I find this a chilling message as Israel coward attack on Gaza continued today hitting a U.N. shelter and a public market killing scores of children. The White House and the State Department refuse to come forward and put blame on Israel. I find this cold and heartless, this is not my America. This is a My Lai slaughter of defenseless people all over again. Obama, Biden. Kerry and Rice, I have lost all respect. Your R2P policy is just a bunch of crap, you heartless and mindless souls. This is not showing leadership, this is inhumane.
I heard this news story on CNN from Pentagon reporter Barbara Starr first.
US resupplies Israel with munitions as Gaza op continues
(Ynet News) – The United States has allowed Israel to tap a local US arms stockpile in the past week to resupply it with grenades and mortar rounds, a US defense official said on Thursday.
The munitions were located inside Israel as part of a program managed by the US military and called War Reserves Stock Allies-Israel (WRSA-I), which stores munitions locally for US use that Israel can also access in emergency situations.
Israel, however, did not cite an emergency when it made its latest request about 10 days ago, the defense official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The United States allowed Israel to access the strategic stockpile anyway to resupply itself with 40mm grenades and 120mm mortar rounds to deplete older stocks that would eventually need to be refreshed.
“They didn’t ask for it from there but we gave it to them so we could rotate our stocks,” the official said.
Additional Israeli requests for US-manufactured ammunition were also being processed in the United States, the official said. The official did not offer further details on quantities or costs of ammunition already supplied or requested.
Israel’s embassy in Washington declined comment about the resupply request, including whether it asked for the ammunition because of its operations in Gaza.
- ○ U.S. Foreign Aid to Israel – The United States-Israel Strategic Partnership Act (H.R. 938, S. 462) [pdf]
The only nations who can put pressure on Hamas’ military command are Turkey and Qatar. Vice-President Biden took time-off to meet a Defense Minister from Qatar for a $11 bn deal. SHAME USA!
From my diary – The Hanging Gardens of the White House – Year 2014.
Army Surplus of Mortars and Grenades good enough for Gaza before expiration date – fancy price for Israel’s Defense Forces – thank you Uncle Sam.
Stockpiling of Defense Articles for Foreign Countries
TRANSFER OF CERTAIN OBSOLETE OR SURPLUS DEFENSE ARTICLES IN THE WAR RESERVE STOCKPILES FOR ALLIES TO ISRAEL.
TRANSFERS TO ISRAEL.–
(1) AUTHORITY.–Notwithstanding section 514 of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2321h), the President is authorized to transfer to Israel, in return for concessions to be negotiated by the Secretary of Defense, with the concurrence of the Secretary of State, any or all of the items described in paragraph (2).
(2) ITEMS COVERED.–The items referred to in paragraph (1) are munitions, equipment, and material such as armor, artillery, automatic weapons ammunition, and missiles that–
(A) are obsolete or surplus items;
(B) are in the inventory of the Department of Defense;
(C) are intended for use as reserve stocks for Israel; and
(D) as of the date of the enactment of this Act, are located in a stockpile in Israel.
