The White House is sidestepping questions concerning efforts by Democrat lawmakers to strengthen congressional oversight over U.S. arms transfers to Israel.
"Broadly speaking, we obviously take the oversight responsibilities of Congress very, very seriously," the National Security Council's John Kirby said in response to VOA's question during a White House news briefing Thursday. "We do the best we can to appropriately inform and consult with Congress as we provide foreign military assistance to other countries including Israel."
A group of senators from President Joe Biden's own party, led by Senator Tim Kaine, is working to amend a provision in the national security supplemental funding bill. That provision waives oversight requirements for U.S. assistance for Israel under the Foreign Military Financing Program.
Kaine wants to block a request by the administration that would allow the sale of up to $3.5 billion in military equipment and weapons to Israel without notifying lawmakers. It is part of the $106 billion supplemental national security funding request sent to Congress on October 20.
If the administration’s request is approved, the exemption from the requirement to notify Congress would further reduce lawmakers' power of oversight over arms transfers to Israel. The administration has already bypassed the standard required 15-day period of congressional review twice since the Gaza war broke out, on December 9 covering $147.5 million and on December 29 covering $106 million. In each case, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken invoked a rarely used "emergency authority" to approve the immediate sale of weapons.
Separate from Kaine's amendment is a resolution introduced by Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders mandating that the Biden administration report whether Israel has committed any human rights violations in Gaza to ensure that arms transfers and military aid provided are consistent with U.S. law and international law. Congress will vote on the resolution next week.
No indication of violation
Kirby insisted that the administration's foreign military assistance to Israel is done in accordance with "the intent and the spirit of the law." He reiterated that while the administration urges Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to reduce civilian casualties, Washington is not actively assessing whether Israel is violating laws of armed conflict as it "sees no indication" of such violation by the Israel Defense Forces in conducting its military campaign against Hamas.
He would not confirm whether Israel is being held to the same standard of accountability as other countries receiving U.S. weapons but said the administration has "been very clear" about its expectations of how American weapons are being used.
The Biden administration has set up guidelines to improve mechanisms to ensure that U.S. weapons are not used to harm civilians, in part as a response to the Trump administration's use of emergency authority in 2019 to bypass Congress in selling arms to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. The Trump administration then argued that the threat from Iran constituted an appropriate emergency.
Guidelines established by the Biden administration include 2023 Conventional Arms Transfer policy that stipulates Washington to consider the risk that "the recipient may use the arms transfer to contribute to a violation of human rights or international humanitarian law, based on an assessment of the available information and relevant circumstances," and the 2023 Civilian Harm Incident Response Guidance that sets up a framework for investigating reports of civilian harm by partner governments using U.S. weapons. Administration critics say those guidelines are not applied to American weapons sent to Israel.
Under pressure
In December, 77 groups — representing tens of thousands of lawyers, civil society leaders and activists from various countries — filed an amicus brief to support a lawsuit brought by Palestinian human rights organizations and U.S. citizens with family members affected by Israel's ongoing assault. The lawsuit accuses Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin for failing to "prevent an unfolding genocide" in Gaza.
Biden political appointees and administration officials have resigned in protest over Biden's staunch support of Israel, including Josh Paul, a former director of congressional and public affairs at the State Department bureau that handles arms transfers, who left office in October.
"If you look at the U.S. position on Russia's invasion of Ukraine and their use of weapons to strike hospitals, to strike the electric power grid, the U.S. rushes to issue statements condemning such attacks," Paul told VOA. "In the case of Israel, well, these are of course our weapons being used. It is unthinkable that we are not conducting the same sort of analysis."
Swift arms transfers to Israel are supported by Michael Makovsky, president of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, a group aiming to advance "a robust U.S.-Israel security relationship."
"Israel's most pressing need is time," Makovsky said. "Israel also needs a great deal of ammunition. To maintain its campaign against Hamas and to be ready should Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based terrorist Iran proxy, increase the severity of its already daily attacks, Israel needs more bombs."
Katherine Gypson contributed to this report.
