Biden Administration Bypasses Congress and Senate to Ship Weapons to Israel
Staff
of the Biden administration call on U.S. President to implement an
immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, December 13, 2023.
U.S. President Joe Biden, often now referred to as Genocide Joe for supporting and funding Israel's genocidal war against the people of Palestine, has been attempting for months to secure more than $100 billion in supplemental war funding for Israel and Ukraine. To pass, bills in both houses need to be reconciled, however, he has been unable to secure approval in either body. Thus, on December 8, the State Department transmitted an emergency declaration to lawmakers for the sale of thousands of tank munitions to Israel. This sale negated the standard 20-day period that congressional committees are typically given to review such a sale, news agencies inform.
CNN reported on December 13 that "The Biden administration currently
has no plans to place conditions on the military aid it is providing to
Israel," adding that the Biden administration is facing "growing calls
by Democratic lawmakers and human rights organizations for the U.S. to
stop providing
weapons unless Israel does more to protect civilians in Gaza." This lack
of conditions is said to be one of the blocks to support for the bill.
The Biden administration says that it "expects allies and partners to use U.S.-made equipment in accordance with international humanitarian law and pointed to Israel's practice of embedding military lawyers with Israel Defense Force units who determine beforehand whether a strike will be proportional and legal," CNN reports. CNN goes on to report that "The U.S. does not consider the death of civilians as the result of a military operation to be itself a violation of the law of armed conflict, one of the U.S. officials explained, because that is not the standard set by international humanitarian law – which says only that civilians must not be directly targeted in attacks. Rather, the U.S. is judging the legality of Israel's operations on whether its strikes are proportional and seeking a legitimate military target. But officials acknowledge they are not conducting real-time assessments of each Israeli strike, what weapon was used, and how many civilians were killed as a result." The U.S. is obligated under international law to not knowingly contribute to internationally wrongful acts by other states.
An attempt on December 6 to get Senate approval for the $111-billion war bill failed to pass, with factional fighting within the ruling circles reaching fever pitch. According to U.S. calculations, war and funding for it, serves to unite the military bureaucracy and factions contending for power but this is no longer happening. Whether labelled Republican or Democrat, the factions no longer operate as political parties with political aims, but rather as a cartel, with factions within factions all vying for more power, all with their own self-interests and all blatantly showing no concern for the peoples at home or abroad.
In this most recent Senate vote, the connection between war abroad
and increased repression at home was evident. Those blocking the funding
demanded more attacks on immigrants and refugees and more
militarization of the southern border with Mexico. Some are also
refusing funding for Ukraine.
Despite a direct appeal by Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken
being sent to testify about why Ukraine should be funded, the bill
failed. In the House of Representatives, the larger war funding bill was
not even considered and instead only $14 billion in funding
for Israel was
passed in Congress on November 2. This bill, brought forward by the
Republicans, sought to divert funds from the Internal Revenue Service
budget to send aid to Israel. It was ultimately voted down in the Senate
on November 14, where the Democrats have a majority.
Congress will soon break for the winter recess at this point, without the Biden administration securing the bulk of the funding it seeks. Like Afghanistan, Ukraine and Israel represent yet more foreign policy failures by Biden, reflecting the refusal of the U.S. to take the peoples and their resistance into account.
This article was published in
Volume 53 Number 30 - December, 2023
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2023/Articles/MS53308.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca