[Salon] Shaheen holds up $2.8B arms sale to Israel [Semafor]

[Chas Freeman <cwfresidence@gmail.com>]

Shaheen holds up $2.8B arms sale to Israel

Eric Lee/Reuters

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has blocked an arms sale to Israel since July and continues to withhold consent for advancing the $2.8 billion transaction, Semafor’s Burgess Everett and Eleanor Mueller scoop. Shaheen has asked the Trump administration how Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu plans to use the weapons, a person familiar with the matter said. She has unanswered questions about how the bombs would be used in Syria, Lebanon, and Gaza — as well as to intensify the war with Iran. Shaheen’s move is also the latest example of Democrats bucking Netanyahu’s government, as US voters increasingly hold negative views of it. In April, 40 members of the Senate Democratic Caucus voted to stop an arms sale to Israel.