Advocates say Biden administration is ‘bending over backwards’ to avoid saying whether Israel is violating laws of war.
Washington, DC – In a report released on Friday, the United States concluded that it is “reasonable to assess” that the weapons it provided to Israel during its war on Gaza have been used in violation of international humanitarian law.
However, the same report said that Israel’s assurances that it is not using US arms to commit abuses are “credible and reliable” — and that the US can therefore continue to provide those weapons.
Advocates say the apparent contradiction shows that the US is willing to go to extraordinary lengths to continue arming Israel, even at the expense of Washington’s own laws.
“What those inconsistencies show you is that the administration does know what is happening,” said Annie Shiel, the US advocacy director at the Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC).
“They absolutely can see that there is devastating civilian harm, that there are apparent violations, that aid is being restricted. And they do not have the political will to do what that means — and end US support and US arms transfers to Israel.”
President Joe Biden’s unwillingness to do so, advocates say, should compel Congress instead to use its oversight and legislative powers to ensure that the rules apply to Israel.
“The ball is in Congress’s court here,” said Shiel. “It is very clear that the administration is not going to take the steps that it needs to take — that US law demands, that US policy demands, that basic humanity demands. And so Congress really needs to step in and say, ‘This report is not honest. US assistance, US arms transfers do need to stop now.’”
The memorandum required written assurances from the recipients of US weapons that the arms were not being used to violate international humanitarian law (IHL) or restrict Washington-backed humanitarian aid in areas of armed conflict.
IHL spells out the laws of war. It is a set of rules meant to protect non-combatants during armed conflict, consisting of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and subsequent international treaties aimed at limiting civilian suffering.
Friday’s report, released by the US State Department, assessed assurances provided by several countries that receive US security aid, including Iraq, Nigeria and Ukraine. But all eyes were on Israel, given the mounting death toll, destruction and starvation in Gaza.
So what exactly did the report say? Here are a few takeaways:
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Amanda Klasing, the director of government relations and advocacy at Amnesty International USA, said one of the most important findings from the report is the intelligence community’s assessment that Israel should do more to avoid civilian harm.
“You’re lacking evidence in order to prove your case, because your security partner isn’t cooperating with you. The next logical conclusion would be to withhold your weapons until you could actually get the information required to ensure that you’re not being complicit in violations of international law,” she said.
“Instead, the report recognises these big gaps. And then the conclusion is: Because of these gaps, we can’t draw any definitive conclusions, and therefore it will continue weapons transfers.”
Scott Paul, the associate director for peace and security at Oxfam America, called the acknowledgement that Israel did not fully cooperate with the US query “wild”.
He also criticised the State Department for deferring to Israel’s own processes and military justice system to provide information about potential humanitarian law violations. Israel rarely ever prosecutes its own soldiers for misconduct.
“It’s form over substance. The fact that a justice system exists doesn’t mean that it’s credible — doesn’t mean that it will work in a way to hold individuals to account for their violations of the law,” Paul told media.
“And all of the work being done here is being done by the fact that the system exists, not that the system is functioning.”
He added that, while indeed it is difficult to document IHL violations in war zones, rights groups including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have done so in Gaza.
Paul also noted the US had no such difficulty when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022: The government formally accused Russia of war crimes only weeks into the war.
Some advocates say that, by turning a blind eye to Israeli abuses, the US is losing its credibility to call out violations of international law in other parts of the world.
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