House passes bill to force Biden to send weapons to Israel
The House of Representatives, controlled by Republicans, sent a punishing message to President Joe Biden regarding Israel this Thursday. By 224 votes to 187, he has given the green light to a bill that requires the White House to provide the allied country with the military aid that Congress approved last week, a week after the Government paralyzed a shipment of bombs and The Democrat will threaten to suspend the transfer of weapons if Israel launches a “major” offensive against the city of Rafah. A total of 16 Democrats joined the majority of the Republican bench to vote in favor of the measure, in an indication of the internal divisions that exist in the party in Government at the mere possibility of paralyzing arms shipments: while the wing progressive demands that this aid be conditioned on respect for international humanitarian law, other pro-Israel democratic legislators demand that it not be interrupted, arguing that doing so would harm the security of the ally and benefit the radical Palestinian militia Hamas.
Three Republican congressmen also voted, along with the Democratic majority, against the bill. The opposition party believes that the White House should not impose conditions on Israel on how it uses American weapons, essential for the allied country in the war it is waging in Gaza. “We are beyond frustrated,” said Senate Republican Party leader Mitch McConnell, “I don’t think we should tell the Israelis how to combat their military campaign, period.”
The leader of the Democratic majority in the Senate, Charles Schumer, has already indicated that he will not put the bill to a vote in his chamber. Biden has also stated that, if both houses of Congress approved it, he would veto it, so it would never become law.
The White House maintains that it has paralyzed the shipment of the bombs for fear that they would be used in Rafah, where they could unleash carnage given the enormous population density, 1.3 million Palestinians, most of them arriving from other areas of Gaza fleeing war. But he also affirms that the supply of weapons will continue and the $26 billion item approved three weeks ago is not in danger. This week, the Government in Washington launched the official procedure for the transfer of nearly one billion dollars in military equipment, including tactical vehicles, mortar rounds and tank ammunition.
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