Meeks puts hold on $2.8bn Israel bomb sale over civilian safeguards

Over $12bn in Israel arms cleared or expedited under Trump

Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, placed a hold Tuesday on a $2.8 billion State Department package of 40,000 2,000-pound bombs bound for Israel, saying the Trump administration had not provided sufficient assurances that the weapons would be used in compliance with US law and with protections for civilians.

“The Trump administration has not provided sufficient assurances that these weapons will be used by the Netanyahu government in accordance with US law and with appropriate protections for civilians,” Meeks said. “I therefore will not clear this sale at this time.”

The package, funded through US Foreign Military Financing, covers 20,000 MK-84 bombs, 20,000 BLU-117 bombs and 20,000 I-2000 penetrator warheads — among the most destructive conventional munitions in the US arsenal.

Meeks cannot single-handedly veto the transfer. His leverage comes from “tiered review,” an informal custom under which the State Department submits major weapons packages to the top foreign affairs lawmakers in each party for sign-off before triggering a formal notification to Congress. Killing the sale outright would require a veto-proof joint resolution of disapproval in both chambers — a bar Congress has not cleared. A similar push by Sen. Bernie Sanders failed along party lines in April.

The hold lands amid a significant acceleration of US arms transfers to Israel since Trump took office. In 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared a national security emergency to bypass congressional review and fast-track nearly $3 billion in weapons, including more than 35,000 heavy bombs and 4,000 bunker-buster warheads. With a separate $6.67 billion package approved in January, the Trump administration has cleared or expedited more than $12 billion in arms for Israel since Trump took office.

Meeks, long identified with strong pro-Israel views, emphasized that the hold was not a break with Israel itself. “This decision does not diminish congressional support for Israel’s legitimate defense needs,” Meeks said. “It reflects Congress’s responsibility to ensure that US-funded weapons are used lawfully, responsibly and with meaningful safeguards for human life.”

The hold also lands against longstanding accusations that Israel has used American weapons unlawfully. The Leahy laws bar US assistance to foreign military units credibly linked to extrajudicial killings and serious abuse; the State Department in 2024 flagged at least five Israeli units on those grounds before the war in Gaza even began, including one battalion tied to the death of a Palestinian American at a West Bank checkpoint.

The Geneva conventions bar arming a party where there is a clear risk of war crimes — a standard a UN commission of inquiry cited last year in finding that Israel’s Gaza campaign amounted to genocide and calling on the US and other states to halt weapons transfers. In 2024, Biden administration lawyers, including some at the State Department, had concluded it was reasonable to assess that Israel had violated international humanitarian law and the Leahy laws by using American weapons in Gaza, even as the Biden administration publicly avoided making that determination.

Meeks has accused officials of skipping briefings and rushing sales while raising alarms over Israeli conduct in the occupied West Bank and Lebanon.

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.