Claim: A memo suggests that the United States has given $8 billion in military aid to Israel.
Fact: The viral memo is altered, as confirmed by a White House spokesperson. The original memo from July 2023 allocated $400 million to Ukraine, not Israel.
Fact or Fiction:
On 7 October 2023, Facebook user David Zita shared a photo of a memo claiming that the United States is sending $8 billion in military aid to Israel following the unprecedented attack by Hamas.
The caption of the post reads, “The U.S. is sending $8B worth of military aid to Israel
Hear This, United States supporting Israel won’t save Israel in this tribulation that has started. This war is Between God and Satan. God himself will save Israel.”
This memorandum delegates the authority under Section 506(a)(1) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. It grants him the power to direct the drawdown of up to $8 billion in defence articles and services, as well as military education and training, for the purpose of providing assistance to Israel.
Soch Fact Check searched the title of the memo, “Memorandum on Delegation of Authority Under Section 506(a)(1) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961
BRIEFING ROOM PRESIDENTIAL ACTIONS” on Google. It led us to the original memorandum published on the White House’s website on 25 July 2023 authorising up to $400 million in military aid to Ukraine.
We noticed that a significant portion of the modified memo uses language that closely resembles the July 25 memo. However in the viral document, US President Joe Biden’s name is positioned in the center, but in the original it appears on the right side, which is the stylistic standard for signed announcements from the White House. Hence, we conclude that the memo doing rounds on social media is altered.
The widely circulated memo has also been confirmed as fake by White House spokesperson Sean Savett, according to a report by Associated Press.
While this memo is fake the White House is seeking to provide further military assistance to Israel. On 20 October 2023, the Biden administration submitted an official request to Congress for $105 billion in emergency funding, of which more than $14 billion is designated for military assistance to Israel, according to a report by The New York Times. Israel already receives $3.8 billion in US military aid.
Virality:
The claim can be found here, here, here, here , here and here.
On Twitter, the memo was shared here, here and here.
Conclusion: The memo doing the rounds on social media about the US giving $8 billion in military aid to Israel is altered.