Biden says US will not provide weapons to Israel to attack Rafah

(AP) – President Joe Biden said Wednesday he will not supply offensive weapons that Israel could use to launch a full-scale attack on Rafah – the last major Hamas stronghold in Gaza – out of concern for the well-being of its more than 1,000 million civilians seek refuge there.

Biden said in an interview with CNN that the U.S. remains committed to Israel’s defense and will supply Iron Dome interceptor missiles and other defensive weapons, but if Israel invades Rafah, “we will not supply weapons and artillery shells needed.”

The United States has provided enormous amounts of military aid to Israel in the past. This has accelerated following the October 7 Hamas attack in which about 1,200 people in Israel were killed and about 250 were captured by militants. Biden’s comments and his decision last week to stop a shipment of heavy bombs to Israel are the most striking manifestations of increasing openness between his administration and the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Biden said Wednesday that Israel’s actions around Rafah had “not yet” crossed its red lines, but reiterated that Israel must do far more to protect the lives of civilians in Gaza.

The shipment was to consist of 1,800 2,000-pound bombs (900 kilograms) and 1,700 500-pound bombs (225 kilograms), according to a senior U.S. government official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter discuss. The focus of US concern was the larger explosives and their use in a densely populated urban area.

“Civilians have been killed in Gaza as a result of these bombs and other attacks on population centers,” Biden told CNN. “I have made it clear that if they invade Rafah – they have not invaded Rafah yet – if they invade Rafah, I will not provide the weapons that were used in the past to fight Rafah, to fight the cities became. who are dealing with this problem.”

“We are not deviating from the security of Israel,” Biden continued. “We are depriving Israel of its ability to wage war in these areas.”

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed the delay in weapons shipments earlier Wednesday, telling the Senate Defense Budget Subcommittee that the U.S. had suspended “a shipment of high-payload munitions.”

“We will continue to do whatever is necessary to ensure that Israel has the means to defend itself,” Austin said. “However, we are currently reviewing some short-term security assistance deliveries related to the events in Rafah.”

It also comes at a time when the Biden administration is set to make a first-of-its-kind formal verdict this week on whether the airstrikes on Gaza and restrictions on aid deliveries violated international and U.S. laws that protect civilians to protect us from the worst horrors of war. A decision against Israel would further increase pressure on Biden to curb the flow of weapons and money to the Israeli military.

Biden signed the pause in an order sent to the Pentagon last week, according to U.S. officials who were not authorized to comment on the matter. The White House National Security Council tried to keep the decision from the public for several days until it had a better understanding of the extent of Israel’s increased military operations in Rafah and until Biden could deliver a long-planned Holocaust commemoration speech on Tuesday Memorial Day.

Biden’s administration began considering future transfers of military aid in April as Netanyahu’s government appeared to move closer to invading Rafah despite months of opposition from the White House. The official said the decision to pause delivery was made last week and no final decision has been made on whether delivery should resume at a later date.

US officials had refused to comment for days on the halted transfer. News of this came as Biden on Tuesday called U.S. support for Israel “ironclad, even when we disagree.”

Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, said in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 television that the decision to stop the shipment was “a very disappointing decision, even frustrating.” He suggested the move was due to political pressure from Congress on Biden, campus protests in the US and the upcoming election.

The decision was also sharply rebuked by House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell. They said they only learned about the delay in military aid from press reports, despite assurances from the Biden administration that such disruptions were not planned. Republicans urged Biden in a letter to quickly end the blockade as it “risks emboldening Israel’s enemies” and to brief lawmakers on the nature of the policy reviews.

Biden has faced pressure from some on the left — and condemnation from critics on the right who say Biden has softened his support for a key Middle East ally.

“If we stop the weapons necessary to destroy the enemies of the State of Israel at a time of great danger, we will pay a price,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-R-S.C., his voice rising during a conversation Austin in anger. “This is obscene. It’s absurd. Give Israel what it needs to fight the war it cannot afford to lose.”

Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a Biden ally, said in a statement that the pause on big bombs must be a “first step.”

“Our influence is clear,” Sanders said. “Over the years, the United States has provided tens of billions of dollars in military aid to Israel. We can no longer participate in Netanyahu’s terrible war against the Palestinian people.”

Austin, meanwhile, told lawmakers that “it’s about having the right weapons for the job.”

“A small-diameter bomb, a precision weapon that is very useful in a dense, built-up environment,” he said, “but perhaps not so much a 2,000-pound bomb that could cause major collateral damage.” He said the U.S want Israel to conduct more “precise” operations.

Israeli troops took control of the vital Rafah border crossing in the Gaza Strip on Tuesday. The White House described it as a limited operation that ended short of the full-scale Israeli invasion of the city that Biden has repeatedly warned about, most recently in a phone call with Netanyahu on Monday.

Israel has ordered the evacuation of 100,000 Palestinians from the city. Israeli forces also carried out what they called “targeted attacks” on the eastern part of Rafah and captured the Rafah crossing, a key channel for the flow of humanitarian aid along the Gaza-Egypt border.

Privately, there is growing concern in the White House about what is happening in Rafah, but public officials have stressed that they do not believe the operations contradicted Biden’s warnings about a large-scale operation in the city.

The State Department is separately reviewing whether to authorize the continued transfer of Joint Direct Attack Munition kits, which attach precision guidance systems to bombs, to Israel, but the review did not cover upcoming shipments.

Itamar Yaar, former deputy chairman of Israel’s National Security Council, said the U.S. move was largely symbolic but a sign of trouble and could become a bigger problem if it continues.

“It is not some kind of American embargo on American ammunition support, but I think it is a kind of diplomatic message to Mr. Netanyahu that he needs to take American interests into account more than he has in recent months,” he said. “At least for now it will not have any impact on Israeli capabilities, but it is a kind of signal, a ‘be careful’.”

The U.S. dropped the 2,000-pound bomb sparingly in its long war against the Islamic State militant group. In contrast, Israel has used the bomb frequently in the seven-month Gaza war. Experts say the use of the weapon helped in part to drive up the huge Palestinian death toll, which the Hamas-run health ministry puts at over 34,000 dead, without distinguishing between militants and civilians.

Relations between the United States and Israel have been close under both Democratic and Republican administrations. But there have been other moments of deep tension since Israel’s founding, with U.S. leaders threatening to cut off aid to influence Israeli leadership.

In 1957, President Dwight Eisenhower urged Israel to withdraw from the Sinai with the threat of sanctions in the midst of the Suez Crisis. Ronald Reagan delayed the delivery of F16 fighter jets to Israel at a time of escalating violence in the Middle East. President George HW Bush withheld $10 billion in loan guarantees to force a halt to Israeli settlement activity in the occupied territories.