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nsm-20
'Shameful': Trump Quietly Rips Up Biden Memo Restricting Arms Sales Based on Human Rights
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."
Feb 25, 2025
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Trump quietly repealed NSM-20 after approving the sale of more than $7.4 billion in arms sales to Israel earlier this month and lifting sanctions on Israeli settlers in the occupied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."
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77 House Dems Call for 'Full Assessment' of Israeli Compliance With US Law
Lawmakers told the Biden administration they are "deeply troubled by the continued level of civilian casualties and humanitarian suffering in Gaza."
Dec 13, 2024
As Israel continues to decimate the Gaza Strip with American weapons, 77 Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives this week demanded that the Biden administration "provide a full assessment of the status of Israel's compliance with all relevant U.S. policies and laws, including National Security Memorandum 20 (NSM-20) and Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act."
Reps. Jason Crow (D-Colo.), Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.), and Chrissy Houlahan (D-Pa.) spearheaded the Thursday letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, with less than six weeks left in President Joe Biden's term.
Since Biden issued NSM-20 in February, his administration has repeatedly accepted the Israel government's assurances about the use of U.S. weapons, despite reports from journalists and human rights groups about how they have helped Israeli forces slaughter at least 44,875 Palestinians and injure another 106,454 people in the besieged enclave over the past 14 months.
"Our concerns remain urgent and largely unresolved, including arbitrary restrictions on humanitarian aid and insufficient delivery routes."
House Democrats' letter begins by declaring support for "Israel's right to self-defense," denouncing the Hamas-led October 2023 attack, and endorsing the Biden administration's efforts "to broker a bilateral cease-fire that includes the release of hostages," noting the deal recently negotiated for the Israeli government and the Lebanese group Hezbollah.
"Further, we condemn the unprecedented Iranian attacks against Israel launched on April 13, 2024, and October 1, 2024," the letter states, declining to mention the Israeli actions that led to those responses. "We must continue to avoid a major regional conflict—and we welcome the concerted diplomatic efforts by the U.S. and our allies to prevent further escalation."
"We are also deeply troubled by the continued level of civilian casualties and humanitarian suffering in Gaza," the lawmakers wrote, citing the administration's October 13 letter imposing a 30-day deadline for Israel to improve humanitarian conditions in Palestinian territory. "That deadline has expired, and while some progress has been made, we believe the Israeli government has not yet fulfilled the requirements outlined in your letter."
Asked during a November 12 press conference if the Israeli government has met the administration's demands, State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said that "we have not made an assessment that they are in violation of U.S. law."
Shortly after that, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) forced votes on resolutions to block the sale of 120mm tank rounds, 120mm high-explosive mortar rounds, and Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAMs) to Israel, but they didn't pass.
Progressives and Democrats in Congress have been sounding the alarm about U.S. government complicity in Israel's armed assault and starvation campaign—which have led to an ongoing genocide case at the International Court of Justice—to varying degrees since October 2023, including with a May letter led by Crow and Rep. Chris Deluzio (D-Pa.) and signed by 85 others.
Citing that letter on Thursday, the 77 House Democrats wrote that "our concerns remain urgent and largely unresolved, including arbitrary restrictions on humanitarian aid and insufficient delivery routes, among others. As a result, Gaza's civilian population is facing dire famine."
"We believe further administrative action must be taken to ensure Israel upholds the assurances it provided in March 2024 to facilitate, and not directly or indirectly obstruct, U.S. humanitarian assistance," the letter concludes. "We remain committed to a negotiated solution that can bring an end to the fighting, free the remaining hostages, surge humanitarian aid, and lay the groundwork to rebuild Gaza with a legitimate Palestinian governing body. We thank you and the administration for its ongoing work to achieve those shared goals."
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Biden (Finally) Threatens to Halt Arms to Israel Over Gaza Carnage
"We should not wait 30 days," one group argued. "U.S. law requires ending the weapons NOW."
Oct 15, 2024
After a year of outrage over U.S. support for Israel's devastating assault on the Gaza Strip, multiple media outlets reported Tuesday that the Biden administration threatened to cut off U.S. weapons if the Israeli government does not take "urgent and sustained actions" to improve humanitarian conditions in the Palestinian territory within 30 days.
The October 13 letter from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is addressed to Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant and Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer. Axios reporter Barak Ravid published images of the letter on social media and The Washington Postreported that its "authenticity was confirmed by U.S. and Israeli officials."
Blinken and Austin noted requirements under federal law—which critics of the war have often cited in arguments that continuing to provide Israel with weapons is illegal—and National Security Memorandum 20, which President Joe Biden issued in February. NSM-20 directs the secretary of state "to obtain certain credible and reliable written assurances from foreign governments" that they use U.S. arms in line with international humanitarian law and will not "arbitrarily deny, restrict, or otherwise impede, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance."
The U.S. secretaries wrote that "to reverse the downward humanitarian trajectory and consistent with its assurances to us, Israel must, starting now and within 30 days, act on the following concrete measures. Failure to demonstrate a sustained commitment to implementing and maintaining these measures may have implications for U.S. policy under NSM-20 and relevant U.S. law."
The letter calls on the Israeli government to "surge all forms of humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza," with a list of specific actions. It also demands that Israel "ensure that the commercial and Jordan Armed Forces (JAF) corridors are functioning at full and continuous capacity" and "end the isolation in northern Gaza."
While acknowledging concerns about Israel's unverified allegations that a small number of staff from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East were involved in the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack, Blinken and Austin also expressed alarm about the Knesset's potential adoption of UNRWA legislation that "would devastate the Gaza humanitarian response at this critical moment and deny vital educational and social services to tens of thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, which could have implications under relevant U.S. law and policy."
As CNNreported Tuesday:
Israel appears to already be responding to the letter, at least indirectly. Just one day after the letter was sent, COGAT, the Israeli agency that manages policy for the Palestinian territories and the flow of aid into the strip, tweeted photos of aid going into Gaza.
"30 trucks entered northern Gaza through the Erez Crossing earlier today. Israel is not preventing the entry of humanitarian aid, with an emphasis on food, into Gaza," COGAT said in a post on X. "Israel will continue to allow the entry of humanitarian aid to the residents of Gaza, while simultaneously destroying Hamas’ military and governance infrastructures."
However, since Sunday, Israel has also continued killing civilians in Gaza, bombing a hospital complex and refugee camps—actions that have led progressive U.S. lawmakers to call on Biden to stop "this evil genocide."
Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice over its yearlong assault on Gaza—which, according to local officials in the Hamas-governed enclave, has killed at least 42,344 Palestinians and wounded another 99,013, with thousands more missing.
Responding to the new letter in a Tuesday statement, Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now, said that "however long overdue, this official warning that Israel must stop blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza or face a suspension of U.S. military aid is an important and unprecedented signal that Israel has crossed even the Biden administration's permissive red lines."
"We now need the Biden administration to show action, not just words, in enforcing U.S. laws, which prohibit aid to Israel given not only its relentless obstruction of humanitarian relief but deliberate starvation and incessant bombardment of Gaza's civilians," she added.
The Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project noted on social media that the United States Agency for International Development and the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration "recommended ending weapons to Israel months ago for these violations."
"Blinken ignored them and lied to Congress about their findings," the group said. "We should not wait 30 days. U.S. law requires ending the weapons NOW."
Georgia state Rep. Ruwa Romman (D-97), who is Palestinian American, agreed. She declared: "Do it now! There's 370 days of evidence. The hundreds of thousands of people being starved in Gaza won't survive 30 more days."
Outgoing Congressman Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.)—who lost his June primary to a pro-Israel candidate backed by lobbyist money—also argued Tuesday that "30 days is too long to wait and see if we will impose an arms embargo."
"How many more Palestinians are we going to allow Israel to murder in 30 days?" he asked. "How many more children and families and generations? We need an arms embargo NOW!"
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