The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
October 13, 2023

Pentagon Chief Lloyd Austin Says U.S. Won't Place Conditions on Weapons to Israel
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Jordan today for talks
with King Abdullah and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
Blinken will also visit Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab
Emirates and Egypt over the weekend as he looks to secure the immediate
release of hostages held by Hamas. His trip came after U.S. Defense
Secretary Lloyd Austin said the Pentagon was not placing any conditions
on its weapons shipments to Israel.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin: "This is a professional military led by
professional leadership. And we would hope and expect that they would do
the right things in the prosecution of their campaign."

Austin spoke Thursday from NATO headquarters in Brussels. Today Austin
is in Tel Aviv, where he pledged "ironclad" U.S. support for Israel
during a meeting with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.


.