US sending Israel 20K assault rifles that Biden delayed due to concerns they’d be used by extremist settlers

The Trump administration advanced the sale of more than 20,000 US-made assault rifles to Israel last month, according to a document seen by Reuters and a source familiar with the matter, pushing ahead with a sale that the administration of former president Joe Biden had delayed over concerns they could be used by extremist Israeli settlers.

The State Department sent a notification to Congress on March 6 for the $24 million sale, saying the end user would be the Israeli National Police, according to the document.

The rifle sale is a small transaction next to the billions of dollars worth of weapons that Washington supplies to Israel. But it drew attention when the Biden administration delayed the sale over concerns that the weapons could end up in the hands of Israeli settlers, some of whom have carried out attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.

The Biden administration has imposed sanctions on individuals and entities accused of committing violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, which has seen a rise in settler attacks on Palestinians.

On his first day in office on January 20, Trump issued an executive order rescinding US sanctions on Israeli settlers in a reversal of US policy. Since then, his administration has approved the sale of billions of dollars worth of weapons to Israel.

The March 6 congressional notification said the US government had taken into account “political, military, economic, human rights, and arms control considerations.”

The State Department did not respond to a request for comment when asked if the administration sought assurances from Israel on the use of the weapons.

The rifle sale had been put on hold after Democratic lawmakers objected and sought information on how Israel was going to use them. The congressional committees eventually cleared the sale but the Biden administration kept the hold in place. His administration had repeatedly insisted that the only hold in place on Israeli weapons was one on a shipment of 2,000 lb bombs that it was concerned would be used in densely populated areas in which would harm civilians.

Israel’s National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, oversees the Israeli police force. The Times of Israel in October 2023 reported that his office has put “a heavy emphasis on arming civilian security squads” in the aftermath of the October 7 onslaught.