US arms enable Israel to slaughter Palestinians in Gaza — ex-US congressman

Weapons shipped by US to Israel has made it possible for Tel Aviv to mass slaughter besieged Palestinians in Gaza, a former US congressman has told TRT World, adding Washington could have used arms embargo to force Israel into a ceasefire in Gaza but it choose not to.

"Our policy with regard to arming, equipping, funding and protecting Israel are from an international standpoint, in many ways, contrary to the rules that we would apply in other circumstances," James Moran told TRT World.

"These are primarily US weapons that are being supplied without limit really to enable Israel to slaughter tens of thousands of people," he added.

Moran said that Israel terming the slaughter of Palestinians as "collateral damage" enabled it to kill over 40,000 Palestinians.

"You can kill at will. You can kill indiscriminately," he said.

"So, from a political standpoint, you know, the Israeli lobby has been extraordinarily successful within the United States in ensuring that our most lethal weapons, in whatever quantity they request, are going to be delivered."

He also said that the Biden administration can chose to suspend the delivery of weapons to enforce a ceasefire in the blockaded enclave, but it chose not to.

Since October last year, Israel has heavily bombarded Gaza from air, land and sea, killing nearly 41,000 Palestinians, mostly children and women, wounding nearly 100,000 and displacing nearly all 2.4 million people in the tiny coastal enclave.

Many experts and studies say this is only a conservative estimate and the accurate Palestinian death toll could be around 200,000 or more.

Twisted use of anti-Semitism

Moran also took a dig at the use of anti-Semitism accusations, which he said is being used to shut down any discussion over what's happening in besieged Gaza.

"It infuriates me that people have been able to use this term anti-Semitism, to discourage even discussion of what's happening in Gaza," he said.

"And yet the Congress, because it hasn't been willing to open its mind and see what's really happening, has accepted this nonsense that being opposed to the slaughter in Gaza with our money, our weapons, our political cover, that somehow that's anti-Semitic. It's not, and people should stand up and not be afraid to label it for what it is."

Israel is the largest recipient of US aid, having received over $310 billion since its creation.

Washington doles out $3.8 billion in annual military aid to its longtime ally and the Biden administration has so far resisted calls to condition any arms transfers even though senior US officials have criticised Israel over the mounting civilian death toll.