10/5/2024–|Last updated: 10/5/202403:12 PM (Mecca time)
On Friday, The Washington Post quoted a report by a committee of independent experts that includes former American officials, concluding that Washington’s continued support for Israel’s war on Gaza undermines its credibility.
The report added that US President Joe Biden’s administration’s arms sales to Israel violate legal limits, and indicated that the Israeli army is acting in Gaza with systematic disregard for international humanitarian law.
He pointed out that American weapons were used in many cases in which international law was ignored.
The Washington Post reported that US President Joe Biden’s striking admission this week that US weapons are killing civilians in Gaza represents a turning point in US policy towards Israel, days after the Israeli army carried out its first move on Rafah and before the issuance of an expected government report on Israel’s behavior in the Gaza Strip. Gaza.
While the Biden administration has repeatedly expressed concern about civilian casualties in Gaza, some former officials say it took longer to implement laws and policies aimed at preventing the use of American weapons in violation of international humanitarian law, according to the same source.
Experts say that the United States has always been selective in how it applies international law, and in how it balances human rights concerns and realpolitik. But its continued material support for the Israeli war in Gaza has led to a rare surge in public reactions that say the US administration is slow to implement laws aimed at limiting or imposing conditions on military aid to foreign allies.
Upcoming report
Earlier, the American website Axios reported that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken is expected to submit a report described as “extremely important” to Congress today, Friday, regarding Israel’s behavior in the Gaza Strip.
The news site quoted 3 American officials as saying that Blinken may submit to Congress today a highly critical report on Israel’s behavior in Gaza, but they indicated that the report does not reach the point of concluding that Israel violated the terms of the use of American weapons.
The officials said that the upcoming report is the most controversial in the US State Department since the attack of last October 7, and they indicated that it will describe the situation in strong terms and will mention that the State Department is investigating several incidents.
Axios also quoted officials as saying that the US State Department is reviewing the use of weapons in Israel and six other countries with armed conflicts, and if it is proven that a country has violated international humanitarian law or obstructed the delivery of US-supported humanitarian aid, this may lead to the suspension of US military aid.
The importance of the report comes in light of the acute tension between the US administration and Tel Aviv against the backdrop of the Israeli war on the Gaza Strip and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence on invading Rafah despite Washington’s opposition. The tension reached the point of halting the sending of an arms shipment to Israel.
Today, Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized US President Joe Biden because his administration stopped sending the arms shipment to Israel, but he expressed his hope that the differences between the two parties would be overcome.
Since last October 7, Israel has been waging a war on Gaza that has left more than 113,000 dead and wounded – most of them children and women – and about 10,000 missing, amid massive destruction and famine that claimed the lives of children and the elderly.
The Biden administration repeatedly warned Tel Aviv of the invasion of Rafah, which includes more than 1.5 million Palestinians, including those displaced from their areas as a result of the occupation’s bombing, but Netanyahu stressed his insistence on launching the military operation there despite all the warnings.