The Biden administration is weighing the introduction of a new arms deal that would see more than $1 billion worth of weapons sold to Israel, according to a new report.
The Wall Street Journal report was published just hours after the Jewish state retaliated against Iran’s recent drone attack with a series of overnight strikes.
The new deal comes on top of an aid deal that includes $26 billion for Israel that Congress is currently debating. The Wall Street Journal reports.
The deal includes tank ammunition worth $700 million, military vehicles worth $500 million and mortar shells worth $100 million, bringing the total to $1.3 billion.
It would be the largest military deal the United States has made with Israel since the brutal Hamas attack on October 7 that killed 1,200 people.
The sale will require approval from congressional leaders and will take place over a long period of time that could extend to years.
On Thursday, both sides of the aisle were working hard to pass a $95 billion foreign aid package for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, as well as several other national security policies at a critical time at home and abroad.
The deal includes tank ammunition worth $700 million, military vehicles worth $500 million and mortar shells worth $100 million, bringing the total to $1.3 billion.
Rocket trails are seen in the sky above the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem as Iranian missiles are intercepted by air defenses.
Palestinians inspect damage to a building in the town of Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip, April 18.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson this week launched a plan to advance the package, which has been delayed since October by Republican lawmakers who resist approving more funding for Ukraine’s fight against Russia.
As the Republican president faced open rebellion from his right flank and growing threats of his overthrow, it became clear that House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries would have to help Johnson every step of the way.
“This is a very important message we are going to send to the world this week, and I am looking forward to making it a reality,” Johnson said earlier Wednesday in announcing his strategy.
President Joe Biden openly endorsed the package.
“The House should pass the package this week, and the Senate should follow quickly,” Biden said. “I will sign this into law immediately to send a message to the world: we stand with our friends and will not allow Iran or Russia to succeed.”
The growing push toward a bipartisan dynamic, a rarity in a deeply divided Congress, led to rare scenes of Republicans and Democrats working together to affirm America’s standing on the global stage and help its allies.
But it also sent Johnson’s House Republican majority into new rounds of chaos.
Johnson’s Republican leadership team, seizing the opportunity to outflank hardline conservatives with Democratic support, floated the idea of ​​quickly changing procedural rules to make it more difficult to remove the president from office.
House Speaker Mike Johnson launched a plan this week to advance a first package, which has been delayed since October by Republican lawmakers who resist approving more funding for Ukraine’s fight against Russia.
But the ultra-conservatives reacted with fury, angrily confronting Johnson in the House of Representatives in a tense scene on Thursday morning.
Several suggested they would join the effort to unseat Johnson if the rule was changed. In the afternoon, Johnson abandoned the idea.
“We will continue to govern according to existing rules,” the spokesperson said on social platform X.
Meanwhile, a rare image of bipartisan statesmanship was on display as the rules of procedure committee began debating launching the steps needed to push the foreign aid package toward the weekend vote.
The Republican chairmen of the powerful Appropriations and Foreign Affairs committees, along with their top Democratic counterparts, spoke in evocative language, some inspired by the history of World War II, to argue for the need to ensure that the United States supports its allies. against the aggressors.
Chairman Michael McCaul of the Foreign Affairs Committee called this a “crucial” moment in world history, comparing current images of people fleeing conflict in Europe to the situation in 1939, when Hitler’s Germany came to power.
“Time is not on our side,” he told the panel.
The Foreign Affairs Committee’s top Democrat, Rep. Greg Meeks of New York, shared McCaul’s urgency: “The camera of history is rolling.”