The Trump White House has asked congressional leaders to approve about $1 billion in weapons sales to Israel, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing U.S. officials.
The sales would include more than $700 million in 1,000-pound bombs (4,700 in total), along with armored bulldozers worth more than $300 million, the officials said.
The 1,000-pound bombs, referred to as “general purpose bombs,” consist of 4,500 BLU-110s and 200 Mk-83s.
Caterpillar D9 armored bulldozers also are part of the sale. Although they are used to defend Israeli soldiers clearing explosives, and to protect infantry camps, their sale has faced scrutiny from anti-Israel progressives in Congress because of Israel’s past use of them to demolish terrorists’ homes.
The new arms request would be paid for from the $3.3 billion in annual U.S. military aid to Israel, and comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuvisits Washington, where he is scheduled to meet U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday. Netanyahu has extended his trip to meet congressional leaders as well.
Netanyahu and his team are expected to press Trump to move forward with a separate set of arms transfers initially requested by the Biden administration, totaling more than $8 billion, the Journal reported.
“The weapons haven’t yet received full approval because of a hold by some Democratic lawmakers,” the paper noted, citing a congressional official.
Democrats have continued to express reservations about the weapons deal as they engage with the new administration, said a spokesman for the Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The Biden administration had been accused of slow-walking arms sales to Israel, a result of disagreements over Israel’s conduct of its war in Gaza.
On Jan. 25, Trump revealed he was lifting the previous administration’s partial arms embargo on Israel, sending 2,000-pound bombs that the Biden team had held up.
“We released them today,” Trump said of the shipment. “They’ve been waiting for them for a long time.” To a question as to why he released the bombs, Trump responded, “Because they [Israel] bought them.”
Netanyahu embraced the decision. “Thank you President Trump for keeping your promise to give Israel the tools it needs to defend itself, to confront our common enemies and to secure a future of peace and prosperity,” the premier said in a video message.
In June of last year, Netanyahu broke Jerusalem’s silence over the issue of the slow pace of arms delivery and publicly criticized the U.S. for withholding weapons to Israel.
“[G]ive us the tools and we’ll finish the job a lot faster,” Netanyahu said.
In September, 2024, Sens. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) wrote to Biden, also accusing the Biden administration of withholding arms to Israel.
Published on Tue, 04 Feb 2025 04:17:10 -0500. Original article link
