Nancy Pelosi presses Biden to halt US weapons to Israel
Amidst widespread international pressure on Israel, former House Speaker and avid Biden cheerleader Nancy Pelosi as well as 36 other congressional Democrats signed a letter on April 5 calling for the US, Israel’s biggest ally, to halt arms transfers to the country, Reuters reported.
The move emphasises that an arms embargo on Israel, often called for by the progressive element of the party, is now a mainstream Democrat position.
It comes as no surprise that left wing congresswomen Barbara Lee, Rashida Tlaib – a Palestinian American – , Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez signed the letter addressed to President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.
A spokesperson for Pelosi, 84, said that she was encouraged at the early steps Biden’s administration had taken to investigate the strikes on the World Central Kitchen (WCK) workers on April 1 and “respects his judgment on how to proceed”.
Senators in Biden’s party have also been pushing the president to further put pressure on Israel, the strongest voice on the matter being political veteran Bernie Sanders.
The Vermont Senator said: “Israel should not be getting another nickel in military aid” and added, “We are looking at one of the worst humanitarian disasters that we have seen in a very, very long time because Israel is not allowing the humanitarian trucks into Gaza and especially into the areas where people are in most desperate condition.”
READ: Brit MPs push govt to block arms sales to Israel
The letter, written by representatives Jan Schakowsky, Mark Pocan and James Mcgovern, read, “We write to express our shared concern and outrage regarding the recent Israeli airstrike which killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers, including an American citizen. In light of this incident, we strongly urge you to reconsider your recent decision to authorize the transfer of a new arms package to Israel, and to withhold this and any future offensive arms transfers until a full investigation into the airstrike is completed. If this strike is found to have violated U.S. or international law, we urge you to continue withholding these transfers until those responsible are held accountable. We also urge you to withhold these transfers if Israel fails to sufficiently mitigate harm to innocent civilians in Gaza, including aid workers, and if it fails to facilitate – or arbitrarily denies or restricts – the transport and delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
“It is estimated that over 32,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the start of this war, nearly half of whom are children. The most recent report from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification initiative (IPC) indicates that 1.1 million people in Gaza are experiencing catastrophic food insecurity and widespread famine is imminent and expected to occur anytime between now and the next month if there is not an immediate cessation of hostilities.
“While we appreciate your administration’s recent efforts to increase the delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid to Gaza, these efforts will not be sufficient to meet the extraordinary need on the ground. The Israeli government’s restrictions on the flow of aid into Gaza, coupled with the death and grave harm that aid workers have faced during this war, are compounding this hunger crisis. Recent reports indicate that hundreds of aid trucks sit idle outside the Rafah border crossing due to Israel’s restrictions. And now over 200 aid workers have been killed since the start of the war.”
Despite the raging and incessant Gaza onslaught since October, President Biden’s administration transferred billions of dollars worth of arms to Israel late last month. The arms package included 1,800 MK84 bombs, 500 MK82 bombs and 25 F35A fighter jets.
A poll released on April 2, which was commissioned by American think tank the Center for Economic and Policy Research and conducted by YouGov, found that 62% of people who voted for Biden in 2020 and 30% who put a cross in the box for Trump that same year were in favour of an arms embargo on Israel. The poll also found that in general, 52% of the American electorate are in favour of such an embargo.
Results were similar across the Atlantic as 68% of all UK voters are supportive of arms sales to the country as well as 59% of people asked saying that Israel is committing human rights violations in Gaza, a YouGov poll released on April 4 found.
Reuters
