Outrage as Biden Reportedly Considers Lifting Ban on ‘Offensive’ Arms Sales to Saudi Arabia

As President Joe Biden prepares to visit Saudi Arabia this week, peace and human rights campaigners on Monday decried a report that his administration is considering lifting its amorphous ban on the sale of “offensive” U.S. weaponry to the repressive monarchy.

According to Reuters, the U.S. administration has come under pressure from Saudi officials to end its policy of selling only defensive arms to the kingdom, which Biden is scheduled to visit later this week as part of a wider Middle East tour with stops in Israel and the illegally occupied West Bank of Palestine.

“Biden is headed to Israel and Saudi Arabia this week, where he will sing the praises of an apartheid government and a council of oil dictators,” tweeted Sunjeev Bery, executive director of Freedom Forward, which seeks to end U.S. support for dictatorships.

“And now, Biden is considering resuming offensive weapon sales to one of the most brutal dictators on the planet: Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince MBS,” he added, a reference to de facto Saudi ruler Mohammed bin Salman.

A week after taking office in January 2021, Biden—who while campaigning for president vowed to make Saudi Arabia a “pariah”—temporarily froze arms sales to the kingdom and the United Arab Emirates pending a review of weapons deals with repressive regimes approved during the presidency of Donald Trump. The following month, the president announced his administration would end U.S. support for “offensive operations” in the Saudi-led war on Yemen.

However, Biden was accused of breaking his promise following his administration’s approval of a $500 million maintenance and support services contract for Saudi military helicopters and a $650 million air-to-air missile sale to the Royal Saudi Air Force, whose airstrikes have killed thousands of civilians.

In an opinion piece published Saturday in the Washington Post, the president acknowledged that “there are many who disagree with my decision to travel to Saudi Arabia” before explaining why he is seeking closer engagement with one of the most repressive governments on the planet and the perpetrator of what has been widely called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

“As president, it is my job to keep our country strong and secure. We have to counter Russia’s aggression, put ourselves in the best possible position to outcompete China, and work for greater stability in a consequential region of the world,” Biden wrote.

“To do these things, we have to engage directly with countries that can impact those outcomes,” he explained. “Saudi Arabia is one of them, and when I meet with Saudi leaders on Friday, my aim will be to strengthen a strategic partnership going forward that’s based on mutual interests and responsibilities, while also holding true to fundamental American values.”

Originally published at Commondreams.org, written by Brett Wilkins.