Written by Brett Wilkins via Common Dreams,

Peace activists on Friday expressed concern over the Biden administration’s selection of a senior official who has worked to accelerate the delivery of U.S. weapons to Israel, while the State Department contact person for Israeli-Palestinian policy.

HuffPost reported that Mira Resnick, the deputy assistant secretary of state for regional security in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, has been tapped to oversee Washington’s handling of issues relating to Israel and Palestine. In her current role, Resnick’s office oversees about $40 billion in annual U.S. arms transfers.

Journalist and podcast host Emma Vigeland used a critical nickname for US President Joe Biden on Friday, saying on social media: “Genocide Joe’s swan song is intended to institutionally entrench our support for Israel and make it as difficult as possible to untangle that support from what the old fool sees as romantic and righteous.”

Over the past 10 months, the Biden administration has approved more than 100 arms sales to Israel, worth billions of dollars. Earlier this month, the administration greenlighted a new $20 billion arms package for Israel.

The announcement of the package – which includes dozens of F-15 fighter jets, tens of thousands of 120mm mortar rounds, more than 32,700 tank rounds and 30 advanced missiles – came just days after the Israeli military used at least one US bomb in an airstrike on a school in Gaza where forcibly displaced Palestinians were seeking shelterin which more than 100 people were killed, including women and children.

As criticism mounts over Israel’s assault and siege on Gaza, reportedly leaving more than 144,000 Palestinians in Gaza dead, mutilated or missing and has paralyzed much of the coastal enclave, fueling deadly famine and the spread of preventable diseases including polio. Resnick has helped accelerate the flow of U.S. weapons to its most important ally in the Middle East.

She also worked with the hardline government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which wants to arrest International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan for alleged war crimes including “extermination,” so that citizens could donate equipment to the Israeli defense forces.

Annelle Sheline, a former State Department official who resigned earlier this year over Biden’s support for Israel while its key ally faces genocide charges at the International Court of Justice, told HuffPost that Resnick’s appointment “is an affirmation of the administration’s determination to continue to provide unconditional material support to Israel’s campaign of genocide against civilians in Gaza.”

American University of Beirut history professor Zeead Yaghi has criticized the Biden administration’s appointment of US President Biden. “a literal arms dealer.”

Last month, the Biden administration ended a two-month pause in the delivery of 500-pound bombs to Israel, despite Israeli forces’ extensive use of US-supplied weapons to commit alleged war crimes and genocide in Gaza. Biden is suspended transfers of 500- and 2,000-pound bombs manufactured by aerospace giant Boeing fearing that the devastating munitions would be used in airstrikes on Rafah, the city in southern Gaza where more than a million Palestinians had sought refuge.

🚨The Biden administration has appointed Mira Resnick, a well-known advocate of arms transfers to Israel, as deputy assistant secretary for Israeli-Palestinian affairs

➡️ Her appointment raises concerns among critics of Biden’s support for Israeli actions in Gaza

➡️ Annelle Sheline, a former… photo.twitter.com/7VnMCyYmCR

— Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) August 23, 2024

Israel has dropped at least hundreds of 2,000-pound bombs on Gaza. The U.S. military does not use these bombs in civilian areas because they can destroy entire city blocks. This included an Oct. 31 attack on the densely populated Jabalia refugee camp that killed more than 120 civilians.

The US is by far Israel’s largest arms supplier, which supplies about 70% of Israel’s arms importsaccording to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.