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Trump Administration Approves $2.8 Billion Arms Sale to Israel
October 2026
The Trump administration is moving ahead with a $2.8 billion sale of heavy bombs to Israel despite growing U.S. opposition to Israeli military operations in Gaza and Lebanon.
According to reports by the Associated Press and other media outlets Sept. 15, the proposed deal would include 40,000 one-ton bombs—20,000 each of the 2,000-pound Mk84 and BLU-117 bombs—which have generated international outrage because of the massive civilian casualties caused by their wide blast radius.
The New York Times reported Sept. 21 that Israel bought nearly eight times as many one-ton bombs from the United States in 2025 as it did from 2012 to 2015 and termed the pending sale “one of the largest arms agreements ever.” The Congressional Research Service, the nonpartisan research arm of Congress, calculated that since U.S. President Donald Trump began his second term in January 2025, his administration has approved about $20 billion in arms exports to Israel.
Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), the ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, announced in a Sept. 16 statement that he opposes the sale: “I remain firmly committed to Israel’s security and its ability to defend itself against serious regional threats. But the Trump administration’s proposed sale of 40,000 2,000-pound bombs, some of the most destructive munitions in our arsenal, raises grave, unresolved concerns about how these munitions could be used in densely populated areas of Gaza and Lebanon.”
Congress technically has the power to block such arms sales if the House and the Senate each pass a resolution of disapproval by a two-thirds vote, a difficult hurdle. The administration can also decide to ignore Congress and do what it wants, a pattern of Trump’s term.—CAROL GIACOMO