US fast-tracks $4billion in military aid to Israel

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday signed a declaration to expedite $4 billion in military assistance to Israel.

The Trump administration has approved nearly $12 billion in military sales to Israel since taking office, said Rubio in a statement.

"The Trump Administration will continue to use all available tools to fulfill America’s long-standing commitment to Israel’s security, including means to counter security threats,” the statement continued.

"This important decision coincides with President Trump’s repeal of a Biden-era memorandum which had imposed baseless and politicised conditions on military assistance to Israel at a time when our close ally was fighting a war of survival on multiple fronts against Iran and terror proxies," said Rubio.

The $4 billion in military assistance is a reversal of the Biden administration’s partial arms embargo, "which wrongly withheld a number of weapons and ammunition from Israel," he added.

The Trump administration has also moved to axe a Biden-era regulation preventing United States arms transfers from being used in violation of international law. The directive required recipients of U.S. arms to provide written assurances within 45 days that they were abiding by international law. Israel provided those assurances in a letter on March 20, 2024.

Prior to Rubio's announcement, the US Department of Defense announced on Friday that it had authorised a $2.04 billion sale of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel. Deliveries are estimated to begin in 2026.

"The proposed sale will improve Israel's capability to meet current and future threats, strengthen its homeland defense, and serve as a deterrent to regional threats. Israel will have no difficulty absorbing this equipment into its armed forces," according to a Pentagon statement.

The Biden administration denied it had withheld weapons, except for a shipment of 2,000-pound bombs. However, pro-Israel U.S. politicians revealed that the White House had held up far more, slow-walking shipments via bureaucratic means.

The situation reached a boiling point in June 2024 when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went public with the issue.

“[I]t’s inconceivable that in the past few months the administration has been withholding weapons and ammunition to Israel ... Israel, America’s closest ally, fighting for its life, fighting against Iran and our other common enemies,” the premier said in a video message.