Rights, Faith Groups Urge Congress to Block $2.8B Bomb Sale to Israel

If the Trump administration moves forward with the transfer, dozens of groups are urging lawmakers to seek a joint resolution of disapproval.

By Elizabeth Hagerdorn, Al-Monitor

More than 50 human rights, faith-based and foreign-policy organizations are urging Congress to publicly oppose the Trump administration’s proposed $2.8 billion sale to Israel of some of the US military’s most destructive conventional weapons.

“Failing to do so would amount to a blank check for further catastrophic harm and human rights violations,” groups including Human Rights Watch, Oxfam America, Amnesty International USA and the Episcopal Church said in a letter sent to congressional offices Thursday that was exclusively shared with Al-Monitor.

Last month, the State Department informally notified key congressional committees that it intends to sell Israel 40,000 2,000-pound MK-84 and BLU-117 bombs, whose wide blast radius can devastate large areas. The package also includes 20,000 bunker-busting I-2000 penetrator warheads that are used to strike deeply buried targets. Most of the package would be funded via Foreign Military Financing, a US program that provides Israel and other partners with taxpayer-funded aid to purchase American-made weapons.

“The Israeli government has used these bombs to devastating effect” during its ongoing conflicts against Hamas in the Gaza Strip and against Hezbollah in Lebanon, the letter reads. US and international media outlets as well as the United Nations’ human rights office have documented Israel’s use of 2,000-pound munitions that caused massive craters in parts of Gaza that were designated “safe” for civilians, as well as in densely populated areas of Lebanon.

In the months following Hamas’ deadly attack on Oct. 7, 2023, the Biden administration sent Israel thousands of heavy bombs. As the civilian casualties mounted, it paused a shipment of the MK-84s in May 2024, concerned about their potential use in the crowded Gazan city of Rafah. Shortly after taking office, President Donald Trump reversed the decision.