By Chris Menahan – Information Liberation
Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced on Saturday that the Trump administration is rushing through another $4 billion in military assistance to Israel using “emergency” powers.
“I have signed a declaration to use emergency authorities to expedite the delivery of approximately $4 billion in military assistance to Israel,” Rubio said in a statement on State.gov. “The decision to reverse the Biden Administration’s partial arms embargo, which wrongly withheld a number of weapons and ammunition from Israel, is yet another sign that Israel has no greater ally in the White House than President Trump.”
“Since taking office, the Trump Administration has approved nearly $12 billion in major FMS sales to Israel. This important decision coincides with President Trump’s repeal of a Biden-era memorandum which had imposed baseless and politicized conditions on military assistance to Israel at a time when our close ally was fighting a war of survival on multiple fronts against Iran and terror proxies,” Rubio added.
Of course, the money Israel spends on these “sales” comes from the United States. As of last count, Israel is holding some $46 billion in US treasures that we paid for which they lend back to us with interest.
Earlier in the day, when the total for the latest deal was still around $3 billion, the Times of Israel said the deal would include:
One contract for “$2.04 billion for 35,529 MK 84 or BLU-117 heavy bombs and 4,000 I-2000 Penetrator warheads.”
Another “for $675.7 million for 201 MK 83 1,000-pound bombs, 4,799 BLU-110A/B 1,000-pound bombs, and 5,000 JDAM guidance kits.”
And yet another for “$295 million” that “includes D9 [armored] Caterpillar bulldozers and related equipment.”
Israel last month showed off the huge shipment of some 1,800 2,000-lb bombs sent by the Trump administration.
The Biden administration had blocked the shipment because investigations found the bombs were being dropped on areas that Israel had designated as “safe zones” for civilians.
An analysis from Brown University’s Costs of War project found the Biden administration spent a record $23 billion on Israel and related US operations to defend Israel in the wake of October 7th.
The Israel Lobby reportedly wants the next multibillion dollar US aid package for the Jewish state to “span 25 years, rather than 10” in order to “insulate the relationship against future US political vagaries and uncertainties.”