More than 100 million dollars worth of 120mm high explosive tank shells will soon be on their way to Israel and the sale was approved without congressional review on Saturday night. This will no doubt further inflame the pro-Hamas crowd on campuses around the country and further tank Joe Biden’s approval with those groups. But while unusual, the process used for the rapid authorization of the sale is an established one that has been successfully used by other administrations. Secretary of State Antony Blinken sent notice to Congress that “an emergency exists” and the sale was needed immediately to protect U.S. national security interests. (Associated Press)

Going around Congress, the Biden administration said Saturday it has approved the emergency sale to Israel of nearly 14,000 rounds of tank ammunition worth more than $106 million as Israel intensifies its military operations in the southern Gaza Strip.

The move comes as President Joe Biden’s request for a nearly $106 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other national security is languishing in Congress, caught up in a debate over U.S. immigration policy and border security. Some Democratic lawmakers have spoken of making the proposed $14.3 billion in American assistance to its Mideast ally contingent on concrete steps by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to reduce civilian casualties in Gaza during the war with Hamas.

The State Department said it had notified Congress of the sale late Friday after Secretary of State Antony Blinken determined “an emergency exists that requires the immediate sale” of the munitions in the U.S. national security interest.

The first thing to note about this story is that we’re not dealing with a question of “foreign aid.” It’s not the same as what we keep doing with Ukraine. Israel isn’t asking for handouts and we’re not doling out more cash for free. Because of the ongoing conflict in Gaza, Israel has urgently requested that they be able to purchase almost 140,000 rounds of tank ammunition, just as they have purchased military gear from us for decades. The shells will come from existing Army stockpiles, which are already running dangerously low thanks to Ukraine. (But that’s a debate for another day.)

Returning to the method used to organize this sale, any of us who lived through the pandemic and the government’s response to it are probably understandably leery when the White House starts declaring emergencies to seize authoritarian power and outflank normal, congressional oversight. Trust me, plenty of us get a nauseous feeling when we see it happening again. It’s also problematic when the government starts citing vague claims of national security threats as a justification for short-sheeting the normal rules of order. We’ve fallen for that before.

In this case, however, it’s probably not all that bad. Congress is supposed to approve all weapons transfers to prevent the executive branch from executing reckless sales to dodgy foreign actors under the covers. This override authority has been used in that fashion by previous administrations, including under Clinton and Trump. (Trump similarly allowed weapon sales to Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan in 2019 on the order of Mike Pompeo.)

The weekend’s actions shouldn’t cause nearly as much concern, however. Israel is a staunch ally and a regular customer of ours. As to the “national security” angle, that part is a bit more tenuous. But keeping Israel secure and hopefully preventing a broader escalation of the war in the Middle East, potentially bringing even more US military forces and citizens abroad into danger could, I think, reasonably fall under the national security umbrella.

As I suggested above, this single sale likely won’t have any sort of make-or-break implications for the war in Gaza. What will be more interesting is the potential political fallout back home. Joe Biden is to be applauded for his continued (if sometimes shakey) support of Israel in this fashion. But significant portions of his political base continue to push him to snap a leash on Israel’s military. (As if he has the power to do that.) Liberals back home will almost certainly see this emergency arms sale as a case of amplifying the war rather than reining it in.