Biden asks Congress for Israel, Ukraine aid in giant defense package

WASHINGTON ― President Joe Biden on Thursday appealed to Congress to pass a massive defense spending package that would include tens of billions of dollars in additional weapons for Israel and Ukraine.

Biden called the package “an unprecedented commitment to Israel’s security that will sharpen Israel’s qualitative military edge” in a prime time address to the oval office fresh off a trip to Tel Aviv.

“We will not let terrorists like Hamas and tyrants like [Russian President Vladimir] Putin win,” said Biden. “I refuse to let that happen.”

Biden did not mention heightened tensions throughout the broader Middle East, with Iran threatening to retaliate should Israel proceed with a ground invasion of the Gaza Strip. Mere hours before the president’s speech, U.S. officials said the Navy shot down missiles fired by the Iran-backed Houthis off of Yemen’s coast. U.S. forces stationed in Iraq and Syria – both of which are home to a multitude of Iran-backed militias – have also come under attack

Meanwhile, the House cannot pass any legislation without a new speaker as protests against U.S. support for Israel spread from Capitol Hill to the State Department to U.S. embassies in the Middle East. On top of that, the Biden administration is nearly out of funds to continue arming Ukraine against Russia’s invasion.

Congress is expecting the White Houses defense supplemental spending request to come in around $100 billion, with the lion’s share going to Ukraine and a smaller portion allocated for Israel alongside more funding for weapons to Taiwan and security for the southern border.

Israel has asked the U.S. for additional precision-guided munitions, which Israel is using to bomb the Gaza Strip, as well as more Iron Dome interceptors used to strike down Hamas rocket attacks.

After the Hamas attacks last week, the Biden administration sent Israel Joint Direct Attack Munitions, or JDAMS, small diameter bombs, 155 millimeter artillery rounds and ammunition from U.S. stockpiles, according to the Pentagon. The Israeli Defense Ministry announced Thursday that it has also received armored vehicles from the U.S. as it prepares for a possible ground invasion of Gaza. And Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said Thursday the U.S. will send Israel additional Iron Dome interceptors in the days ahead.

Israel is also using direct commercial sales with U.S. defense contractors to stock its arsenals ahead of a possible ground invasion of Gaza. Some 1,800 JDAM kits, which convert “dumb” bombs into precision weapons, have been rushed to Israel through this path, a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity to discuss the transfers.

Israel has also said that it has dropped at least 6,000 bombs on the Gaza Strip during the first six days of its campaign, more than the U.S.-led coalition dropped in any month of its counter-Islamic State campaign.

Israel’s bombing campaign has killed some 3,500 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The initial Hamas attacks that sparked the war killed roughly 1,400 Israelis.

“The emphasis is on damage, not accuracy,” Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told Haaretz last week.

Josh Paul, the director of the congressional affairs at the State Department’s Political-Military Affairs bureau, resigned in protest on Wednesday over the continued transfer of weapons to Israel. His resignation letter posted on LinkedIn called the transfers “shortsighted, destructive, unjust and contradictory to the very values we publicly espouse.”

In an interview with National Public Radio on Thursday , he called on the Biden administration to adhere to its new conventional arms transfer policy . That policy says the State Department will not authorize an arms transfer it is “more likely than not” the recipient country will use the weapons to commit or facilitate the commission of actions such as genocide, crimes against humanity, breaches of the Geneva Conventions or serious violations of international law.

“Air-to-ground bombs, and any explosive weapons in urban areas, pose some of the greatest harm to civilians in warfare,” John Chappell, a legal fellow at the Center for Civilians in Conflict, told Defense News. “Given the high likelihood that such weapons could contribute to civilian harm or even international law violations in light of what we’ve seen so far – in both public statements form Israeli officials and actual harm to civilians – I think it’s reasonable for the administration and Congress to approach this with significant concern when it comes to political will to avoid civilian harm.”

The U.S. provides Israel with an annual $3.8 billion in military aid per year.

Capitol Hill police arrested some 300 protesters on Wednesday demonstrating against additional Israel in the Cannon House Office Building, organized by Jewish Voice for Peace.

While a minority of progressive Democrats have called for a ceasefire, the majority of Republican and Democrats on Capitol Hill support another Israel aid package. The Ukraine aid package also enjoys robust bipartisan support but nearly half the House Republican caucus now opposes additional aid to Kyiv.

And that’s all moot if the House fails to empower a new speaker following the ouster of Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., from the role earlier this month. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, failed two consecutive votes this week to become speaker.

House Republicans removed $6 billion in Ukraine aid when Congress passed a stopgap funding bill needed to avoid a government shutdown earlier this month. The Pentagon has less than $5.5 billion to continue transferring weapons to Ukraine.

The Senate intends to move ahead with the White House’s supplemental request with bipartisan support, and the Biden administration hopes including funds for the southern border can help sway Republicans. But in the House, many Republicans oppose lumping Israel and Ukraine aid together – despite their failure to elect a new speaker.

The White House hopes its Ukraine request will last through the presidential elections next year, with Republican frontrunner former President Donald Trump opposed to more aid for Kyiv.

Additionally, Axios reported on Thursday that the U.S. is sending Israel two spare Iron Dome batteries in the Army’s inventory, which some lawmakers had previously sought to send to Ukraine prior to the Hamas attacks.

Stacie Pettyjohn, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, told Defense News that there “more overlap now, particularly on the air defense side, potentially. But it’s still not tremendous.”

She noted that the U.S. defense industry can surge stockpiles of the air-to-ground weapons Israel seeks to a certain extent even though the Air Force has reduced purchased of those weapons since the end of the Afghanistan War and counter-Islamic State campaign.

“Those are systems where there is excess capacity because we boosted it during Operation Inherent Resolve against ISIS,” said Pettyjohn.

More broadly, the defense-industrial base has struggled to keep pace with efforts to backfill weapons sent to Ukraine from U.S. stockpiles and arm Taiwan. Taipei has frequently complained about a roughly $19 billion arms sales backlog in weapons it has purchased from the U.S.

Bryant Harris is the Congress reporter for Defense News. He has covered U.S. foreign policy, national security, international affairs and politics in Washington since 2014. He has also written for Foreign Policy, Al-Monitor, Al Jazeera English and IPS News.

Noah Robertson is the Pentagon reporter at Defense News. He previously covered national security for the Christian Science Monitor. He holds a bachelor’s degree in English and government from the College of William & Mary in his hometown of Williamsburg, Virginia.

华盛顿——周四，乔·拜登总统呼吁国会通过一项大规模国防开支方案，其中包括向以色列和乌克兰提供价值数百亿美元的额外武器。

拜登在结束特拉维夫之行后，于黄金时段向椭圆形办公室发表讲话，称该方案是“对以色列安全的空前承诺，将增强以色列的军事优势”。

拜登说：“我们绝不会让哈马斯这样的恐怖分子和普京这样的暴君得逞。我绝不允许这种情况发生。”

拜登并未提及整个中东地区日益紧张的局势，伊朗威胁称，如果以色列继续对加沙地带发动地面入侵，伊朗将予以报复。就在总统发表讲话前几个小时，美国官员表示，海军在也门海岸附近击落了伊朗支持的胡塞武装发射的导弹。驻扎在伊拉克和叙利亚的美军——这两个国家都盘踞着众多伊朗支持的民兵组织——也遭到了袭击。

与此同时，由于反对美国支持以色列的抗议活动从国会山蔓延至国务​​院，再到美国驻中东大使馆，众议院在没有新议长的情况下无法通过任何法案。此外，拜登政府用于继续武装乌克兰以对抗俄罗斯入侵的资金也几乎耗尽。

国会预计白宫提出的国防补充支出请求将达到约 1000 亿美元，其中大部分将用于乌克兰，较小一部分将分配给以色列，此外还将增加对台湾的武器供应和南部边境的安全保障资金。

以色列已向美国请求提供更多精确制导武器（以色列正用这些武器轰炸加沙地带），以及更多用于拦截哈马斯火箭弹袭击的“铁穹”拦截器。

据五角大楼消息，在哈马斯上周发动袭击后，拜登政府向以色列提供了联合直接攻击弹药（JDAMS）、小直径炸弹、155毫米炮弹以及来自美国库存的弹药。以色列国防部周四宣布，美国也向其提供了装甲车，以应对可能对加沙地带发动的地面入侵。五角大楼发言人帕特·赖德周四表示，美国将在未来几天向以色列增派“铁穹”拦截系统。

以色列还通过与美国国防承包商的直接商业销售，为其可能对加沙地带发动的地面入侵储备武器。一位不愿透露姓名的美国官员表示，约有1800套JDAM套件（可将“非制导”炸弹改装成精确制导武器）已通过这种方式紧急运抵以色列。

以色列方面还表示，在其军事行动的前六天里，已向加沙地带投掷了至少 6000 枚炸弹，比美国领导的联军在打击伊斯兰国的军事行动中任何一个月投掷的炸弹数量都多。

据加沙卫生部统计，以色列的轰炸行动已造成约3500名巴勒斯坦人死亡。而引发战争的哈马斯最初袭击事件则造成约1400名以色列人死亡。

以色列国防军发言人丹尼尔·哈加里海军少将上周告诉《国土报》：“重点在于造成破坏，而不是保证准确。”

美国国务院政治军事事务局国会事务主任乔什·保罗周三辞职，以抗议美国持续向以色列输送武器。他在领英上发布的辞职信中称，这些武器转移“目光短浅、破坏性强、不公正，并且与我们公开宣扬的价值观背道而驰”。

周四，他在接受美国国家公共广播电台采访时呼吁拜登政府遵守其新的常规武器转让政策。该政策规定，如果受援国“极有可能”会利用武器实施或协助实施种族灭绝、危害人类罪、违反日内瓦公约或严重违反国际法等行为，国务院将不会批准武器转让。

“空对地炸弹以及任何在城市地区使用的爆炸性武器，对战争中的平民构成最大的伤害之一，”冲突中平民中心法律研究员约翰·查佩尔告诉《防务新闻》。“鉴于我们目前所看到的——无论是以色列官员的公开声明还是实际发生的平民伤亡——此类武器极有可能造成平民伤亡，甚至违反国际法，我认为，在政治意愿方面，政府和国会对此高度关注，以避免平民伤亡，是合情合理的。”

美国每年向以色列提供38亿美元的军事援助。

周三，国会山警方逮捕了约 300 名抗议者，他们在坎农众议院办公大楼举行示威活动，反对以色列进一步扩张，此次示威活动由“犹太和平之声”组织。

尽管少数进步派民主党人呼吁停火，但国会山的大多数共和党人和民主党人都支持再次向以色列提供援助。乌克兰援助方案也获得了两党的大力支持，但众议院共和党议员中近一半现在反对向基辅提供更多援助。

如果众议院在本月初罢免加州共和党众议员凯文·麦卡锡后未能选出新议长，那么这一切都将毫无意义。俄亥俄州共和党众议员吉姆·乔丹本周连续两次竞选议长失败。

本月初，国会通过了一项旨在避免政府停摆的临时拨款法案，众议院共和党人却在法案中削减了60亿美元的乌克兰援助。五角大楼目前仅剩不到55亿美元用于继续向乌克兰输送武器。

参议院计划在两党支持下推进白宫的补充拨款请求，拜登政府希望将南部边境援助资金纳入其中，以争取共和党人的支持。但在众议院，尽管共和党人未能选出新的议长，许多共和党人仍然反对将对以色列和乌克兰的援助合并在一起。

白宫希望其对乌克兰的援助请求能够持续到明年的总统选举，而共和党领跑者、前总统唐纳德·特朗普反对向基辅提供更多援助。

此外，Axios 周四报道称，美国正在向以色列运送陆军库存中的两套备用“铁穹”防御系统，一些议员此前曾试图在哈马斯发动袭击前将这些系统送往乌克兰。

美国新安全中心高级研究员斯泰西·佩蒂约翰告诉《防务新闻》，“现在重叠的部分更多了，尤其是在防空方面。但重叠仍然不大。”

她指出，尽管自阿富汗战争和打击伊斯兰国行动结束以来，美国空军减少了对以色列所寻求的空对地武器的采购，但美国国防工业仍可在一定程度上增加这类武器的库存。

佩蒂约翰说：“这些系统之所以有过剩的容量，是因为我们在打击ISIS的‘坚定决心行动’期间提高了容量。”

更广泛地说，国防工业基础一直难以跟上美国向乌克兰输送武器和武装台湾的步伐。台北方面经常抱怨其从美国购买的武器存在约190亿美元的销售缺口。

布莱恩特·哈里斯是《防务新闻》的国会记者。自2014年以来，他一直在华盛顿报道美国外交政策、国家安全、国际事务和政治。他还曾为《外交政策》、《Al-Monitor》、《半岛电视台英语频道》和IPS新闻撰稿。

诺亚·罗伯逊是《防务新闻》的五角大楼记者。他此前曾为《基督教科学箴言报》报道国家安全新闻。他拥有弗吉尼亚州威廉斯堡威廉与玛丽学院的英语和政治学学士学位。