short of condemning Israel for war crimes.
The Wall Street Journal first broke the news of the new package, writing "The Biden administration notified Congress on Tuesday that it was moving forward with more than $1 billion in new weapons deals for Israel, U.S. and congressional officials said, a massive arms package less than a week after the White House paused a shipment of bombs over a planned Israeli assault on Rafah."
Here's what the newly proposed package includes:
- $700 million in tank ammunition
- $500 million in tactical vehicles
- $60 million in mortar rounds
This follows on the heels of Congress passing and Biden sighing into effect the $95 billion package of foreign aid for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan.
Biden's threats to pause shipments of offensive weapons to Israel has come under criticism by Democrat pro-Israel hawks in the last several days. White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has responded this week by saying: "We strongly, strongly oppose attempts to constrain the President’s ability to deploy US security assistance consistent with US foreign policy and national security objectives."
Meanwhile, Democrats continue to be angry over the Gaza crisis:
Approximately 13% of poll respondents in six swing states who voted for U.S. President Joe Biden in 2020 but would not vote for him again said that his foreign policy or Israel's war on Gaza were the most important issues determining their vote.
The figure comes as part of a new set of polls released Monday from The New York Times, Siena College, and The Philadelphia Inquirer that show former President Donald Trump narrowly leading Biden in 5 out of 6 crucial battleground states.
"We have warned that this would happen for months, and the Democratic Party didn't give a damn," author and organizer Daniel Denvir wrote on social media in response to the news.
The policy debate continues raging within Israel itself, with Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant on Wednesday calling on Netanyahu to affirm that Israel won't govern Gaza after Hamas is defeated.
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