Amid Palestinian slaughter, US Senate approves $225m for ‘Iron Dome’

WASHINGTON: With no pause in Zionist barbarity against Gaza’s citizens, the US Senate unanimously passed legislation on Friday to provide $225 million in emergency funding for Israel’s “Iron Dome” missile defense system. An earlier version of the funding plan had failed on Thursday when Senate Republicans blocked a broader spending bill that was largely intended to provide money to handle the current immigration crisis at the US-Mexico border. But lawmakers reached an agreement overnight to pass the missile funding measure. To become law, the funding plan must still pass the House of Representatives and be signed by President Barack Obama. Given US lawmakers traditionally strong support for Israel, it is not expected to encounter significant resistance in the House. Israel’s Iron Dome missile interceptor system, which was partly funded by the United States, has shot down most of the rockets fired at its cities by militants in Gaza during the current three-week conflict. Meanwhile, Israeli forces shot dead a Palestinian during clashes in the northern West Bank on Friday. They said Tamer Smour, 22, was hit by a live bullet in the chest in the city of Tulkarem. A spokeswoman for the Israeli army said some “1,200 rioters” had been hurling “rocks and Molotov cocktails at troops and at an industrial center in the vicinity, endangering workers and passers-by.” “The forces used riot dispersal means and once these means were exhausted they fired at the main instigators,” she said. A spokesman for the Red Crescent told AFP that 73 Palestinians were wounded by live ammunition and rubber bullets fired by Israeli forces during clashes throughout the West Bank, including in Bethlehem and Hebron and near Ramallah. In east Jerusalem, Israeli police arrested two Palestinians during a clash outside the Old City after Friday prayers. The clashes came as violence in Gaza escalated after a short-lived humanitarian truce collapsed after just a few hours. Figures published by the UN humanitarian agency last weekend showed that prior to Friday, 11 Palestinians have been killed and around 600 injured in clashes since July 23. Ten of them, including a teenager, were shot dead by Israeli troops, while another was killed by an Israel settler, it said. Reuters