On Thursday, the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill urging President Biden to send weapons to Israel.
According to Reuters, the “Israel Security Assistance Support Act” was approved in the House of Representatives with a vote of 224 in favor and 187 against, mostly along party lines. Sixteen Democrats and most Republicans voted in favor, while three Republicans and most Democrats voted against.
It is expected that the bill will not become law.
The Israeli government led by Benjamin Netanyahu is attempting to eliminate Hamas militants who attacked Israel on October 7 last year. According to Israeli reports, these militants killed around 1,200 people in the attacks and kidnapped 253 hostages.
The Palestinian authorities in Gaza state that at least 35,272 civilians have died in Israeli military operations in Gaza, and malnutrition is widespread in Gaza, where most residents are displaced and infrastructure is damaged.
Republicans argue that in the face of widespread pro-Palestinian protests, Biden has abandoned Israel. Democrats, on the other hand, accuse the Republicans of playing politics and distorting Biden’s stance on Israel.
Israel has been a major recipient of U.S. military aid for decades, and although the Biden administration delayed sending a shipment of weapons to Israel, which includes 1,800 bombs weighing 2,000 pounds (about 907 kilograms) each and 1,700 bombs weighing 500 pounds (about 227 kilograms) each, and conducted a review of other weapons shipments, Israel will still receive billions of dollars of American weapons equipment.
U.S. officials mentioned that just this Tuesday, the U.S. State Department submitted a $1 billion plan for providing arms assistance to Israel to Congress for review.