Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) was critical of the Biden administration quietly sending additional military weapons to Israel last week.
The White House reportedly authorized billions of dollars of bombs and fighter jets to Israel, despite growing concerns about a possible Israeli ground invasion of Rafah. Van Hollen has been a leading voice of a number of Senate Democrats who are critical of Israel due to the rising death toll in Gaza and other humanitarian issues.
“I’m just saying to President Biden, you said ‘no excuses’ when it comes to getting humanitarian aid into Gaza. Prime Minister Netanyahu continues to drag his feet,” Van Hollen said on ABC’s This Week.
“So, instead of just sending more bombs without, in turn, getting the request that you want, Mr. President, let’s at least make this a partnership,” Van Hollen continued.
The package includes “more than 1,800 MK84 2,000-pound bombs and 500 MK82 500-pound bombs,” which was approved by Congress years ago, according to the Washington Post. Van Hollen said the Biden administration should pressure Netanyahu to enforce Biden’s request that Israel use weapons in accordance with international law to allow aid into Gaza.
“Biden needs to be as serious about ensuring more humanitarian assistance gets into Gaza, as Netanyahu has been in making his demands,” Van Hollen said.
“We have a situation where the Netanyahu government continues to rebuff the president of the United States time and time again, ignores reasonable requests. And what do we do? We say we’re going to send more bombs,” Van Hollen said.
Van Hollen said the U.S. needs to use “leverage” to aid Gaza, not a “one-way blank check with American taxpayer dollars.”
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He said the U.S. should not cease to give aid to Israel to defeat Hamas but rather ensure that Netanyahu is following Biden’s repeated request for allowing access of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
“It’s about saying, ‘Hey, we have requests, don’t let people starve to death,’” Van Hollen said.
