Trump rescinds Biden order on use of US-supplied weapons: WaPo

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: The Washington Post
Today 06:28

Trump has rescinded a futile Biden directive aimed at ensuring that US weapons are not used to violate international law by allies.

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United States President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu take questions during a news conference in the East Room of the White House, in Washington, the United States, on February 4, 2025. (AP)

United States President Donald Trump has rescinded a regulation that sought to ensure that American allies do not use American weapons in violation of international humanitarian law, officials told The Washington Post (WaPo).

The Trump administration will repeal a February 2024 directive issued by former US President Joe Biden, ending supposed safeguards on the use of US weapons. Biden had issued the directive amid the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip, where American-made and supplied weapons had been infamously used to commit war crimes and facilitated the Israeli genocide of the Palestinian people.

WaPo cited an order from national security adviser Michael Waltz, who relayed the US president's decision to immediately rescind the memorandum, known as NSM-20.

It is worth noting that the US supplied the Israeli regime with weapons used in aggressions on occupied Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Iran in the past year. Notably, US-made bunker-buster bombs have been used in densely populated civilian areas in both the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. US-supplied aircraft have also attacked civilian infrastructure in both Yemen and Syria, under the previous administration.

Biden's memo had little to no impact on Israeli use of US-supplied weapons, as his administration failed to take credible action against Israeli violations. The Biden administration had only withheld one shipment of MK-84 bombs from "Israel" for its potential impact on civilian areas. The decision came after the US had already supplied the Israeli regime with a reported 14,000 MK-84 bombs in 2023 and 2024.

Trump cleared the export of the bombs in January and deliveries of a new shipment were completed in mid-February.