Posted on 12/10/23
| News Source: i24
Blinken waives Congressional review of the sale, citing emergency
The U.S. State Department has approved the emergency sale to Israel of nearly 14,000 rounds of tank ammunition, it said Saturday.
The department said it had notified Congress on Friday of a sale of 13,981 high-explosive 120mm tank cartridges and related equipment worth $106.5 million.
That sale, while relatively small, comes amid heated political debate over the Gaza war, with Republicans slowing a far larger Biden administration request for new military spending for Israel and Ukraine.
The State Department said the Secretary of State Antony Blinken had determined that "an emergency exists that requires the immediate sale to the Government of Israel" of the weaponry, thereby waiving the normal requirement of Congressional review.
The statement said the sale, from U.S. Army inventory, would be used by Israel "as a deterrent to regional threats and to strengthen its homeland defense" and would "not alter the basic military balance in the region."