77 Dems pen letter rejecting Biden’s assessment of Israeli compliance with US arms sale laws

Seventy-seven House Democrats have signed on to a letter to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin rejecting their determination that Israel remains in compliance with US arms sales laws and urging the Biden administration to conduct a “full assessment” of whether there are grounds to impose a partial arms embargo against Israel.

The letter is unlikely to sway the Biden administration, given that it has thus far stood by its determination and is unlikely to reverse course with so little time left before the end of President Joe Biden’s term, given that such a move would almost certainly be immediately reversed by President-elect Donald Trump.

Blinken and Austin had sent a letter to Israel in September giving it 30 days to take significant steps to alleviate the Gaza humanitarian crisis or risk being found out of compliance with US law, which bars the transfer of weapons to countries that block humanitarian aid from civilians.

The letter listed over a dozen steps that the US wanted Israel to take to remain in compliance with US law. Israel did not fulfill all of the steps but the administration determined that it had made enough progress on many of them to justify continued weapons shipments to Israel, while urging Jerusalem to sustain and build on that progress.

The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains dire, with much of the aid in southern Gaza where most of the civilians are located being looted by criminal gangs and Hamas.

“While some progress has been made, we believe the Israeli government has not yet fulfilled the requirements outlined in your letter,” the progressive Democrats write in their letter to Blinken and Austin.

“Therefore we request that your Administration provide a full assessment of the status of Israel’s compliance with all relevant U.S. policies and laws, including National Security Memorandum 20 (NSM20) and Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act,” they say.

“Further administrative action must be taken to ensure Israel upholds the assurances it provided in March 2024 to facilitate, and not directly or indirectly obstruct, US humanitarian assistance,” they say, stressing their support for Israel’s right to defend itself following Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, while arguing that its conduct in the war has gone been what is acceptable.