The US has approved the sale of $735m of precision-guided weapons to Israel, it comes as TV show host John Oliver accused Israel of ‘war crimes.’
The Washington Post reports that Congress was officially notified of the proposed sale on 5 May, citing three people familiar with the notification — a week before the current conflict began.
Rockets fired from Gaza into Israel have led to the deaths of 10 Israelis. In Gaza have over 200 Palestinians have died.
Al Jazeera English tweeted: “A senior Israeli official cast doubt on the possibility of a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian armed groups. At least 212 Palestinians have been in killed in Gaza, including 61 children, since Israeli air raids began.”
The Biden administration has called for a ceasefire but also maintains that Israel has the right to defend itself. A large majority of Congress backs this position and it is unlikely the sale will be stopped.
Yesterday Israel thanked the US for blocking a UN Security Council statement calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and stressing the need to protect children and other civilians.
Israel Defense Forces this morning Tweeted:
“Overnight, we struck terror targets in Gaza City:
?rocket launch sites aimed at Tel Aviv & across Israel
?~65 terror targets in the Hamas ‘Metro’ tunnel system
?a Hamas Anti-Tank Missile squad
Hamas proves again that it deliberately places military targets in civilian areas.”
In response to the conflict Rep Mark Pocan Tweeted on May 14th: “Today, my colleagues and I stood up because no one should suffer the loss of life, liberty, or dignity that the Palestinian people have suffered. If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also tweeted: “This is happening with the support of the United States. I don’t care how any spokesperson tries to spin this. The US vetoed the UN call for ceasefire. If the Biden admin can’t stand up to an ally, who can it stand up to? How can they credibly claim to stand for human rights?”
Oliver began his Sunday Last Week Tonight recap of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He began with: “One side has suffered over ten times the casualties.”
He then said: “This isn’t tit for tat. There is a massive imbalance when it comes to the two sides’ weaponry and capabilities. While most of the rockets aimed toward Israeli citizens this week were intercepted, Israel’s air strikes were not.
“They hit their targets, including a house in a refugee camp, a building housing the Associated Press and Al Jazeera, and a 13-story office and apartment building. And while Israel insisted that there were military targets in that building and they destroyed it as humanely as possible, even warning people to evacuate it beforehand, destroying a civilian residence sure seems like a war crime, regardless of whether you send a courtesy heads-up text.”
Oliver then added, remarking at America’s support, “Life in Gaza is hard even when they’re not being bombed, and the U.S. government has implicitly co-signed on the brutally hard line Israel’s been taking.”
Related: Watch: 10-year-old Palestinian girl’s gut-wrenching plea for end to Gaza violence
