Top Republicans ask Biden to stand by recent US weapons sale to Israel.
Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced a resolution to block the Biden administration's sale of precision weapons to Israel, prompting the top Republicans on the House and Senate foreign relations committees to respond.
Two high-ranking Republicans in Congress on Thursday asked the president to stand by US military sales to Israel. Their letter came in response to efforts to block support for Israel amid the war there and in the Palestinian territories.
Sen. Jim Risch of Idaho and Rep. Michael McCaul of Texas wrote a letter to US President Joe Biden regarding “calls to delay the sale of important munitions” to Israel. The two are the top Republicans on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee, respectively.
“We are especially concerned by calls to delay the pending sale of precision munitions to Israel,” they said in the letter.
Their remarks were in response to efforts by some Democratic and independent lawmakers to limit a recent US military sale to Israel because of the Israeli military’s conflict with Palestinian groups. Also Thursday, independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont introduced a resolution to block a recent weapons sale to Israel in light of the situation. Sanders said he took action because Israel, which receives considerable US military assistance, was killing Palestinian civilians.
