On the 9th of December, 2023, the United States President, Joe Biden, through the Secretary of State, Antony Blinken used emergency authority to greenlight the immediate sale of a considerable amount of ammunition cartridges to Israel. Quite understandably, this move has sparked a significant amount of angst on the left and right.

No matter how this situation is perceived, the fact remains that there are protocols for this sort of exercise. What’s more, these protocols exist for a reason. So, for the leader of one of the greatest nations on the planet to so seemingly casually flout these rules should be rightly concerning. This concern is made more blatant and urgent in light of the fact that the country’s history is peppered with incidents of presidents abusing the vast power and authority that they wield.

However, while it might seem like President Joe Biden abused the power of his office on the surface, the reality is that, if anything, he used it the exact way that he ought to have.

Again, it needs to be said (and stressed) that the Arms Export Control Act of 1976 exists for a reason – to make sure that due oversight is observed and accountability is ensured during any proposed arms sale. But while the letter of the law in this regard is quite clear, the one thing that it doesn’t do sufficient justice to is properly accounting for exigent circumstances.

Naturally, the above will prompt the big question; what precisely are the exigent circumstances that would prompt the sale of over 12, 000 deadly ammunitions to a nation at war?

Let’s start with the fact that, even now, after so long, not all of the hostages that Hamas took have been released. Let’s consider the fact that the few hostages that were released were let go only on the back of sustained military pressure from Israel.

But most of all, it’s important to look at the actuality that Israel was thrust into this conflict unprepared. Up to the point that Hamas launched the most recent attack that sparked this debacle, Israel had done nothing to provoke them. It’s important to keep this in mind because a nation preparing for war would have more arms and ammunition in its arsenal. Israel doesn’t, further proving the point that they wanted none of this. All the nation of Israel wants to do is defend itself and not be a victim again.

For this to happen though, it goes without saying that the Israeli military needs to have sufficient firepower. And, for every day that goes by without them having the means to defend their country, Hamas has the opportunity to inflict even greater damage on them.

All of this brings us back full circle to the president selling arms to other countries in conflict without the approval of Congress. Again, the Arms Export Control Act of 1976 is not only important but necessary for good governance and accountability. Having said this, it’s important to point out that, following this process, it can take between 15 to 30 full days for the sale of the weapons to be cleared through.

From this perspective, the argument can be made that the president was faced with the question of whether or not Israel could hold out for that long without those supplies. The fact that he allowed that sale to go through should be sufficient indication that Israel wasn’t in a strategically sound position to defend itself otherwise.

Even outside the industry of warfare, anyone would agree that timing is everything. Those weapons very likely wouldn’t do Israel as much good if Hamas launched repeated attacks while they were waiting for the supplies to clear Congress.

Following protocol is important, but in matters of war, where life and liberty are at stake, the conventional red tape simply has to give way.

It isn’t beyond the realm of imagination that the situation of countries in conflict will be fluid. The implication of this is that laid-down protocols may have to be side-stepped at some point. The U.S. President needs to retain the power to call these shots to ensure that a bad situation doesn’t worsen.

It is a fact that pushing the sale of those weapons through for Israel was critical to helping the nation protect its citizens. More good than most naysayers are willing to admit came out of that and it was only possible because the head of state had the power to make the right decision.

So, yes, the President of the United States of America should be able to bypass Congress in selling U.S. military weapons to nations in conflict.