Israeli Human Rights Groups to Biden: Push Israel to 'Change Its Policy Now'

A coalition of Israeli human rights and civil society organizations urged U.S. President Joe Biden on Wednesday to exert pressure on the Netanyahu government to change course as its bombing campaign, ground invasion, and blockade drive the Gaza Strip "to the point of catastrophe."

The groups, including B'Tselem and Breaking the Silence, argued in a letter to Biden that the Israeli government has clearly "chosen to ignore" calls from U.S. officials—including the president—to protect civilians, adhere to international law, and allow the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gazans struggling to survive in appalling conditions.

"It is crucial that Hamas release the hostages back into Israel," the groups wrote. "However, allowing humanitarian aid into Gaza is not a gesture of goodwill on Israel's part but one of its obligations... This obligation applies even when the aid is needed for civilians of the other party, and binds countries whose location is vital for facilitating the passage of aid or even only easing it. Failure to fulfill this obligation constitutes a war crime."

Israel has allowed some humanitarian aid to enter the strip in recent weeks, but nowhere near as much as the United Nations and other organizations on the ground say is needed to relieve mass hunger, stop the spread of infectious diseases, and reverse the total collapse of Gaza's healthcare system.

The Israeli groups wrote in their letter to Biden that he has the "power to influence our government to change its policy and allow humanitarian aid into Gaza."

"We are in the final throes of an emergency," they added. "Many deaths can still be prevented. Israel must change its policy now."

The letter comes after Biden acknowledged during a campaign event on Tuesday that Israel has engaged in "indiscriminate bombing" in Gaza and said the Israeli government is beginning to lose support because of it. Indiscriminate attacks are war crimes under international law.

But Biden's remarks did not appear to signal any meaningful change in U.S. support for the Israeli government, which has included the transfer of thousands of bombs and other American-made weapons—some of which have been used by Israel's military to commit atrocities in Gaza.

Citing unnamed officials, CNNreported Wednesday that the Biden administration "currently has no plans to place conditions on the military aid it is providing to Israel," whose assault on Gaza has killed more than 18,000 people in just over two months and displaced nearly 85% of the territory's population.

Members of Congress are currently working on a supplemental foreign aid package that includes more than $10 billion in no-strings-attached military assistance for Israel.

"U.S. officials told CNN that the U.S. has no plans to shift its position and draw any red lines around the transfer of weapons and munitions to Israel," the outlet reported. "Rather than independently assess each Israeli strike that the U.S. deems concerning or disproportionate, the U.S. leans on Israel to justify strikes after the fact, a U.S. official said."

Matt Duss, executive vice president of the Center for International Policy and a former foreign policy adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), wrote in response to the president's remarks Tuesday that "Biden knows Israel is ruled by authoritarian racists because he's told us."

"He knows they're indiscriminately bombing civilians because he's told us," Duss added. "But he won't stop arming them to the teeth so he's told us how much he really cares about human rights."