Shells set for Israel, bypassing Congress

WASHINGTON — The State Department is pushing through a government sale to Israel of 13,000 rounds of tank ammunition, bypassing a congressional review process that is generally required for arms sales to foreign nations, according to a State Department official and an online post by the Defense Department on Saturday.

The State Department notified congressional committees at 11 p.m. Friday that it was moving ahead with the sale, valued at more than $106 million, even though Congress had not finished an informal review of a larger order from Israel for tank rounds. The department invoked an emergency provision in the Arms Export Control Act, the State Department official as well as a congressional official told The New York Times. The arms shipment has been put on an expedited track, and Congress has no power to stop it.

The Defense Department posted a notification of the sale before noon Saturday. It said Secretary of State Antony Blinken had informed Congress on Friday that “an emergency exists that requires the immediate sale.”

It is the first time that the State Department had invoked the emergency provision for an arms shipment to the Middle East since May 2019, when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo approved weapons sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, a move that was widely criticized by lawmakers and by some career officials inside the State Department.

The State Department has used the emergency provision several times since 2022 to rush arms to Ukraine for its defense against Russia’s invasion. Those shipments were not considered contentious because at the time, US lawmakers and American citizens overwhelmingly supported sending military aid to Ukraine. Russia had launched its fullscale invasion in February 2022.

But in the case of the Israel-Hamas war, there has been growing condemnation in the United States and abroad of the way Israel is carrying out its offensive. The State Department’s decision to bypass Congress appears to reflect an awareness of some Democratic lawmakers’ criticism of the Biden administration for supplying arms to Israel.

Israeli airstrikes and ground operations have killed more than 15,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, according to the health ministry in Gaza.