As Freed #Palestinians Describe #Torture, Trump OKs $3 Billion #Arms Package for #Israel
Like the #Biden administration, Trump is claiming an "emergency" in order to bypass Congress.
Brett Wilkins, Feb 28, 2025
"As #Palestinians released from Israeli imprisonment recount torture and other abuse suffered at the hands of their former captors, the Trump administration on Friday approved a new $3 billion weapons package for Israel.
"The new package, reported by Zeteo's Prem Thakker, includes nearly $2.716 billion worth of bombs and weapons guidance kits, as well as $295 million in bulldozers. The Trump administration said that 'an emergency exists that requires the immediate sale,' allowing it to bypass Congress, as the #Biden administration did on multiple occasions. However, the weapons won't be delivered until 2026 or 2027.
"From October 2023 to October 2024, Israel received a record $17.9 billion worth of U.S. arms as it waged a war of annihilation against the #GazaStrip that left more than 170,000 #Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing and millions more displaced, starved, or sickened. Israel is facing #genocide allegations in an International Court of Justice case brought by South Africa. The International Criminal Court has also issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin #Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister #YoavGallant.
"Reporting on the new package came after U.S. Sen. #BernieSanders (I-Vt.) on Monday announced an effort to block four other arms sales totaling $8.56 billion in offensive American weaponry to Israel.
"Meanwhile, some of the approximately 1,000 Palestinians released by Israel as part of a prisoner swap described grim stories of abuse by Israeli forces. The former detainees, who were arrested but never charged with any crimes, 'have returned visibly malnourished and scarred by the physical and psychological torture they say they faced in Israeli prisons,' according to The Washington Post. Some returned to what were once their homes to find them destroyed and their relatives killed or wounded by Israeli forces.
"Eyas al-Bursh, a doctor volunteering at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City when he was captured by Israeli troops, was held in Sde Teiman and the Ofer military prison in the illegally occupied West Bank for 11 months.
"'The places where we were held were harsh, sleep was impossible, and we remained handcuffed and blindfolded,' al-Bursh told the Post.
"'We endured psychological and physical torture without a single day of respite—whether through beatings, abuse, punches, or even verbal insults and humiliation,' he added.
"The #IsraelDefenseForces told the Post that it 'acts in accordance with Israeli and international law in order to protect the rights of the detainees held in the detention and questioning facilities.'"
Read more:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-arms-to-israel
#BibiIsAWarCriminal #TrumpIsAWarCriminal #NoWeaponsForGenocide #IsraeliWarCrimes #FreePalestine #HumanRightsAreNeverWrong #IDF