Twenty-nine arms control and human rights organizations have signed a letter opposing the sale of US$23 billion of missiles, fighter jets and drones to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), asking the US Congress to block the deal.
“The hope is to stop these sales altogether,” said Seth Binder, advocacy officer at the Project on Middle East Democracy, who spearheaded the effort. “But if that is not possible in the short term, this sends an important signal to the incoming [US president-elect Joe] Biden administration that there is a diverse group of organizations that oppose delivery of these weapons.”
Three US senators earlier this month proposed legislation to halt the sale, which includes drones from General Atomics, Lockheed Martin F-35s and missiles made by Raytheon, setting up a showdown with US President Donald Trump weeks before he is due to leave office.
Photo: Reuters
US law allows senators to force votes on resolutions of disapproval on major arms deal, but to become effective they must first pass both the US Senate and the US House of Representatives.
The measure would also need two-third majorities in both the Republican-led Senate and the Democratic-led House to survive a presidential veto.
Trump administration officials briefed the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee about the deal on Monday.
US Senator Chris Murphy, a Democratic sponsor of the resolutions of disapproval, responded later on Twitter.
“Just a mind blowing number of unsettled issues and questions the Administration couldn’t answer. Hard to overstate the danger of rushing this,” Murphy wrote.
The sale was approved following a US-brokered agreement in September in which the UAE agreed to normalize relations with Israel.
The letter from the rights groups, sent to lawmakers and the US Department of State, said that the planned arms sale would fuel continued harm to civilians, and exacerbate humanitarian crises due to conflicts in Yemen and Libya.
Signatories include human rights organizations from the region, including the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies and Mwatana for Human Rights.
“Aligned closely with US interests and values, the UAE’s highly capable military is a forceful deterrent to aggression and an effective response to violent extremism,” the UAE embassy in Washington said in a statement.
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