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U.S. Halt to Foreign Aid Does Not Apply to Arms to Israel and Egypt

U.S. Halt to Foreign Aid Does Not Apply to Arms to Israel and Egypt

The State Department did not have an immediate response when asked to comment for this story.

Military support of Israel has become a divisive issue in the United States. Israel’s devastating strikes against Palestinians in Gaza, mostly using American bombs, since Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023, have galvanized widespread criticism of the decadeslong bipartisan policy of sending military aid to Israel. Former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. approved $26 billion in military aid to Israel after the war began, and Mr. Trump has said he intends to continue supporting Israel.

Some lawmakers, particularly Democrats, also criticize the long-running U.S. policy of giving substantial arms aid to Egypt. Last year, Congress approved $1.3 billion of military aid to Egypt, but said $320 million would be conditioned on a review by the State Department of whether Egypt had improved practices around human rights. Last September, the secretary of state, Antony J. Blinken, approved that entire amount, despite persistent criticism of Egypt’s human rights record from some Democratic lawmakers and watchdog groups.

The State Department memo also orders officials to set up a central repository or database of all foreign aid given out by the U.S. government, and it says all aid must be reviewed and approved by Mr. Rubio or people whom he designates with approval authority. This is to ensure that aid is “in keeping with one voice of American foreign policy.” People who have seen the memo confirmed its authenticity to The New York Times.

The memo says the director of the office of policy planning in the department will develop guidelines for review of all foreign aid within 30 days. The director is Michael Anton, who worked on the National Security Council in the first Trump administration. Mr. Anton is known for writings that include a 2016 essay, “The Flight 93 Election,” that said conservatives must take radical action to remake America in their vision rather than stick with the status quo.

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