More JRDs Introduced to Block $4 Billion More of Weapons to Israel
IMEU Policy Project Memo #18
BACKGROUND
On February 28, the Trump administration formally notified Congress it would expedite the delivery of $3.9 billion in additional weapons to Israel by invoking an emergency to bypass normal procedures of congressional review and oversight.
These weapons include:
D9R and D9T Caterpillar bulldozers, valued at $295 million. (Transmittal No. 24-38)
201 MK 83 MOD 4/MOD 5 General Purpose 1,000-pound bomb bodies; 4,799 BLU- 110A/B General Purpose 1,000-pound bomb bodies; 1,500 KMU-559C/B Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) guidance kits for the MK 83 bomb body; and 3,500 KMU-559J/B JDAM guidance kits for the MK 83 bomb body, valued at $675.7 million. (Transmittal No. 25-26)
35,529 MK 84 or BLU-117 General Purpose bomb bodies; and 4,000 I-2000 Penetrator warheads (all are varieties of 2,000-pound bombs), valued at $2.04 billion. (Transmittal No. 25-34)
6,900 Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) tail kits (which include 3,450 JDAM Anti-Jam KMU-556 (GBU-31) for MK-84 warheads; 1,725 KMU-557 (GBU-31) for BLU-109 warheads and 1,725 KMU-572 (GBU-38) for MK-82 warheads); 3,450 MK-84 2000 lb General Purpose Bombs; 1,725 MK-82 500 lb General Purpose Bombs; 1,725 BLU-109 Bombs; 3,450 GBU-39 Small Diameter Bombs; 11,500 FMU-139 Fuses; 11,500 FMU-143 Fuses; and 11,500 FMU-152 Fuses, an increase in value of $893 million from a 2012 notification. (Transmittal No. 25-0C)
On March 10, Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced four Joint Resolutions of Disapproval to block these weapons deliveries.
S.J.Res.32 (Caterpillar bulldozers, Transmittal No. 24-38)
S.J.Res.33 (2,000-pound bombs, Transmittal No. 25–34)
S.J.Res.34 (1,000-pound bombs and JDAMs, Transmittal No. 25–26)
S.J.Res.35 (various bombs, JDAMs, and fuses, Transmittal No. 25-0C)
💡POLICY ASK: IMEU Policy Project strongly urges Senators to cosponsor these JRDs and for Representatives to introduce companion resolutions in the House.
These notifications were published in the Congressional Record on March 3, along with a policy justification from the Trump administration invoking an emergency to expedite these weapons to Israel and circumvent congressional review and oversight.
The policy justification makes clear that Israel may resume its genocidal violence against Palestinians in Gaza “in the near-term” and that Israel has “an urgent and ongoing need” for these weapons in this scenario.
Because the provision of these weapons could facilitate a potential resumption of Israel’s genocidal violence against Palestinians, and could potentially advance President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s stated plans to ethnically cleanse more than 2 million Palestinians from their homeland, Congress must do all that is in its power to block these weapons.
Rep. Gregory Meeks, Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, had previously placed holds on informal notifications by the Trump administration of the possible deliveries of some of these weapons: Caterpillar bulldozers, and the 1,000-pound bombs and their accompanying JDAM guidance kits.
The formal notification of these possible deliveries comes after the Trump administration had formally notified Congress earlier in February of additional possible deliveries of $8.66 billion in weapons to Israel.
These proposed weapons deliveries were previously informally notified to the “Four Corners” (the chairs and ranking members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and the House Foreign Affairs Committee) by the Biden administration in November 2024 and January 2025. Rep. Gregory Meeks, the Ranking Member of HFAC, also placed holds on these weapons.
The Trump administration’s decision to ignore these holds and formally notify Congress of these possible weapons deliveries elicited Congressional condemnation and the introduction by Sen. Bernie Sanders, Rep. Rashida Tlaib, and Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Joint Resolutions of Disapproval (JRDs) to block almost all of these weapons.
For additional details on these JRDs, see JRDs Introduced to Block Trump’s $8.56 Billion in Weapons to Israel | IMEU Policy Project Policy Memo #17.
In total, the Trump administration has formally notified Congress of $12.56 billion of weapons to Israel in just the first six weeks of its term (more than half of the total amount–$20.76 billion–formally notified to Congress by the Biden administration during Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza from October 2023-January 2025).
Table 1. Trump administration notifications of weapons to Israel, February 2025
WHY CONGRESS SHOULD PASS JRDs
Additional weapons deliveries to Israel would further undermine the Hamas-Israel ceasefire, and could be used by Israel to restart its genocidal violence and implement Trump’s reprehensible plan to ethnically cleanse more than 2 million Palestinians from Gaza.
Both Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, an alleged war criminal facing arrest by the International Criminal Court, are undermining the ceasefire by advocating for the forced displacement of all Palestinians from Gaza and by making new demands of Hamas that contradict the agreed-upon stipulations of the agreement. In addition, Israel has continued to kill Palestinians in Gaza despite the ceasefire and has reneged on its commitment to allow adequate levels of temporary housing into Gaza for Palestinians whose homes Israel destroyed. Israel also again imposed a complete blockade of any humanitarian aid entering Gaza, a clear violation not only of the ceasefire agreement, but of Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act as well. Congress must introduce and pass JRDs now to reinforce the ceasefire and send a strong signal to Israel that Congress objects to a resumption of Israel’s violence and its possible ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza.
All of the types of weapons Trump wants to deliver to Israel were used extensively in Israel’s genocidal violence against Palestinians since October 2023, many of which have been repeatedly linked to apparent war crimes.
Israel’s repeated use of 2,000- and 1,000-pound bombs, JDAMs, and bulldozers in its attacks against Palestinians in Gaza violate US laws, such as the Foreign Assistance Act, which prohibits any US weapons to a country that engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights, and the Arms Export Control Act, which limits the use of US weapons to internal security and legitimate self-defense. Israel’s use of US weapons against Palestinian living under foreign military occupation in Gaza cannot be considered internal and the commission of apparent war crimes is never legitimate. Congress must introduce and pass JRDs now to ensure that Israel is held accountable for its previous violations of US law and to ensure that no additional US weapons can be used by Israel to commit additional atrocities against Palestinians, which would further make the US complicit in Israel’s genocidal violence and potential ethnic cleansing. (For details of incidents in which these weapons were used by Israel to commit apparent war crimes against Palestinians, see the section below.)
Congress must assert its prerogatives as a co-equal branch of government against an administration that is bent on circumventing its oversight role and on dismantling federal agencies funded through Congressional appropriations.
Trump’s bypassing of the Four Corners to rush weapons to Israel without committee oversight is part and parcel of the administration’s utter disregard for Congress as a co-equal branch of government. This circumvention of Congress must be seen in the context of Elon Musk’s so-called “Department of Government Efficiency”, which has moved with alacrity to strip federal agencies of the ability to spend money appropriated by Congress, negatively impacting the ability of nonprofits to deliver food to food insecure seniors; of Medicaid to provide healthcare to low-income people; of the National Institutes of Health to fund life-saving medical research; of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to protect Americans from frauds and scams; and of USAID to provide life-saving food, clean drinking water, and medicine to some of the most under-served people in the world. Congress must introduce and pass JRDs now as part of a broader attempt to reassert Congressional authority against an administration bent on undermining constitutional checks and balances.
DETAILS ON ISRAEL’S APPARENT WAR CRIMES WITH THE US WEAPONS IN TRUMP’S FEB. 28 FORMAL “EMERGENCY” NOTIFICATION
2,000-Pound Bombs
The US transferred to Israel at least 14,000 2,000-pounds from October 2023 until May 2024, when the Biden administration belatedly paused delivery of these weapons in light of the central role they played in Israel’s infliction of genocidal violence against Palestinians in Gaza. (The Trump administration unpaused the delivery of 2,000-pound bombs in January 2025.) As of December 2023, CNN had reported finding more than 500 blast craters throughout Gaza consistent with 2,000-pound bombs, and the New York Times found that Israel dropped at least 200 of these bombs on Palestinians who were forcibly displaced to so-called “safe zones.”
According to Responsible Statecraft, here are some apparent war crimes committed by Israel using 2,000-pound bombs:
“October 9, 2023: Israeli airstrikes hit a busy market in Jabalia refugee camp, killing at least 69 people. The market was more crowded than usual because people were in the process of fleeing their homes at the instruction of the Israeli military. The U.N. Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) analysis reported that “one or two GBU-31 air dropped munitions were used” and found no military objective to justify the strike. The GBU-31 is made from a U.S.-made 2,000-pound MK 84 or BLU-109 bomb and a JDAM guidance kit. Neither U.N. OHCHR nor Amnesty International found evidence of a military target at the time of the attack. Even if there was a legitimate military target, the scale of destruction indicates the Israeli military’s attack was disproportionate. Disproportionate attacks are war crimes — international law prohibits attacks that are expected to cause excessive civilian harm compared to the direct and provable military advantage anticipated from the attack.
October 17, 2023: After the Israeli military told Gazans to flee to Khan Yunis for their safety, it bombed the al-Lamdani family house in Khan Yunis. Between 15 and 40 people were killed in the attack. Remnants of a U.S.-made MK-84 2,000-pound bomb were found at the site[.]
October 25, 2023: Israeli airstrikes flattened at least 5,700 square meters in the Al Yarmouk neighborhood of Gaza City, killing at least 91 people, including 39 children. A U.N. assessment determined that “several” 2,000-pound GBU-31s air-dropped munitions were likely dropped by Israeli forces in the attack. According to a report from U.N. OHCHR, “The use of a GBU-31 or a GBU-32, in such densely populated areas in the middle of residential neighborhoods when extensive civilian harm would be foreseeable, raises very serious concerns that those attacks were disproportionate and/or indiscriminate, and that no or insufficient precautions were taken.”
October 31, 2023: After Israeli airstrikes on Jabalia, Gaza’s largest refugee camp, a nearby hospital said it received 400 casualties, including 120 dead, most of whom were women and children. An analysis of the site showed at least five craters, the largest one likely from a GBU-31. The GBU-31 is made from a JDAM and either a 2,000-pound BLU-109 or MK-84 bomb. According to reports, Israeli forces gave no warning before the attack, and no effort was made to evacuate the residential buildings. U.N. OHCHR said the attack on Jabalia refugee camp could amount to a war crime.
January 13, 2024: Israeli forces dropped a U.S.-made MK-84 2,000-pound bomb from a U.S.-made F-16 aircraft on a house in Deir al-Balah but it didn’t explode. A second airstrike did destroy the home, leaving an approximately 40-foot size crater, characteristic of a 2,000-pound bomb with a delayed fuse. The Israeli military had designated Deir al-Balah as a safe zone in October. Israeli forces instructed Palestinians in northern Gaza to flee there on December 11 and told Palestinians in central Gaza the same thing on December 22. By mid-January, Israeli bombing had leveled entire city blocks and dozens of family homes in Deir al-Balah.”
1,000-Pound Bombs
According to the UN, Israeli likely committed the following atrocity with a 1,000-pound bomb:
“It appears that an MK 83 munition was used in the 10 January [2024] airstrike in front of Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al Balah, Middle Gaza. Reportedly, at least 12 people were killed, including a journalist and several IDPs, and 35 people were injured. The use of explosive weapons with wide-area effects in a densely populated area raises serious concerns of an indiscriminate attack.”
According to Responsible Statecraft, Israel likely committed the following atrocity with a 1,000-pound bomb:
“January 18, 2024: An Israeli airstrike struck a residential compound housing staff from the International Rescue Committee (IRC) and Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) in Al-Mawasi, an Israeli-designated safe zone. The blast injured several workers and severely damaged the building. As a result, six emergency medical workers had to leave their posts, and IRC and MAP surgeons suspended their work at Nasser hospital. Forensic evidence suggests the munition used in the attack was a U.S.-made 1,000-pound MK-83 bomb, reportedly dropped by a U.S.-made F-16 aircraft. British officials had used high-level diplomatic channels to ensure the compound was deconflicted with the IDF. A month before the strike, the Israeli military explicitly reassured aid staff through text messages that they were safe. “We’re aware of the location” of the compound, a message from an IDF official read. The MAP employee then clarified whether the building is still safe. “Yes,” replied the IDF official.”
JDAMs
Israel’s use of JDAMs has been linked to potential war crimes against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip and civilians in Lebanon.
For example, in December 2023, Amnesty International found that Israel used JDAMs in “two deadly, unlawful air strikes on homes full of civilians in the occupied Gaza Strip,” which killed 43 people, including 19 children.
In May 2024, Human Rights Watch documented that Israel targeted a residential building in Lebanon with JDAMs, killing seven Lebanese aid workers, in an “unlawful attack on civilians.”
In July 2024, Israel attacked a so-called “safe zone” in al-Mawasi, in which internally displaced Palestinians were sheltering, killing at least 90 people and injuring hundreds more. A CNN investigation found that Israel carried out this attack with at least one JDAM.
In October 2024, an Israeli airstrike on a mosque and school in central Gaza killed 26 Palestinians and injured 93, according to Reuters. CNN video from the aftermath of the airstrike showed a JDAM tail kit at the scene.
Also in October 2024, an Israeli airstrike conducted with a JDAM killed three journalists in Lebanon and wounded four other journalists. Human Rights Watch concluded in December 2024 that this was “most likely a deliberate attack on civilians and an apparent war crime”.
Caterpillar D9 Bulldozers
In preparation for its ground invasion of Gaza, the Israeli army stationed roughly 100 Caterpillar D9 bulldozers on the outskirts of the Gaza Strip for use in the attack. Since then, Caterpillar D9 bulldozers have played a “central role” in Israel’s demolition of Palestinian homes and infrastructure in Gaza. “With a skilled operator at the controls, it [a Caterpillar D9 bulldozer] can demolish a residential building within an hour, flattening it to a rubble pile no higher than a meter,” the Israeli media outlet Ynet wrote approvingly.
The Israeli NGO Who Profits Research Center reported that “Between October 2023 and March 2024, Caterpillar D9 bulldozers have been documented in the streets of Gaza causing massive destruction to roads, buildings, private property, and infrastructure, including the destruction of the Gaza courthouse and the Palestine Square in Gaza City.”
In addition, Who Profits reported that “In March 2024, D9 bulldozers participated in the military raid of al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza city, while patients and medical staff were on the premises. [The] Israeli military caused great destruction to the hospital, burned buildings in the compound and put them completely out of use.”
Reporting on this Israeli massacre of Palestinians at al-Shifa Hospital, in which Israel killed an estimated 300 people, Al Jazeera journalist Hossam Shabat reported that “The bodies were in horrific conditions; many had their hands and legs tied behind their backs and were flattened by a bulldozer.”
In November 2024, Israeli media reported the Biden administration was holding up the delivery of 134 Caterpillar D9 bulldozers due to concerns over Israel using them in Gaza to destroy Palestinian homes. However, in January 2025, the Trump administration allowed for the delivery of these bulldozers at the same time it unpaused the delivery of 2,000-pound bombs.
The Israeli military has also been using Caterpillar D9 bulldozers during its ongoing invasion of the West Bank, which has forcibly displaced more than 40,0000 Palestinians.
Israel has used Caterpillar D9 bulldozers for decades to illegally destroy Palestinian houses in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza as part of Israel’s agenda of forcible displacement. In 2020, Reps. Ro Khanna, Anna Eshoo, and Steve Cohen led more than 60 Members of Congress in a letter calling for an investigation into whether Israel violated the Arms Export Control Act by destroying Palestinian homes in Jerusalem with Caterpillar D9 bulldozers.
Israel has also committed atrocities against US citizens with Caterpillar D9 bulldozers. On March 16, 2003, Israeli soldiers killed 23-year-old Rachel Corrie, a peace activist from Olympia, WA, who was crushed to death by an armored Caterpillar D9 bulldozer after being repeatedly run over. Corrie was protecting a Palestinian home from being demolished in Rafah when she was killed. Israel was never held accountable for its killing of Corrie.
Photo: ChameleonsEye, via Shutterstock
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