Biden ‘considering more than $1billion in new weapons deals for Israel including tank ammo, military vehicles and mortar rounds’ as Middle East tensions soar

The Biden administration is considering introducing a new arms deal, which would see more than $1 billion worth of weapons sold to Israel, according to a new report.

The Wall Street Journal report was published just hours after the Jewish state retaliated against Iran’s recent drone attack with a series of nighttime strikes.

The new deal comes on top of a $26 billion aid deal for Israel that is currently being debated in Congress. The Wall Street Journal reports.

The deal includes tank munitions worth $700 million, military vehicles worth $500 million and mortar shells worth $100 million, bringing the total to $1.3 billion.

It would be the largest military deal the US has signed with Israel since Hamas’ brutal attack on October 7, which killed 1,200 people.

The sale requires approval from congressional leaders and will be accomplished over a long period of time, which could take years.

On Thursday, both sides of the aisle labored to pass a $95 billion foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, as well as several other national security policies, at a critical time at home and abroad.

Missile trails are visible in the sky over Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque as Iranian missiles are intercepted by air defenses

Palestinians inspect damage to a building in the city of Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip on April 18

Former State Department official Brian Finucane called the reported new deal “a signal of unconditional military support” in a conversation with the Journal.

“The US has yet to use the influence it has through arms transfers to shape Israeli behavior,” he noted.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson this week set in motion a plan to advance the package, which has been held up since October by Republican lawmakers opposed to approving more funding for Ukraine’s fight against Russia.

As the Republican chairman faced outright rebellion from his right flank and mounting threats of his impeachment, it became clear that House Democratic Party leader Hakeem Jeffries would have to make loans every step of the way. to help Johnson.

“This is a very important message that we are going to send to the world this week, and I am keen to get it done,” Johnson said earlier Wednesday as he announced his strategy.

President Joe Biden openly supported the package.

“The House must pass the package this week, and the Senate must follow suit quickly,” Biden said. “I will sign this into law immediately to send a message to the world: we stand with our friends and we will not let Iran or Russia succeed.”

The growing momentum for bipartisanship, a rarity in the deeply divided Congress, brought rare scenes of Republicans and Democrats working together to reassert the U.S. position on the world stage and aid U.S. allies.

But it also threw Johnson’s Republican majority in the House of Representatives into new chaos.

Johnson’s Republican leadership team seized the opportunity to outflank hardline conservatives with Democratic support and floated the idea of ​​quickly changing procedural rules to make it harder to oust the speaker from office.

House Speaker Mike Johnson this week set in motion a plan to advance an initial package, which has been held up since October by Republican lawmakers opposed to approving more funding for Ukraine’s fight against Russia.

But ultraconservatives reacted angrily and angrily confronted Johnson in a tense scene in the House of Representatives on Thursday morning.

Several suggested they would join the effort to oust Johnson if the rule were changed. By midday, Johnson backed away from the idea.

“We will continue to govern under the existing rules,” the speaker said on social platform X.

Meanwhile, a rare display of bipartisan statecraft was on display as the Procedural Rules Committee began debating launching the steps needed to advance the foreign aid package toward the weekend vote.

The Republican chairmen of the powerful Appropriations and Foreign Affairs committees, along with their top Democratic counterparts, used suggestive language, some of which drew on the history of World War II, to ensure that the US stands with its allies against the aggressors.

Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Michael McCaul called this a “pivotal” time in world history, comparing current images of people fleeing conflict in Europe to the situation in 1939 when Hitler’s Germany came to power.

“Time is not on our side,” he told the panel.

The top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, Rep. Greg Meeks of New York, shared McCaul’s urgency: “The camera of history is rolling.”