04/20/2021 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 04/20/2021 15:31
Philadelphia Man Admits Conspiring to Export Firearms Parts from United States to Turkey and Republic of Georgia
CAMDEN, N.J. - A Philadelphia man today admitted his role in a conspiracy to smuggle more than $200,000 worth of firearms parts out of the United States, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig announced.
Samet Doyduk, 35, pleaded guilty by videoconference before U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler to an information charging him with one count of conspiracy to violate the Arms Export Control Act and anti-smuggling laws.
According to the documents filed in this case and other cases and statements made in court:
LEADing EFFORT TO BLOCK ISRAEL FROM USING U.S. AID TO DESTROY PALESTINIAN HOMES
Putting conditions on U.S. aid to Israel has become a controversial topic but it was the norm in Washington just a few decades ago.
SINCE 2015, Rep.
Betty McCollum, D-Minn., has been the leading congressional critic of
Israel’s military detention of Palestinian children, introducing multiple pieces of legislation that would bar Israel from using U.S. military aid to
arrest Palestinian youth.
By targeting Israel’s detention of Palestinian children just one aspect of Israel’s military occupation, but one that involved a highly vulnerable population McCollum was attempting to make her bills appeal to the widest swath of Democrats possible.
The Democratic chairman of the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee has said he and other legislators are concerned about the administration of President Joe Biden’s decision to go ahead with a weapons sale to the United Arab Emirates and would review the transactions.
The Biden administration has told Congress it was proceeding with more than $23bn in weapons sales to the UAE, including advanced F-35 aircraft, armed drones and other equipment. Rights groups have condemned the sale, saying it would further stoke violence in Yemen, where the UAE is part of a Saudi Arabia-led coalition in fighting that has lead to the deaths of thousands of civilians and what the UN has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) during hearing on the Department of Agriculture Budget Request for Fiscal Year 2020 at the Rayburn House Office Building, in Washington, D.C., April 9, 2019. (USDA photo by Preston Keres)
“U.S. assistance intended for Israel’s security must never be used to violate the human rights of Palestinian children, demolish the homes of Palestinian families, or to permanently annex Palestinian lands,” McCollum said. “Peace can only be achieved by respecting human rights, especially the rights of children, and this includes the U.S. taking responsibility for how taxpayer-funded aid is used by recipient countries, Israel included. Congress must stop ignoring the unjust and blatantly cruel mistreatment of Palestinian children and families living under Israeli military occupation.”