Above photo: AP.
Washington has been accused of using loopholes to prevent the application of human rights laws.
The laws are meant to protect Palestinian civilians from Israeli war crimes.
Five Palestinian families filed a lawsuit against the US State Department on 17 December over Washington’s support for the Israeli military, citing the Leahy Law, which prohibits assistance to foreign military or security forces implicated in human rights violations.
The suit was filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia. It accuses the State Department and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken of deliberately circumventing human rights to allow continued support for Israeli military units accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
The Leahy Law was amended in 2019 to include required vetting of all security forces of countries receiving US assistance.
“The State Department’s calculated failure to apply the Leahy Law is particularly shocking in the face of the unprecedented escalation of Israeli gross violations of human rights since the Gaza War erupted on October 7, 2023,” the lawsuit reads.
The suit has been supported by the Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) NGO.
“The State Department’s preposterous, incredible conclusion that not even one unit of Israeli security forces has ever committed unremediated abuses in nearly thirty years, despite the staggering, horrifying evidence before the world’s eyes every single day for the past year, speaks for itself,” DAWN Executive Director Sarah Leah Whitson said on Tuesday.
In a report submitted to Congress in May, the US State Department noted that US weapons have been used by Israelis in a manner “inconsistent” with international human rights law.
It added, however, that there is not enough evidence to link specific US-supplied arms to rights violations – which would warrant cutting off the flow of weapons to Israel. The report was based on a months-long probe to determine if Israel was violating international law or hindering efforts to bring aid into Gaza
The five Palestinian families who issued the lawsuit argue that the State Department has used loopholes to prevent the application of the Leahy Law.
Reports earlier this year said, ahead of the issuing of the report, that Blinken was pressured by the US ambassador to Israel, Jack Lew, and others, to conclude that Tel Aviv was not hindering aid efforts.
The humanitarian situation in Gaza has worsened significantly since then, as Israel has shut all border crossings and tightened its already intensive restrictions on aid entry.
According to Palestinian NGOs, aid warehouses are almost completely empty, and children across the besieged Gaza Strip are suffering from severe malnutrition.
The death toll in Gaza has now exceeded 45,000. Israel continues to besiege and attack barely functional hospitals packed with wounded victims and overwhelmed medical staff.
Amnesty International released a report on 5 December saying there is “sufficient” evidence to conclude that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in its war on the Gaza Strip.
The US State Department has also failed to hold Israel accountable for various human rights abuses committed by its army and security forces in the occupied West Bank.
Several State Department officials have resigned from their positions in protest against Israeli conduct in Gaza.
Whistleblowers from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), including current and former officials, have accused the White House of ignoring numerous internal dissent memos chastising Washington for failing to uphold international law.