President Donald Trump is mulling releasing an arms shipment of 24,000 rifles for the Israeli police. The Joe Biden administration withheld the transfer over concerns they would be used by violent Israeli settlers in the West Bank.
A US official said on Friday that the State Department was considering approving the $34 million sale of rifles to Israel, according to the New York Times. The State Department stated the weapons would be used by Israeli National Police.
Former Secretary of State Antony initially withheld the shipment to Israel over concerns that the rifles would end up in the hands of violent Israel settlers. Following the October 7 attack and the start of the onslaught in Gaza, Israeli forces and settlers stepped up attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank.
According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, over the past 16 months, nearly West Bank Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers. The Israeli violence in the West Bank has been overshadowed by the genocidal campaign in Gaza that has resulted in over 62,000 deaths.
The deadly attacks in the West Bank have accelerated as Trump has come back into office. Since the start of the year, 70 Palestinians, including 10 children, have been killed.
Tel Aviv and violent settlers may feel they have a freer hand to attack Palestinians under Trump. While Biden largely green-lit all of Tel Aviv’s brutal operations against the Palestinians, his administration did slap sanctions on violent setters. After taking office, Trump removed those settlers from the blacklist.
Trump has tapped several Israeli hawks, such as Mike Huckabee and Elise Stefanik, to staff his new administration. Huckabee has denied that Palestinians exist, and Stefanik said Israel has a biblical right to the West Bank.
