Congressional leaders allow arms sale to Israel after White House pressure

livemint.com:

Two top Democratic leaders in Congress have unblocked the sale of 50 F-15 jet fighters to Israel, paving the way for a major weapons deal that had been held up over concerns about the killing of thousands of civilians in the war in Gaza. The $18 billion sale is one of the largest arms deals with Israel in recent years, and comes as President Biden is facing calls from leaders in his own party to withhold American weapons in order to pressure Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept an end to the Gaza war.

The administration also is urging Israel to de-escalate tensions along its northern border with Lebanon. The sale of the warplanes, which was notified to Congress earlier this year, had been blocked by two of the four congressional leaders who sign off on major arms deals, Rep.

Gregory Meeks (D., N.Y.), the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Sen. Ben Cardin (D., Md.), the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

“Any issues or concerns Chair Cardin had were addressed through our ongoing consultations with the Administration, and that is why he felt it appropriate to allow this case to move forward," said Eric Harris, a spokesman for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in a statement. The decision followed extensive White House pressure on congressional leaders to unblock the deal, according to officials familiar with the matter.

If the sale is formally approved, the F-15s would likely be delivered in about five years, congressional officials said. Meeks said in a statement he had been in talks with the White House about the sale and had “repeatedly urged the Administration to continue pushing Israel to make significant and concrete improvements on all fronts when it