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By Matthew Impelli
Life & Trends Reporter
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What's New
A group of Palestinians in Gaza filed a lawsuit against the U.S. State Department this week over military aid to Israel.
The State Department has created exceptions for Israel, allowing the key U.S. ally to bypass laws restricting aid to foreign militaries accused of human rights abuses, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday by a group of Palestinians in Gaza and their American relatives.
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The lawsuit has gained support from former State Department officials and architects of the 1997 Leahy Law, which prohibits the U.S. government from providing assistance to foreign security forces that have committed human rights violations.
Why It Matters
The lawsuit outlines the barriers it claims the State Department has erected to help Israel avoid enforcement of U.S. laws and calls on the courts to intervene.
This legal action follows campus protests and efforts by some lawmakers that fell short of curbing U.S. military aid to Israel over civilian deaths in Gaza during its war with Hamas.
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Secretary of State Antony Blinken has rejected claims that the department gives Israel special treatment.
"Do we have a double standard? The answer is no," Blinken said in April. The State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Associated Press on Tuesday.
What To Know
Israel maintains that it takes extensive measures to minimize harm to Palestinian civilians during military operations. Meanwhile, the Biden administration has urged Israel to take stronger steps to protect civilians in the Gaza conflict, including pausing at least one shipment of 2,000-pound bombs.
A State Department report released in May found "reasonable" evidence that Israel's use of U.S.-supplied weapons in Gaza may have violated international laws protecting civilians. However, the report stopped short of recommending restrictions on arms transfers, citing the complexities of the ongoing war that made a definitive assessment impossible. Last month, the department also opted not to suspend arms shipments despite earlier warnings tied to humanitarian aid delivery in Gaza.
The lawsuit filed Tuesday marks part of a final push by Muslim Americans and other groups to pressure the outgoing Biden administration to curb U.S. military aid to Israel, which is estimated to have totaled $17.9 billion in the first year of the war, over concerns about its treatment of Palestinian civilians.
Israel War in Gaza
Hamas militants launched the war on October 7, 2023, with an attack in Israel that killed approximately 1,200 people and resulted in around 250 hostages being taken, some of whom remain in captivity.
According to Gaza's health ministry—which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its figures—the conflict has claimed the lives of 45,000 Palestinians.
The Lawsuit
The lawsuit accuses State Department officials under President Joe Biden of implementing significant obstacles when reviewing Israel's military for potential Leahy Law violations. Former State Department officials, including Blaha, have argued that the U.S. has effectively shielded Israel from enforcement. The lawsuit provides new details on those claims for the first time.
What People Are Saying
Ahmed Moor, a Philadelphia-based Palestinian American, who is on the lawsuit, said, "It's really a modest set of goals here: There's a U.S. law. We'd like the federal government to adhere to U.S. law."
Charles Blaha, a former State Department official who oversaw Leahy Law reviews, said enforcing the law against Israel could have prevented much of the civilian suffering now seen in Gaza.
"The secretary of state has made all the decisions so far on Israel and the Leahy Law, and every single decision has resulted in those units being eligible" for U.S. military support, Blaha said. "And that's not the way the normal process works."
What's Next
It is currently unclear how the State Department will respond to the recent lawsuit.
This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.
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