Has Gregory Meeks succumbed to Jewish lobby pressure?

Chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee will not request a delay to an arms sale to Israel after the Biden administration agreed to brief lawmakers on the deal. “What we wanted to do is to have a dialogue and conversation,” committee Chairman Gregory Meeks told reporters Tuesday.

Meeks’ comments come after he told Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Monday night he was planning to send a letter to the Biden administration asking for a delay in a recently approved US$735 million sale so members could have more time to review it.

“We’re going to have a meeting with the administration tomorrow where the issues and the questions that one may have will be able to be asked, and that was the purpose of considering the letter.”

The administration notified Congress on 5^th May it approved the sale to Israel. The bulk of the deal is for Boeing-made Joint Direct Attack Munitions that can turn so-called dumb bombs into precision-guided missiles.

The notification set off a 15-day congressional review period in which lawmakers could block the sale. But that window is all but closed now with just three days left in the review period.

The approval for the arms sale came five days before Hamas, the militant group that controls the Gaza Strip, began firing rockets toward Israel in response to Israeli police action at Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Several Democrats have expressed concern about the administration proceeding with the sale amid the conflict, including Foreign Affairs Committee member Rep. Ilhan Omar, who said it would be “appalling” for the sale to move forward.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki on Tuesday defended the Biden administration’s approach to the conflict, saying intensive diplomatic discussions behind the scenes are the best means of reducing the violence. 

“The president’s objective is clear, which is that he wants to see an end to the violence on the ground, an end to the suffering of the Israeli and Palestinian people,” Psaki told reporters aboard Air Force One on Tuesday.

“Our focus and our strategy here is to work through quiet, intensive diplomacy, and he’s been doing this long enough to know the best way to end an international conflict is typically not to debate it in public.” 

Biden administration officials have conducted more than 60 calls to date with Israelis, Palestinians and other regional officials, Psaki noted, including President Biden’s three calls with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in less than a week.

Biden last spoke with Netanyahu on Monday and expressed support for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, but stopped short of backing or publicly urging a cease-fire.