From the Liveblog of
Saturday, April 6, 2024
Pelosi joins House Democrats urging Biden to halt arms transfers to Israel
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Several dozen Democratic members of Congress have sent a letter to US President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken calling for a halt on arms transfers to Israel following an IDF strike in Gaza that killed seven staffers of World Central Kitchen, including a dual US citizen.
“In light of this incident, 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 airstrike is completed,” the House representatives write, “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.”
Noting that Israel has said it did not intentionally target the aid workers, the Congress members say, “if this is true, it is a shockingly unacceptable mistake.” They also call for the administration “to conduct a thorough investigation into this airstrike,” which the White House reiterated Friday it will not do.
Most of the signatories were from the Democrat’s left flank but also include former speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, suggesting support for stopping weapons deliveries to Israel is increasingly becoming mainstream among Democrats.
The Israeli airstrike that killed seven @WCKitchen aid workers, including an American citizen, was absolutely horrifying and unacceptable.
Today, I called on the Biden Admin to withhold offensive arms transfers to Israel with @RepMcGovern, @Janschakowsky and 37 other colleagues. pic.twitter.com/7wKExWP6hT— Rep. Mark Pocan (@RepMarkPocan) April 5, 2024
The Times of Israel Community.