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betty mccollum
House Democrats Say 'Impunity' for Israel Violates US Human Rights Law
"Numerous credible reports of gross violations of human rights by Israeli security forces have rightly placed U.S. enforcement of the Leahy Law in sharp focus."
Oct 04, 2024
As the death tolls from the U.S.-backed Israeli assaults on Gaza and Lebanon neared 42,000 and 2,000 respectively, a group of House Democrats this week urged the Biden administration to hold Israel accountable to human rights standards established under existing domestic law.
In a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin dated September 30 but first published Friday by HuffPost, the Democratic lawmakers—Reps. Jim McGovern (Mass.), Barbara Lee (Calif.), Betty McCollum (Minn.), Mark Pocan (Wis.), and Joaquin Castro (Texas)—expressed their "deep alarm regarding the lack of U.S. enforcement of the Leahy Law as it pertains to U.S. assistance to Israel."
Named after its author, former Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the Leahy Laws were approved in two rounds in the late 1990s. The legislation built on the Foreign Assitance Act of 1961, which prohibits U.S. military aid to foreign security forces that commit gross human rights violations.
"We strongly urge you to apply the law as written and act swiftly to bar any Israeli military unit that faces credible accusations of committing a gross violation of human rights from receiving U.S. assistance or training," the lawmakers wrote in their letter.
"As longtime friends and allies of Israel, we have supported, and continue to support, security assistance to Israel for the purposes of legitimate self-defense," the letter states. "Israel continues to face serious threats from Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terrorist groups. As it defends against these threats, Israel must ensure it is using U.S. security assistance and funding in compliance with U.S. law—whether in the West Bank, Gaza, Lebanon, or elsewhere."
According to the letter:Numerous credible reports of gross violations of human rights by Israeli security forces have rightly placed U.S. enforcement of the Leahy Law in sharp focus. Israeli and international human rights organizations have released credible reports of Israeli security units subjecting Palestinians in Israeli detention facilities to torture, ill-treatment, prolonged detetion without charges or trial, and rape under color of law. Extensive investigations by reputable media outlets have also documented multiple instances of civilians carrying white flags being shot and killed by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in Gaza.
The letter comes ahead of the anniversary of the Hamas-led October 7 attack on Israel and that country's retaliation, which has left more than 148,000 Palestinians in Gaza dead, maimed, or missing and millions more forcibly displaced, starved, and sickened.
Israel is currently on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice, and International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as for leaders of Hamas.
In recent weeks, Israel has also ramped up airstrikes and launched a ground invasion in Lebanon, from which Hezbollah has been launching aerial attacks on Israel since shortly after October 7. Thousands of Lebanese have been killed or wounded.
All of this is enabled by tens of billions of dollars worth of nearly unconditional U.S. military aid and diplomatic cover including multiple vetoes of United Nations Security Council cease-fire resolutions. While the Biden administration delayed shipment of a limited number of heavy bombs of a type that Israel was using to massacre civilians in densely populated areas, those shipments soon resumed, even as the Gaza death toll soared ever higher.
"The failure of the United States to consistently apply our own laws has contributed to a culture of impunity in the IDF that actively endangers the lives of U.S. citizens," the lawmakers asserted before highlighting "gross violation[s] of human rights" perpetrated by Israeli forces against several Americans.
These include Omar Assad, an elderly former Milwaukee grocer who in January 2023 was dragged from his vehicle, blindfolded, gagged, and handcuffed before falling silent while being detained in Jiljilya; renowned Al Jazeera correspondent Shireen Abu Akleh, who multiple probes found was deliberately shot dead while covering an IDF raid in the West Bank in May 2022; and, most recently, 26-year-old International Solidarity Movement (ISM) activist Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi, who was shot in the head during a September 6 demonstration against Israel's illegal West Bank settler colonies.
Israeli impunity for killing Americans far predates the examples listed in the letter. For example, in 2003, ISM activist Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by a U.S.-supplied Israeli military bulldozer while trying to stop the demolition of Palestinian homes in the West Bank. In 1967 Israeli warplanes and warships repeatedly attacked the spy ship USS Liberty in the Mediterranean Sea, killing 34 sailors and others and wounding 171 more in what numerous senior U.S. officials including the then-secretary of state and CIA director said was a deliberate act.
At least one American has also been killed by Israeli bombing in Lebanon this week. Hajj Kamel Ahmad Jawad, 56, of Dearborn, Michigan was killed in an airstrike Tuesday while in Nabatieth in southern Lebanon caring for his sick mother and volunteering to help elderly, disabled, and injured patients at a local hospital.
"When it functions properly, the Leahy Law serves two crucial purposes: It prevents U.S. complicity in gross violations of human rights, and it deters violations by incentivizing foreign governments to hold perpetrators accountable," the Democratic lawmakers wrote in their letter. "However, the Leahy Law can only serve these purposes when it is enforced."
Indeed, successive U.S. administrations have supported some of the world's worst human rights violators—including the perpetrators of genocidal mass murder in Indonesia, Paraguay, Cambodia, Guatemala, Bangladesh, East Timor, Kurdistan, and Gaza—since the passage of the Foreign Assistance Act and Leahy Laws.
"We strongly urge you to uphold the rule of law, bar assistance to any unit that is credibly implicated in a gross violation of human rights, and ensure perpetrators of crimes against American citizens face accountability and justice," the letter's signers concluded.
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House Dems Tell Biden to 'Enforce US Law' as Israel Obstructs Gaza Aid
"Israel’s restriction of this aid and Prime Minister Netanyahu's refusal to address U.S. concerns on this issue is absolutely unacceptable," wrote six House Democrats.
Mar 28, 2024
While United Nations experts and human rights groups around the world continue to call on U.S. President Biden to end his support for Israel as it bombards Gaza and blocks aid, six House Democrats told the president that his policy in the region is a straightforward violation of U.S. law, and must change immediately.
Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) led lawmakers including Reps. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), and Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) in calling on Biden to "enforce U.S. law" with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu government.
With Israel continuing to block aid to Gaza—even as the International Food Security Phase Classification initiative (IPC) warns that parts of northern Gaza are already facing famine—the lawmakers said Netanyahu is "repeatedly interfering in U.S. humanitarian operations in direct violation of the Humanitarian Aid Corridor Act—Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961."
The Humanitarian Aid Corridor Act states that the U.S. cannot provide military aid to any country that is prohibiting or restricting the delivery of U.S. assistance into an area.
Despite State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller's claim this week that Israel is complying with international humanitarian law "when it comes to the conduct of the war or the provision of humanitarian assistance," the International Court of Justice on Thursday ordered Israel to ensure the delivery of urgently needed aid and warned that "famine is setting in" due to Israel's actions.
"The need to deliver humanitarian aid by any means possible has never been more pressing," wrote the lawmakers on Thursday. "This fact was emphasized by your administration's decision to begin airdropping supplies into Gaza in recent weeks, and your announcement of U.S. participation in constructing a temporary port in Gaza to expand the flow of aid."
"Israel's restriction of this aid and Prime Minister Netanyahu's refusal to address U.S. concerns on this issue is absolutely unacceptable," they said.
The letter follows similar calls from U.S. senators and more than two dozen human rights groups who earlier pointed out that Biden need look no further than the Foreign Assistance Act to know that the U.S. can no longer provide Israel with military support.
"This law is very straightforward," Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) told NPR earlier this month. "It's clearly triggered by the facts on the ground in Gaza, where we now have kids who have literally died of starvation, and hundreds of thousands of people on the verge of starvation, with 4 out of the 5 hungriest people in the world today in Gaza."
McCollum and her colleagues wrote that Biden must also "reassess how our assistance is provided to Israel" if it moves forward with plans to launch a ground offensive in Rafah, "a move that would put the 1.5 million Palestinians displaced from other parts of Gaza in imminent danger and exacerbate the rate of disease, starvation, and death in the conflict."
"We echo our colleagues in the U.S. Senate in imploring you to enforce U.S. law with the Netanyahu government," wrote McCollum and her colleagues. "Mr. President, the situation in Gaza is dire. Immediate action from the United States is necessary to stop further loss of civilian life, and we urge you to use every tool at your disposal to end the suffering in this crisis and to keep this conflict from expanding."
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AOC Leads New Cease-Fire Push as Gaza Children Suffer
"We are profoundly shocked by the grave violations of children's rights in the context of armed conflict in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory," a letter from 24 lawmakers to Biden said.
Nov 15, 2023
Twenty-four House members led by Democratic Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Mark Pocan, and Betty McCollum sent a letter to President Joe Biden Wednesday renewing calls for a cease-fire in Gaza.
The letter writers emphasized in particular how Israel's ongoing bombardment has impacted Gaza's 1 million children. The attack has killed 4,506 children and injured at least 7,695, while at least 1,755 are missing, most likely trapped beneath rubble. Israeli soldiers and settlers have also killed at least 51 children in the West Bank in the last 39 days.
"We are profoundly shocked by the grave violations of children's rights in the context of armed conflict in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory," the representatives wrote. "International norms require that all parties to an armed conflict protect children and prevent the commission of grave violations against them, including killing and maiming, attacks on schools and hospitals, recruitment and use of children, abduction of children, and denial of humanitarian access."
"We write to you to express deep concern about the intensifying war in Gaza, particularly grave violations against children."
The letter adds to the number of lawmakers who have called for a cease-fire, raising the total to 31. The new names are Pocan (D-Wis.), Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Pa.), Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.), and Henry Johnson (D-Ga.)
They were joined by fellow Democratic Reps. Rashida Tlaib (Mich.), Cori Bush (Mo.), James McGovern (Mass.), Pramila Jayapal (Wash.), Joaquin Castro (Texas), Delia Ramirez (Ill.), Greg Casar (Texas), Jesús "Chuy" Garcia (Ill.), Bonnie Watson Coleman (N.J.), Nydia Velázquez (N.Y.), Ayanna Pressley (Mass.), Jonathan Jackson (Ill.), Barbara Lee (Calif.), André Carson (Ind.), Jamaal Bowman (N.Y.), Summer Lee (Pa.), Veronica Escobar (Texas), and Ilhan Omar (Minn.).
The new names mean that 5.8% of Congress now backs a cease-fire,The Intercept's Prem Thakker pointed out. The increase comes the same day as a Reuters/Ipsos poll finding that 68% of U.S. respondents believe Israel should negotiate a cease-fire.
The letter writers condemned Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel, which killed at least 1,200 people, including 31 children. However, they also expressed "dire concerns" about Israel's response, which has killed more than 11,000 total in Gaza. In addition to death and injury from airstrikes, the attack and siege have also put Gaza's children in particular at risk from lack of food, water, and fuel. They noted that the bombardment had impacted 285 educational institutions, among them at least 29 U.N. schools.
"No child should ever have to face the overwhelming scale and horror of the violence that Palestinian children in Gaza are experiencing."
"We write to you to express deep concern about the intensifying war in Gaza, particularly grave violations against children, and our fear that without an immediate cessation of hostilities and the establishment of a robust bilateral cease-fire, this war will lead to a further loss of civilian life and risk dragging the United States into dangerous and unwise conflict with armed groups across the Middle East," the lawmakers said.
The representatives also looked to the future beyond an immediate cease-fire.
"Recognizing that there is no military solution that will end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we urge your administration to obtain clarity on the specific strategic objectives of a large-scale ground invasion, their achievability, what may come after Hamas, the risks to hostages and civilians in the region, the national security implications of a multi-front war in the Middle East, and the potential threats to American citizens in the region," they said.
The letter was also endorsed by more than 30 peace, human rights, and humanitarian groups including Amnesty International, IfNotNow, Jewish Voice for Peace Action, U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights, and the American Friends Service Committee.
"No child should ever have to face the overwhelming scale and horror of the violence that Palestinian children in Gaza are experiencing," Beth Miller, the political director at Jewish Voice for Peace Action, said in a statement. "Representatives Ocasio-Cortez, McCollum, and Pocan are pushing forward a critical demand for Palestinian children's life to be valued and protected, and for the Biden administration to finally put an end to this nightmare by calling for a cease-fire now."
Elizabeth Rghebi, advocacy director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International USA, said the letter came at a "critical moment."
"More and more Palestinian civilians are losing their lives each day amid Israeli military operations and the unfolding of an unprecedented, man-made humanitarian catastrophe in the occupied Gaza Strip," Rghebi said. "An immediate cease-fire by all parties to the conflict is the only way to prevent further loss of life, to deliver humanitarian aid to those in desperate need, and to provide an opportunity to secure the safe release of hostages."
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