“We are mandated – we are required by statute to guarantee that … Israel has a qualitative military edge over rivals in the region.”
US State Department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, has stressed that the American administration continues “to be committed to the defense of Israel,” adding that it was “a statutory requirement.”
“We are mandated – we are required by statute to guarantee that … Israel has a qualitative military edge over rivals in the region. It’s not a discretionary question. It is a statutory requirement, and it is one that we are committed to,” he told journalists at the department’s last press briefing on September 19.
Miller was responding to a question about criticism that the US calling for calm while continuing to arm Israel was not a successful strategy for reducing tensions in the Middle East.
“We continue to be committed to the defence of Israel. It is a statutory requirement.”
US State Department Spokesperson, Matthew Miller, reaffirmed the US’s staunch commitment to supporting Israel as it wages a deadly war on Palestine’s Gaza, adding that it was a “statutory… pic.twitter.com/DdJWmPlI7q
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“We continue to be committed to the defense of Israel,” he said, adding that Israel faces a “security situation” with Hezbollah “on their northern border” and “a terrorist group in Gaza” that is “committed to the destruction of Israel,” as well as “terrorists groups that operate in the West Bank that are committed to the destruction of Israel.”
“Iran, of course, is committed to the destruction of Israel,” he continued, “So of course we are committed to Israel’s security.”
Miller said there was “also an important deterrent effect to the United States continuing to send a message to Israel’s adversaries that if they attack Israel, we will defend it. And that’s a message that we will continue to send loud and clear.”
‘Security Assistance’
Since Israel’s establishment in 1948, the US “has provided Israel with over $130 billion in bilateral assistance focused on addressing new and complex security threats, bridging Israel’s capability gaps through security assistance and cooperation, increasing interoperability through joint exercises, and helping Israel maintain its Qualitative Military Edge (QME),” according to the State Department’s website.
“Consistent with statutory requirements, it is the policy of the United States to help Israel preserve its QME, or its ability to counter and defeat any credible conventional military threat from any individual state or possible coalition of states or from non-state actors, while sustaining minimal damages and casualties,” the Department states.
This requires “a quadrennial report to Congress, for arms transfers that are required to be Congressionally notified, and a determination that individual arms transfers to the region will not adversely affect Israel’s QME.”
$8.7 Billion in Military Aid
Israel announced on Thursday it was ready to collect $8.7 billion in military aid from the United States.
The US military aid package to Israel comes amidst a genocide in Gaza and the fifth day of an unprecedented Israeli escalation on Lebanon.
‘Support Ongoing Military Efforts’ – US Grants Israel $8.7 Billion in Military Aid
According to a statement by Israel’s Defense Ministry cited by The Times of Israel, Tel Aviv has secured the package “to support its ongoing military efforts and to maintain a qualitative military edge in the region.”
“The package comprises $3.5 billion for essential wartime procurement, which has already been transferred to the IMoD (Israeli Ministry of Defense), and $5.2 billion designated for air defense systems, including the Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and an advanced laser system.”
Despite recent polls, indicating that more than half of Americans stand in favor of halting military aid to Israel, the US administration remains committed to providing substantial military aid to Israel.
Ongoing Genocide
Israel continues to defy a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
According to Lebanon’s Health Ministry, more than 700 people have been killed, and scores more injured, in Lebanon this week due to Israeli attacks.
‘Double Standards’ – Chinese FM Accuses US of Political Manipulation of Human Rights
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 41,534 Palestinians have, to date, been killed, and 96,092 wounded.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
Famine and Displacement
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
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