According to a note issued on Friday by the Department of U.S. Offices and missions abroad, a sudden and radical suspension of US foreign aid by the Trump administration does not apply to support for weapons in Israel and Egypt and emergency food assistance .
On the same day, the White House told the Pentagon that he could have proceeded with the expedition of 2,000 pound bombs to Israel that President Biden had abruptly interrupted last summer to try to dissuade the Israeli army from destroying most of the city of Rafah. Israeli forces continued to bomb the city.
The shipment contains 1,800 MK-84 bombs, said an official of the White House that agreed to discuss aid for sensitive weapons on condition of anonymity. These bombs are judged by the US military officers generally too lethal and destructive for urban combat. Until the stop, the Biden administration had sent the bombs to Israel while its soldiers fought against Hamas in Gaza.
The note on foreign aid was sent by State Secretary of State and explains how the State Department, the connected United States Agency for International Development, or Usaid, and other agencies should perform an executive order that suspends foreign aid during The 90s. daily revaluation period. President Trump signed the executive order on Monday, immediately after his settlement.
The note requires any employee who works on foreign aid to refrain from designating new funding and accepting requests, and to issue orders of “work interruption” to the groups who have received subsidies. The note circulated online and sparked panic among groups around the world that rely on foreign aid of the United States for their programs, ranging from the prevention of diseases to containing child mortality up to the breeding of the impact of the climate change.
Some groups say that they will probably interrupt the job immediately and start off the employees or suspend wages.
The State Department also supervises military aid to allies and partner countries. A line in the note specifically exempts Israel and Egypt and any salary paid to the people who manage these aid. Both nations receive foreign military funding, or money directed by the United States government for the purchase of weapons and other military equipment. Then they use that money to buy weapons and equipment from the producers of US weapons, as well as to pay military training.
The suspension of foreign aid applies to military assistance to Ukraine, Taiwan, Lebanon and other partner countries, including NATO members. Most of the recent urgent aid to Ukraine in its defensive war against Russia have already been sent. Biden administration officials had planned that Trump would attempt to stop arms aid to Ukraine because he had expressed skepticism about it. Rubio was one of the 15 republican senators who voted last April against legislation focused on aid to weapons at Ukraine.
The State Department did not have an immediate response when asked to comment on this story.
Military support in Israel has become a controversial question in the United States. The devastating Israeli attacks against the Palestinians in Gaza, mostly using American bombs, since Hamas attacked Israel in October 2023, have galvanized criticisms spread to the ten -year bipartisan policy of sending military aid to Israel. Former president Joseph R. Biden Jr. approved 26 billion dollars in military aid to Israel after the start of the war, and Trump said that he intends to continue supporting Israel.
Some legislators, in particular democrats, also criticize the long -standing policy of the United States to provide huge help to Egypt in terms of armaments. Last year, Congress approved $ 1.3 billion in military aid to Egypt, but said that 320 million dollars would be conditioned by a revision by the State Department of the fact that Egypt had improved the practices on human rights. Last September, the Secretary of State, Antony J. Blinken, approved the entire amount, despite the continuous criticisms of the situation of human rights in Egypt by some democratic legislators and control groups.
The note of the State Department also orders officials to establish a central archive or database of all foreign aid provided by the United States government, and says that all aid must be examined and approved by Rubio or by people designated by him with authority of approval. This is to ensure that aids are “in line with a single voice of American foreign policy”. The people who saw the reminder confirmed their authenticity at the New York Times.
The note states that the director of the Department’s political planning office will develop the guidelines for the revision of all foreign aid within 30 days. The director is Michael Anton, who worked on the National Security Council during the first Trump administration. Anton is known for the writings that include a 2016 essay, “The Flight 93 Election”, in which it is stated that conservatives must take radical actions to redo America in their vision rather than remain faithful to the status quo.