On Friday, the Pentagon announced it had received a green light from the State Department to sell over $2 billion worth of heavy munitions to Israel.
By World Israel News
The Trump administration announced over the weekend that it was working to speed up delivery of billions of dollars’ worth of military equipment to Israel, calling the move a reversal of the “partial arms embargo” imposed by the Biden administration.
On Saturday night, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a statement announcing emergency measures to expedite $4 billion in arms transfers to Israel.
Citing the Biden White House’s suspension of the sale of some aerial munitions – including MK-84 one-ton bombs – Rubio panned the previous administration’s limits on weapon transfers, collectively dubbing them an “arms embargo.”
“The decision to reverse the Biden Administration’s partial arms embargo, which wrongly withheld a number of weapons and ammunition from Israel, is yet another sign that Israel has no greater ally in the White House than President Trump,” he said.
By contrast, Rubio said the current administration has lifted Biden-era restrictions on military equipment transfers and accelerated shipments to the Jewish state.
“Since taking office, the Trump Administration has approved nearly $12 billion in major FMS sales to Israel. This important decision coincides with President Trump’s repeal of a Biden-era memorandum which had imposed baseless and politicized conditions on military assistance to Israel at a time when our close ally was fighting a war of survival on multiple fronts against Iran and terror proxies,” Rubio said. “The Trump Administration will continue to use all available tools to fulfill America’s long-standing commitment to Israel’s security, including means to counter security threats.”
On Friday, the Pentagon announced it had received a green light from the State Department to sell over $2 billion worth of heavy munitions to Israel, including tens of thousands of the MK-84 bombs subject to the Biden administration’s ban.
The State Department said it granted emergency waivers to the congressional review process, fast-tracking the sale of 35,529 bombs requested by Israel – including MK-84s and BLU-117 general purpose bombs, along with 4,000 I-2000 Penetrator warheads.