A memorandum aimed at restricting arms sales to protect human rights, issued by former U.S. President Joe Biden last year amid intensifying outcry over his administration's support for Israel's bombardment of Gaza, ultimately did little to stop the U.S. from continuing to back a military operation in which there is abundant evidence of war crimes.
But advocates decried President Donald Trump's decision Monday to repeal the document, National Security Memorandum-20 (NSM-20) as "shameful," warning that it sends the message that "anything goes," as Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said.
Van Hollen proposed legislation last year that pushed Biden to introduce NSM-20, which required countries that receive military aid from the U.S. to provide assurances that the weapons will not be used to violate international humanitarian law.
When the memo was introduced last February, rights advocates had been warning for months that continued U.S. support for Israel violated laws that were already in place, including the Foreign Assistance Act and the Arms Export Control Act, which restrict arms sales to countries that block humanitarian aid or otherwise break human rights laws.
The U.S. is the largest international funder of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which began bombarding Gaza in October 2023 in retaliation for a Hamas-led attack. Numerous reports have shown that the Israeli military has attacked Palestinian civilians indiscriminately in Gaza, with U.S. weapons used in some assaults.
At least 48,346 people have been killed in Gaza since the bombardment began. A temporary cease-fire was established in January.
Trump quietly repealed NSM-20 after approving the sale of more than $7.4 billion in arms sales to Israel earlier this month and lifting sanctions on Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank.
The president also released one shipment of 2,000-pound bombs that had been frozen by the Biden administration after NSM-20 was issued last year.
Last May, Biden paused the shipment as Israel's incursion in the southern Gaza city of Rafah garnered international outcry over the danger the expanded attacks posed to the 1.5 million Palestinians who were sheltering in the city.
But that same month, the Democratic administration issued a report that was required by NSM-20 claiming that there was not enough evidence that Israel had violated international humanitarian law to end overall U.S. support for the IDF.
That assessment came days after World Food Program executive director Cindy McCain warned that Israel's blocking of humanitarian aid into Gaza had led to a "full-blown famine" in the northern part of the enclave.
The administration's continued support for Israel led some to dismiss NSM-20 as a "PR stunt" and a "gimmick."
Although NSM-20 did not stop the Biden administration from putting human rights at risk, critics warned that countries such as Israel will be even more emboldened following Trump's repeal of the memo.
The decision tells the international community that "you can ignore American law with respect to the provision of humanitarian aid and the use of weapons provided by American taxpayers," Van Hollen told The Washington Post.
Christopher Le Mon, a former State Department official under Biden, told the outlet that "the only thing the Trump administration does by eliminating NSM-20 is signal to U.S. partners that the administration simply doesn't care how these governments use U.S. arms, no matter how immoral or illegal their conduct."
Sarah Yager, Washington director of Human Rights Watch, told the Post that with NSM-20 rescinded but other laws like the Foreign Assistance Act still in place, the Trump administration must now "show the American people that [it] will abide by U.S. laws when sending weapons to allies."
