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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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Groups Say Biden's Own Policy Requires US to Stop Arming Israel
"International and U.S. law, as well as your administration's policies including NSM-20," said the groups, "require suspending weapons transfers to the Israeli government."
Sep 04, 2024
As U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller was telling reporters on Tuesday that assessments regarding whether Israel is abiding by international humanitarian law in Gaza are ongoing, more than two dozen rights groups were telling the Biden administration that it need look no further than its own memo released months ago to see that the U.S. must end its support for the Israeli military.
Groups including Amnesty International, the Center for Civilians in Conflict, and Refugees International were among 25 organizations that signed a letter sent Tuesday to President Joe Biden; Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee; and their foreign policy advisers. The letter was sent a day after the British government announced it was suspending 30 arms export licenses for Israel, citing "a clear risk that they might be used to commit or facilitate a serious violation of international humanitarian law."
The letter pointed out that it's been nearly four months since the administration released its report on May 10 on National Security Memorandum 20 (NSM-20), which "concluded that U.S.-provided arms had likely been used by Israeli security forces in manners 'inconsistent with its IHL [international humanitarian law] obligations.'"
NSM-20, issued in February, required Secretary of State Antony Blinken to confirm that countries using U.S. weapons—including Israel, which has received more than 100 military transfers from the U.S. since last October—are not blocking U.S. humanitarian aid and are using the weapons in accordance with international law.
The groups on Tuesday noted that despite the finding in the May 10 report, the administration claimed that Israel's assurances that it had not used U.S. weapons in strikes that violated international law were "credible and reliable," and that the U.S. would not suspend weapons transfers at that time.
The claim that Israel's assurances were credible was in direct opposition to a leaked internal memo in which four State Department officials said they had "serious concern over non-compliance" with international law.
"Since your May 10 report, the U.N. estimates a 300% increase in acute malnutrition in Northern Gaza."
The official assessment released in May also "stood in stark contrast to the realities in Gaza and across occupied Palestine and appeared to blatantly disregard both the requirements of U.S. law and policy and extensive documentation submitted by human rights and humanitarian organizations and independent experts," reads the new letter, citing reports by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and other groups that detailed how U.S. weapons have been used in attacks that killed civilians and could constitute war crimes.
Moreover, the letter states, "the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza has only worsened" since the NSM-20 report, but the U.S. policy of providing "virtually unconditional military support for the Israeli government continues."
The letter notes that the U.S. continues to support the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) despite continued restrictions on aid flowing into Gaza by Israel, with the level of aid entering Gaza through the Karem Abu Salem crossing dropping by more than 80% over the past three months.
"As a result of the compounding access and delivery challenges, malnutrition and the perpetual risk of famine remains rampant across Gaza," wrote the groups. "Since your May 10 report, the U.N. estimates a 300% increase in acute malnutrition in Northern Gaza, while the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, the leading analyst on food insecurity, found in June that all of Gaza is at high risk of famine and 96% of the population is currently food insecure."
Annie Shiel, U.S. advocacy director for the Center for Civilians in Conflict, noted that the Biden administration's continued military support for Israel as famine takes hold of Gaza may violate the Humanitarian Aid Corridor Act—Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.
The Biden administration's continued support for the IDF sends "a political signal of unconditional support for Israel's conduct," said Shiel. "The U.S. has the leverage to bring about a cease-fire—but chooses not to use it."
The letter on Tuesday also pointed to numerous reports that U.S.-made weapons have been used by Israel in attacks that killed civilians since May 10, including:
- A strike that used U.S.-made GBU-39 guided bombs on a camp for internally displaced people in west Rafah on May 26, killing at least 36 people, including six children;
- A July 9 airstrike on a school that killed at least 27 people and used an American small-diameter bomb; and
- An August 10 attack on a school in Gaza City that was being used as a shelter, which killed 93 people using a U.S. small-diameter bomb.
"These developments should compel the United States to suspend arms transfers to the Israeli government under the Conventional Arms Transfer policy, which prohibits arms transfers when 'the United States assesses that it is more likely than not that the arms to be transferred will be used by the recipient to commit, facilitate the recipients' commission of, or to aggravate risks that the recipient will commit' serious violations of international humanitarian or human rights law," wrote the groups.
The organizations urged "an immediate, public review of Israel's compliance with NSM-20, accounting for the numerous apparent violations of international law and restrictions on humanitarian aid documented by civil society and the media since May 10 and throughout the NSM-20 reporting period."
As U.S. support continues, said the groups, "the risk of United States' and U.S. officials' complicity in Israeli violations of international law due to U.S. arms transfers has only increased."
"We urgently call upon your administration to change its approach and suspend weapons transfers to Israel, which continue to cause devastating harm and risk making the United States complicit in war crimes," they wrote. "International and U.S. law, as well as your administration's policies including NSM-20, require suspending weapons transfers to the Israeli government."
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US Official Who Resigned Over Gaza Says Report Absolving Israel 'Patently False'
Stacy Gilbert, a 20-year State Dept. veteran, described reading the final NSM-20 report in shock, given the way it contradicted expert consensus. She immediately decided to resign.
May 30, 2024
Stacy Gilbert, a U.S. State Department official who resigned this week over Gaza, said Thursday that part of a key report on humanitarian assistance issued earlier this month was "patently false" and that it contradicted the consensus of the department's own experts, according toThe Guardian.
Humanitarian groups had widely condemned the department's NSM-20 report, released May 10, which, among other contentious findings, determined that Israel wasn't restricting the transport or delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance—an assessment that allowed the Biden administration to continue providing arms to Israel. Countries that have blocked U.S. aid are ineligible for arms and security assistance under U.S. law.
Gilbert's comments on Thursday revealed that department officials, and not just outside humanitarian groups, disagreed with the official assessment, which she said was taken out of expert hands within the department during the final weeks and "edited at a higher level." She told The Guardian that it was clear that Israel was limiting the amount of food and medical supplies coming into Gaza.
"There is consensus among the humanitarian community on that," Gilbert said. "It is absolutely the opinion of the humanitarian subject matter experts in the State Department, and not just in my bureau—people who look at this from the intelligence community and from other bureaus."
"I would be very hard-pressed to think of anyone who has said [Israeli obstruction of aid] is not an issue," she added. "That's why I object to that report saying that Israel is not blocking humanitarian assistance. That is patently false."
The Washington Post, which broke the story of Gilbert's resignation on Tuesday, reported that her view that "Israel was impeding the aid from reaching civilians in Gaza" was "echoed by the vast majority of aid and humanitarian organizations."
It was not clear from the reporting in The Guardian or the Post whether Gilbert also disagreed with the other major assessment in the NSM-20 report—that U.S.-supplied weapons couldn't be definitively linked to violations of international law in Gaza. Oxfam called the report a "slap in the face," citing a memorandum it had jointly written with Human Rights Watch on international law violations and Israeli restrictions on aid. Other humanitarian and watchdog groups had similar responses to the report.
Gilbert, a 20-year department veteran who worked in the Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, described reading the final NSM-20 report in shock when it was released. She sent an email explaining her intention to resign just two hours later. This week, she sent another email to department staff explaining her views about the errors in the report, according to the Post.
Gilbert is one of two Biden administration officials to resign this week, bringing the overall total to at least nine. Alexander Smith, a contractor and senior adviser at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), resigned Monday after a presentation that he prepared on maternal and child health in Gaza was canceled. He sent a letter to USAID Administrator Samantha Power critiquing inconsistencies in the agency's approach to different humanitarian crises, The Guardian reported. Smith had been with USAID for four years.
"I cannot do my job in an environment in which specific people cannot be acknowledged as fully human, or where gender and human rights principles apply to some, but not to others, depending on their race," Smith wrote.
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