U.S. Gun Sale to Israeli Police Raises Human-Rights Concerns

The Biden administration has approved the transfer of some 24,000 rifles to the Israeli national police, raising concerns among some U.S. officials that the small arms could end up in the hands of Israeli settlers and be used indiscriminately against Palestinian civilians.

The decision, made in recent days, includes the transfer of roughly $30 million worth of automatic and semiautomatic weapons through licenses approved by the State Department. It comes as U.S. support for the campaign Israel is waging against the Palestinian-Islamist militant group Hamas inside Gaza receives new scrutiny. The international community has grown increasingly alarmed as thousands of innocent civilians caught up in the conflict have been killed with airstrikes and other operations as part of the Israeli ground incursion.