US President Donald Trump's administration announced on Saturday the approval of a major arms sale to Israel worth $4 billion.
"I have signed a declaration to use emergency authority to accelerate the delivery of approximately $4 billion in military assistance to Israel," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement, AFP, Reuters and digi24.ro writes.
The administration notified Congress of these potential arms sales in an emergency, bypassing a long-standing practice of giving the chairmen and ranking members of the House and Senate foreign relations committees the opportunity to review the sale and request more information before making a formal notification to Congress.
With that decision in mind, it is now the second time the Trump administration has utilized emergency authority to expedite arms sales to Israel. However, it is not only the Trump administration that has done this, as also The Biden administration also used a similar measure to approve military aid without congressional oversight, Reuters notes.
Since taking office on January 20, the Trump administration has authorized nearly $12 billion in arms sales to Israel, as Rubio emphasized that the U.S. remains committed to Israel’s security and will continue leveraging all available tools to support it, particularly against regional threats.
This accelerated arms transfer follows former President Donald Trump's decision on January 25 to lift a freeze on 1,800 MK-84 bombs—each weighing 900 kilograms—originally halted by President Joe Biden. "The decision to lift the Biden administration's partial arms embargo, which improperly blocked a number of weapons and ammunition for Israel, is yet another sign that Israel has no stronger ally in the White House than President Trump," Rubio stated.
Although Biden supported Israel’s military operations in Gaza and maintained military aid, his administration had previously withheld the delivery of these large-scale bombs in May 2024, fearing their use in densely populated areas such as Rafah in southern Gaza.
