Two key Democrats in the U.S. Congress have agreed to support a major arms sale to Israel that includes 50 F-15 fighter jets worth more than $18 billion, the Washington Post reported on Monday, citing three unnamed officials.
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), Reuters/Anna Rose Layden
Two key Democrats in the U.S. Congress have agreed to support a major arms sale to Israel that includes 50 F-15 fighter jets worth more than $18 billion, the Washington Post reported on Monday, citing three unnamed officials.
Representative Gregory Meeks and Senator Ben Cardin have signed off on the deal under heavy pressure from the Biden administration after the two lawmakers had for months held up the sale, the Post reported.
"Any issues or concerns Chair Cardin had were addressed through our ongoing consultations with the (Biden)Administration, and that’s why he felt it appropriate to allow this case to move forward,” Eric Harris, communications director for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told the Post in a statement.
Meeks told the paper that he had been in close contact with the White House and had urged them to pressure Israel over humanitarian efforts and civilian casualties. He said the F-15s would not be delivered until "years from now," according to the Post.
Neither lawmaker's office responded immediately to a request for comment.
Biden has come under increasing pressure from members of his own Democratic party over his unstinting support of Israel in the face of its eight-month-old assault on Gaza that has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians and displaced nearly the entire 2.3 million population.
Biden has pressed both sides in the conflict to reach a cease-fire.
Reporting by Eric Beech and Dan Whitcomb
The past few days have unfolded like a geopolitical drama of historic proportions in Lebanon, where Hezbollah, the Iran-backed Shia militia long considered untouchable, appears to be teetering on the edge of a seismic shift.
Israel has not ruled out an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities in the coming months despite President Donald Trump telling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the U.S. was for now unwilling to support such a move, according to an Israeli official and two other people familiar with the matter.
yrian Air, the state-owned airline of Syria, has announced the resumption of its direct flights to Dubai and Sharjah, marking a significant development in the gradual normalization of ties between Syria and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.