US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Saturday that he had signed a declaration to expedite delivery of approximately $4 billion in military assistance to Israel, in what he cast as US President Donald Trump’s rejection of restrictions placed by predecessor Joe Biden.
The Trump administration, which took office on January 20, has approved nearly $12 billion in major foreign military sales to Israel, Rubio said in a statement, adding that it “will continue to use all available tools to fulfill America’s long-standing commitment to Israel’s security, including means to counter security threats.”
Rubio said he had used emergency authority to expedite the delivery of military assistance to Israel as it prepares for the possible return to war in Gaza amid a fragile ceasefire with Hamas.
The State Department statement did not disclose what arms or other assistance were included in the expedited package.
Rubio said the administration was busting a “partial arms embargo” on Israel imposed by former president Joe Biden.
Biden has denied withholding arms from Israel, save for a single batch of 2,000-pound “bunker buster” bombs, which arrived in Israel last month after Trump unfroze the shipment.
“This important decision coincides with President Trump’s repeal of a Biden-era memorandum which had imposed baseless and politicized conditions on military assistance to Israel,” said Rubio, referring to Trump’s rescinding on Monday of National Security Memorandum 20.
The order, signed by Biden last year amid lobbying by progressives in his Democratic party, had required recipients of US arms to commit in writing not to use them to target civilians or restrict humanitarian aid.
“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,” said Rubio.
The statement came a day after the top US diplomat announced he would waive congressional review to fast-track $3 billion worth of arms sales to Israel, including armored bulldozers withheld by Biden over concern Israel was using them to raze homes in Gaza. The IDF has said it demolished homes that had been used by Hamas.
US President Joe Biden speaks about the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and hostage deal in North Charleston, South Carolina, on January 19, 2025. (Roberto Schmidt / AFP)
The arms sales announced Friday also included more heavy bombs of the type Biden had blocked in May, as Israel, over his opposition, launched operations in the densely populated Gazan city of Rafah.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, displaced from the Strip’s north, had sought shelter in Rafah amid Israel’s response to the Hamas onslaught of October 7, 2023, when thousands of terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages.
The administration notified Congress of those prospective weapons sales on an emergency basis, sidestepping a long-standing practice of giving the chairs and ranking members of the House Foreign Affairs and Senate Foreign Relations Committees the opportunity to review the sale and ask for more information before making a formal notification to Congress.
Friday’s announcements marked the second time in recent weeks that the Trump administration has declared an emergency to quickly approve weapons sales to Israel. The Biden administration also used emergency authority to approve the sale of arms to Israel without congressional review, but reverted to the slower process later in the war.
According to Israel, since the beginning of the war in October 2023, over 76,000 tons of military equipment have arrived in Israel on 678 transport planes and 129 ships, the vast majority from the US.
Jacob Magid contributed to this report.
