Israel’s Gaza policy

US concerns over Israel’s Gaza policy led to weapons holdup

The munitions were ready to be shipped to Israel when the administration placed the hold.

By LARA SELIGMAN, LEE HUDSON, PAUL MCLEARY, ALEXANDER WARD and NAHAL TOOSI

The Biden administration is holding up shipments of two types of Boeing-made precision bombs to send a political message to Israel, according to a U.S. official and six other people with knowledge of the deliberations.

The U.S. has yet to sign off on a pending sale of Boeing’s Joint Direct Attack Munitions — both the munitions and kits that convert them to smart weapons — and Small Diameter Bombs, according to six industry and congressional sources with knowledge of the discussions.

While the Biden administration has not formally denied the potential sale, it is essentially taking action through inaction — holding off on approvals and other aspects of the weapons transfer process — to send a message to Israel, a U.S. administration official familiar with the process told POLITICO. The official, along with others, was granted anonymity to discuss sensitive internal deliberations.

This appears to be the first time the U.S. administration has delayed a potential weapons sale for Israel since Hamas attacked the country on Oct. 7. President Joe Biden has been under pressure from some in his party to set conditions on aid to Israel after the Israeli bombing campaign in Gaza began to exact a heavy toll on civilians, and after Israel hit humanitarian convoys delivering aid to the enclave.

The munitions were ready to be shipped to Israel when word of the hold came down, said one senior congressional aide and two other people familiar with the incident. A third person, an industry official, said the administration told Boeing to halt the shipment since the approval was held up for “political reasons,” and not because of supply chain strain.

Another congressional aide said the case — categorized as a direct commercial sale between Israel and the contractor that requires sign-off from the administration — is being “held up.”

Axios first reported that unidentified weapons were being held up, and the Wall Street Journal first reported that it involved JDAMs. The reason for the delay, and the fact that Small Diameter Bombs are also being withheld, has not been previously reported.

Spokespeople for the State Department and the Pentagon declined to comment for this article. However, on Monday Pentagon spokesperson Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters he was not aware of any changes in U.S. policy regarding conditioning aid to Israel.

The news comes after a dizzying 48 hours of developments in the Israel-Hamas conflict. In response to a rocket attack by Hamas over the weekend that killed Israeli soldiers, Israel on Monday ordered 100,000 civilians in Rafah to evacuate a section of the city and move toward a safe zone on the coast. In the hours following, Hamas made a surprise announcement that it had agreed to a ceasefire deal proposed by Egypt and Qatar, one that was different from a previous version already approved by the Israelis.

Shortly after, the Israel Defense Forces announced the start of a new, targeted operation against the militants in the southern Gaza city that they say is Hamas’ last stronghold. In a statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would continue the operation to “exert military pressure on Hamas.”

Biden and Netanyahu held a 30-minute call on Monday, reflecting the sense of urgency in the U.S. administration. Biden and his top officials have for months warned Israel against launching an operation in Rafah, where more than one million displaced Palestinians are sheltering.

But the move to delay weapons shipments demonstrates that the United States has found a new way to quietly pressure Israel short of a dramatic public halt on military aid writ large. The Biden administration appears frustrated enough with Israel’s treatment of Palestinian civilians in Gaza that it’s willing to take the more subtle route for now, perhaps hoping it will be enough to get the Israeli government to change course on matters such as a full-on invasion of the city of Rafah.

Other potential weapons sales to Israel have been approved by the administration but held up in Congress. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s ranking member, has for months held back on approving the Biden administration’s request to sell F-15 jets worth $18 billion and munitions to Israel. But unlike the precision-guided munitions on hold, the F-15 jets are years away from delivery to Israel.

The Biden administration is required to notify Congress by Wednesday whether Israel breached international law or withheld humanitarian aid to Gaza, which could bring more calls to halt U.S. arms shipments to Israel. In February, the Biden administration issued a memorandum stipulating that recipients of U.S. military aid must make assurances that they are following U.S. laws — and that the State Department must evaluate those assurances.

Lawmakers who have been pressuring the Biden administration to withhold offensive weapons for Israel are stepping up those calls in the wake of Israel’s assault on Rafah. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said Biden should be enforcing his repeated warnings that Israel should not attack the city.

“We cannot support such an invasion given the additional untold civilian casualties and devastating impact on humanitarian aid that will follow,” Van Hollen said in a statement.

“It’s important for the president and the United States to use all the policy tools at our disposal to enforce this position. I will continue to urge the administration to pause the delivery of U.S. taxpayer-funded offensive weapons until the president’s requests regarding the Netanyahu government’s conduct in this war are met.”