Biden Threatens to Halt Arms Shipments to Israel
“I’m Not Supplying the Weapons Used Historically to Deal with Rafah,” the president said to CNN, adding that the commitment to Israel's protection remains intact
U.S. President Joe Biden delivers a speech at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum's Annual Days of Remembrance ceremony, at the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, U.S., May 7, 2024. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo
US President Joe Biden threatened to halt arms shipments to Israel should it launch a large-scale operation in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.
Referring to the bombs of which the administration paused shipment last week, Biden said to Erin Burnett on CNN on Wednesday that “Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a consequence of those bombs and other ways in which they go after population centers.”
The President added that “I made it clear that if they go into Rafah – they haven’t gone in Rafah yet –I’m not supplying the weapons that have been used historically to deal with Rafah, to deal with the cities – that deal with that problem.”
Biden assured that the US will continue providing Israel with defensive weapons, including necessary equipment for the Iron Dome system. “We’re not walking away from Israel’s security. We’re walking away from Israel’s ability to wage war in those areas,” he said.
The previous day, President Biden delivered a heartfelt speech in commemoration of Holocaust Remembrance Day, drawing a line between Nazi and Hamas atrocities and warning against the rise in anti-Semitism and the dissemination of false narratives.
"Now here we are, not 75 years later, but just seven and a half months later, and people are already forgetting ... that Hamas unleashed this terror," Biden said. "I have not forgotten, nor have you. And we will not forget."
Biden’s statement sparked criticism from both sides of the political map, as well as from Jewish American organizations – and, unsurprisingly, from Biden’s presidential race opponent Donald Trump.
"Hamas has murdered thousands of innocent civilians, including babies, and is holding American hostages, if they are alive at all, but the corrupt one stands precisely on the side of these terrorists, just as he stands on the side of the radical mob that is taking over our campuses," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, appeared before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense and confirmed that the administration paused the weapons shipment to Israel.
“We’re going to continue to do what’s necessary to ensure that Israel has the means to defend itself,” Austin said. “But that said, we are currently reviewing some near-term security assistance shipments in the context of unfolding events in Rafah.”
Meanwhile, the IDF continues operating in the Gaza Strip. Last night, several missiles were launched from the Rafah area towards the Kerem Shalom crossing – which Israel opened yesterday for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. The missiles did not cross over to Israeli territory.
Overnight, the IDF launched another targeted operation at the Zeytoun area in the central part of the Gaza Strip, to eliminate terrorists and dismantle infrastructure – including attack tunnels, observation and sniper posts, and military centers.
Following the sirens in Karem Shalom earlier today, several projectiles were identified coming from the Rafah area towards the Karem Shalom crossing. The projectiles did not cross into Israeli territory and fell within the Gaza Strip.
