According to a Washington Post report on Wednesday, administration officials informed members of Congress in a recent classified briefing that since the commencement of the Gaza war on October 7, the US has discreetly sanctioned and dispatched over 100 individual foreign military sales to Israel, including thousands of precision-guided munitions, small-diameter bombs, bunker busters, small arms, and various other lethal aid.
This underscores Washington’s significant engagement in the five-month war, even as prominent US officials and lawmakers have been voicing their increasing concerns about Israel’s military strategy which has ended the lives of more than 30,000 individuals, terrorists, and their neighbors, according to Hamas’s health authority.
Only two authorized foreign military sales to Israel have been disclosed since the start of the war: $106 million worth of tank ammunition and $147.5 million worth of components required for producing 155 mm shells. The rest of the sales have been executed by the Biden administration without Congressional approval, relying on a process known as Foreign Military Sales (FMS).
The FMS program allows the US government to transfer defense articles, services, and training to its international partners and international organizations. The great thing about the FMS program is that it is funded by administrative charges to foreign purchasers, and so it is operated at no cost to taxpayers.
As the Pentagon’s website’s Q&A section on foreign military sales explains: “The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) administers the FMS program for the Department of Defense (DoD). Under FMS, the US Government uses DoD’s acquisition system to procure defense articles and services on behalf of its partners.
“Eligible countries may purchase defense articles and services with their own funds or with funds provided through US Government-sponsored assistance programs.”
So, yes, some taxpayers’ contributions are involved.
The WP quotes Jeremy Konyndyk, a former senior Biden administration official and current president of Refugees International, who complains: “That’s an extraordinary number of sales over the course of a pretty short amount of time, which really strongly suggests that the Israeli campaign would not be sustainable without this level of US support.”
State Department spokesman Matt Miller told the WP that the administration “followed the procedures Congress itself has specified to keep members well-informed and regularly briefs members even when formal notification is not a legal requirement.” He also claimed that administration officials have “engaged Congress more than 200 times” on arms sales to Israel since October 7, 2023.
A document titled, “Arms Sales: Congressional Review Process,” which was updated on January 4, 2024, states: “The President must formally notify Congress of commercially licensed arms sales 30 calendar days before Department of State issuance of export licenses for sales of major defense equipment valued at $14 million or more, or defense articles or services valued at $50 million or more. In the case of such sales to NATO member states, NATO, Japan, Australia, South Korea, Israel, or New Zealand, the President must formally notify Congress 15 calendar days before proceeding with the transaction. …
“The President must formally notify Congress of commercially licensed sales of firearms controlled under Category I of the United States Munitions List and valued at $1 million or more 30 days prior to approval of the relevant export license. In the case of proposed licenses for such sales to NATO members, Japan, Australia, South Korea, Israel, or New Zealand, the Arms Export Control Act (AECA) requires 15 days prior notification.”
The document notes that “In December 2023, Secretary of State Blinken invoked the aforementioned AECA Section 36 emergency waiver provisions for arms sales to Israel. On December 8, 2023, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) notified Congress of Blinken’s determination that “an emergency exists which requires the immediate sale” of 120-millimeter tank cartridges and related equipment to Israel. DSCA notified Congress on December 29 of Blinken’s determination that “an emergency exists which requires the immediate sale” of 155-millimeter artillery rounds and “related equipment,” such as fuses, charges, and primers, to Israel.”
Ari Tolany, an accomplished opera singer and director of the security assistance monitor at the Centre for International Policy thinktank, told the Guardian on Wednesday that the extracurricular activity of the DoD in arming Israel at a rate triple the official figures “doesn’t just seem like an attempt to avoid technical compliance with US arms export law, it’s an extremely troubling way to avoid transparency and accountability on a high-profile issue.”
Tolany also accused the Biden folks of imitating the Trump folks who avoided Congressional supervision in selling arms to Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller defended the administration, saying, “We continue to support Israel’s campaign to ensure that the attacks of October 7 cannot be repeated. We have provided military assistance to Israel because it is consistent with that goal. We support Israel’s legitimate military campaign consistent with international humanitarian law.”
Rep Joaquin Castro (D-TX) in February failed to pass an amendment requiring all arms sales to be reported to Congress if they were made to a single country and if they exceeded the amount sold the year before.
On November 2, 2023, shortly after the Hamas massacre, Rep. Castro voted against the Republican House’s Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act, arguing that “As the death toll continues to rise, the United States must play an active role in rescuing hostages, supplying humanitarian aid to Gaza, and saving lives.”
One cannot avoid thinking that God invented the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) to deal with the Joaquin Castro types.
