Washington, Dec 29 (EFE).- The United States government approved Friday the sale of weapons to Israel for a value of $147.5 million, the second time this month that President Joe Biden approved a military transfer to the country at war without going through congress.<\/p>
State Secretary Antony Blinken authorized the sale of fuses, charges and other elements necessary to operate the 155-millimeter projectiles previously acquired by Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s government.<\/p>
“Given the urgency of Israel\u2019s defensive needs, the secretary notified Congress that he had exercised his delegated authority to determine an emergency existed necessitating the immediate approval of the transfer,” a spokesperson for the office told the press.<\/p>
This “emergency” classification means the sale is not subject to approval by legislators, as is usually the case in cases of arms transfers to foreign countries.<\/p>
On Dec. 9, Blinken made a similar decision to authorize the sale of 155-millimeter projectiles.<\/p>
The US government has been asking congress for months to approve a military aid package that includes $61 billion for Ukraine and about $15 billion for Israel.<\/p>
And this despite the White House’s increasingly critical stance regarding the overwhelming number of civilian victims of the conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.<\/p>
More than 21,000 people have lost their lives in the Palestinian enclave since the war began on Oct. 7, after the Islamist group’s surprise attack against Israel, according to data from Gazan authorities. EFE <\/p>
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