THAT’LL SHOW ’EM

U.S. Delayed Bomb Shipment to Israel as a Political Message: Report

That the Biden administration had held up the delivery of weapons to Israel was reported last week—but, at the time, a reason for the holdup was unclear.

The Biden administration is holding up the delivery of some precision bombs to Israel as a warning sign, a U.S. official and six people with knowledge of the matter told Politico on Tuesday. That the shipment was being delayed was first reported by Axios last week, but a reason for the holdup was unclear at the time. A senior administration official told the outlet on Tuesday that the shipment consists of 1,800 2,000-pound bombs and 1,700 500-pound bombs. The quiet pressure campaign comes after months of Biden and his officials warning Israel against launching a full-scale assault on Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, which has become a refuge to more than a million displaced Palestinians. Despite the shipment delay last week, on Monday Israeli authorities gave notice to 100,000 civilians to evacuate neighborhoods in the east of Rafah. The senior administration official told Axios that “a final determination on how to proceed with this shipment” had not yet been made.