On Wednesday, May 8, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin became the first senior administration official to publicly confirm that the U.S. government had unusually suspended an arms shipment to Israel. Over the past seven months, the Israeli military, with solid US support, has killed about 35,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
At a Senate subcommittee hearing, Secretary Austin noted that the pause comes “in the context of events in Rafah,” the southern Gaza city where an estimated 1.4 million Palestinians, including more than 600,000 children, are currently seeking refuge . The majority of these people were forced to flee to Rafah from other parts of the Gaza Strip, in keeping with Israel’s policy of repeatedly turning Palestinians into refugees.
And while Rafah has hardly been spared from the terror and carnage that has marked the last seven months of Israeli operations across the coastal enclave, the threat of a full-scale attack on a mass of trapped civilians in the city has even marred the global superpower – Israel’s loyal best friend – a bit squeamish.
To that end, reports emerged over the weekend that Joe Biden’s administration had committed to suspending a shipment of ammunition to Israel that could be used in a Rafah offensive. The delivery is said to have consisted of 3,500 bombs, including 1,800 of the 907 kg class and 1,700 of the 227 kg class.
Certain other arms transfers to Israel would also be examined.
Of course, given that the United States has been actively supporting the genocide and famine in Gaza with all sorts of ammunition and money for well over six months, it is not entirely clear why the Rafah case should suddenly cause such imperial concern. But hey, it’s potentially good PR.
Prior to Secretary Austin’s comments on Wednesday, U.S. officials had been noncommittal about reports of a suspended arms shipment. For example, in a May 6 press conference, National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby flatly refused to confirm whether the reports were accurate or not, instead proclaiming, “All I can tell you is that… our support for Israel’s security.” remains steadfast.” And I won’t go into the details of one delivery versus another.”
In fact, “ironclad” seems to be the US political establishment’s new favorite word when it comes to describing support for Israel – meaning that at the end of the day, Israel’s habit of massacring Palestinians always trumps the rights of Palestinians defended will not be massacred.
Meanwhile, Kirby’s remark about “one delivery after another” is telling to say the least. After all, there are a lot of US arms shipments to Israel – and the delay in the delivery of 3,500 bombs hardly represents a betrayal of the Israeli killing machine, as some more dramatic members of the US right wing have portrayed.
First, Secretary Austin emphasized during his appearance in the Senate subcommittee that the suspended arms shipment will have no impact on the $26 billion in additional aid to Israel that the US Congress approved in April. This is in addition to the various billions of dollars the US already provides Israel annually – the majority of which, as the Council on Foreign Relations notes, “is provided as grants under the Foreign Military Financing (FMF) program, funds, that Israel needs to use to purchase U.S. military equipment and services.”
The suspension also does not affect the $827 million in additional military supplies that the Biden administration just approved for Israel.
In other words, it’s pretty much business as usual—kind of like giving someone hundreds of dollars a day and then pretending to keep five cents.
Under the U.S. Conventional Arms Transfer Policy, the U.S. government is obligated to “prevent arms transfers that risk facilitating or otherwise contributing to violations of human rights or international humanitarian law.” And yet: what is US foreign policy itself if not a major violation of all this?
Even before the massive global breach known as the “War on Terror” began in 2001, the United States had already spent decades enabling mass bloodshed from Latin America to the Middle East and beyond. In the particular case of Israel, the United States’ consistent support for the wanton violation of human rights and international humanitarian law in Palestine and Lebanon raises the question of why anyone even bothered to write a policy on the transfer of conventional weapons.
Now Secretary Austin has also reaffirmed the United States’ “ironclad” commitment to Israel, even in the face of suspended munitions shipments – which only underscores the largely cosmetic nature of the move and the perceived need to project a certain level of security, humanitarian awareness and concern.
Biden himself also weighed in on Wednesday, warning that he would not provide Israel with offensive weapons in the event of a major attack on Rafah, noting that “civilians have been killed in Gaza as a result of these bombs.”
Good yes.
Genocide is genocide. And even if you accept a few thousand bombs, US complicity in this genocide is completely obvious.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the editorial stance of Al Jazeera.