Last week, the United States approved $20 billion worth of arms sales to "Israel", pushing aside the UN Human Rights Council’s call for halting arms sales to "Israel", given the large-scale human losses in Gaza.

The sale includes 50 F-15IA fighter jets, 25 upgraded versions of F-15I jets, 50,000 120mm mortar shells, 32,000 120mm tank shells, 30 advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles, and military tactical vehicles.

As the death toll in Gaza gradually increased—surpassing the 40,000 fatalities—and there seemed to be no let-up in the air assaults, UN Secretary-General António Guterres had to comment that the Israeli military campaign had only caused "relentless death and destruction" to the besieged enclave.

Violations of the UN resolutions 

The UN General Assembly kept on issuing resolutions one after another, but both the US and its allies in NATO turned a deaf ear to such callings. The General Assembly passed a resolution in 1975 (3414), requesting all states to refrain from supplying "Israel" with any military aid as long as it continued to occupy Arab territories and deny the Palestinian people their rights.

Again, in 1982, it called upon all member states, under resolution ES-9/1, to hold back from supplying or purchasing any weapons from "Israel". In 2018, the UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution mandating all states to avoid supplying arms that "Israel" could use to perpetrate serious violations of international human rights law.

In June of this year, the Human Rights Council (HRC) took a similar stance, demanding an end to "Israel's" air raids and arms supply to Tel Aviv, warning that such an action would be considered complicit in genocide and war crimes. Even though the UN Council fell short of pulling the trigger on placing an embargo on the businesses and countries supplying arms and ammunition to "Israel", pressure is building up from the UN's experts, governments, and rights organizations to pull the plug on arms transfers to "Israel".

The Council has demanded that arms manufacturers and suppliers, such as BAE Systems, Boeing, Caterpillar, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Oshkosh, Rheinmetall AG, Rolls-Royce Power Systems, RTX, and ThyssenKrupp, cease the transfer of weapons to "Israel", even if these weapons were produced under current export licenses.

The unfortunate part of this saga is that the US and its Western supporters hardly care to act on what the UN was persistently demanding. Despite reports that Israeli forces are systematically violating international law and engaging in abuses such as torture, the flow of US weapons to "Israel" continues unabated.

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Reuters, citing two U.S. sources informed about an updated list of weapons shipments to "Israel", reports that since the start of the Gaza conflict, the Biden administration has provided a significant quantity of munitions, including over 10,000 highly deadly 2,000-pound bombs and several Hellfire missiles.

From the beginning of the war in October until recently, the United States has transferred a minimum of 14,000 MK-84 2,000-pound bombs, 6,500 500-pound bombs, 3,000 Hellfire precision-guided air-to-ground missiles, 1,000 bunker-buster bombs, 2,600 air-dropped small-diameter bombs, and various other munitions.

Does the arms sale raise a red flag from the US? 

Axios Publication, a US-based news portal, asserts, citing Israeli sources, that the arms deal sends a message to Iran and Hamas that the US is prepared to defend "Israel" from any attack. The portal, quoting a US official, said that even though the timing of the deal was coincidental, it tends to show US concerns and support for "Israel" as tensions are rising in the region. The timing of the deal and selection of arms categories indicate that the US wants the region to know that Washington will protect "Israel's long-term security," come what may.

The media report says that the sale of F-15 jets carries “political sensitivities,” as Congress seems reluctant to supply the jets to “Israel” at a time when tension was at its high pitch in the region. There was also a fear in the ranks of Republicans that Congress might put a damper on the arms sale given the explosive situation in the Middle East. This is precisely the reason that “Israeli” Defense Minister Yoav Gallant went to Washington several times to iron out the differences on the sale of arms and to seal the deal amicably.

Gallant has been meeting senior officials of the Biden administration, including Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, since the start of the war in Gaza to finalize the ammunition issue. Media claims that “Israeli” and US officials believe that Gallant’s persistent follow-up with Washington played a crucial role in the recent development.

The US stance stands refuted

The Pentagon announced that it will take multiple years to manufacture F-15 fighter jets, with delivery starting in 2029 and additional equipment provision scheduled for 2026. It affirmed that "Israel's" security is of the utmost importance to the United States' national interest. The Pentagon expressed its commitment to supporting “Israel” in maintaining a military presence in the region and improving its self-defense capabilities.

The defense analysts dispute the Pentagon's assertion, claiming that the majority of the supplies may occur before 2026. Challenging the Pentagon's assertion that the supply would not be available until 2029, they disclosed that certain deliveries, such as F-15 planes, tank cartridges, explosive mortar cartridges, and army vehicles, would arrive significantly earlier.

Canadian role

The Pentagon has awarded Canada $60 million in contracts for the delivery of weapons, out of the $20 billion authorized budget for the supply of weaponry to "Israel". The Canadian authorities carried out the arrangement via a confidential agreement with the United States, which led to a great deal of dissatisfaction among Canadian residents, attorneys, and rights groups for their "off the record" role in the weaponry transaction. They asserted that Canada had not done enough to stop “Israel” from committing war crimes in Gaza with its weaponry.

In March this year, the Canadian Parliament put a one-way embargo on military exports to “Israel”. The House of Commons voted to adopt a non-binding New Democratic Party (NDP) Opposition Day motion, which called on Canada to “cease the further authorization and transfer of arms exports to Israel to ensure compliance with Canada’s arms export regime.”

From October to December 2023, Canada authorized the transfer of $28.5 million worth of military goods to "Israel". By contrast, Canadian companies shipped $21.3 million worth of military supplies to “Israel” in 2022, which is slightly lower than the $27.8 million exported in 2021. Canada authorized a greater number of military goods exports to “Israel” during the initial three months of “Israel's” genocidal conflict in Gaza than any individual year during the past three decades. During Trudeau's tenure as Prime Minister from 2015 to 2023, Canadian companies have exported around $150 million worth of military items to “Israel” in total. These exports entail private companies making profits by seeking approval from Global Affairs Canada for export licenses.

In recent years, the main categories of Canada’s military exports to “Israel” have included bombs, torpedoes, rockets, missiles, military aircraft or related components, and military spacecraft or related components.