Washington- The resignation of Josh Paul, a former official in the US State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs – in protest against arms transfers to Israel – was a shock to many legal experts concerned with human rights.
During press interviews, Paul said that the US government “certainly does not act within the laws related to arms exports.”
Since the start of the Israeli aggression against Gaza strip On October 7, and the subsequent increase in US arms transfers to Tel Aviv, US policies and laws that apply to arms transfers became the subject of increasing attention.
Presidential directive
There was no serious discussion within Washington about the legality of shipping weapons of such speed and magnitude to Israel. Conversely, there was a rush to provide them as quickly as possible.
Al Jazeera Net was informed of many laws and policies specific to the export of American weapons, and the President’s administration violated them joe biden Basically, there are 3 basic laws, the first of which relates to the transfer of conventional weapons, the second of which relates to explosive weapons in populated areas, and the third of which relates to Senator Patrick Leahy’s law on human rights.
Represents the war between Israel and the Islamic Resistance Movement (agitation) The first major test of the new political directive, called the “Conventional Arms Transfer Policy.” Eight months ago, Biden issued a directive prohibiting arms transfer deals to countries that are likely to use weapons to target civilians in military conflicts.
The presidential directive included that the White House would not authorize the transfer of weapons to countries that would likely use the weapons to commit, or increase the risk that the recipient would commit, “genocide and crimes against humanity.”
However, still White House He agrees to send military aid to support Israel in its aggression against the Gaza Strip, which has so far left more than 11,000 people dead, most of them children and women, and nearly 30,000 others wounded.
These crimes include “intentionally directed attacks against civilian objects or civilians protected as such, or other serious violations of international humanitarian law or international human rights law, including serious acts of violence against children,” according to the same directive.
Upon its issuance, many human rights circles celebrated this initiative and saw that it “concerned the protection of civilians and respect for human rights.”
The State Department considered the new guidance to be evidence that the administration “will exercise restraint and take a truly comprehensive approach to conventional arms transfers,” and better ensure that they are “in the national interest, including the value we place on human rights, international humanitarian law, and security sector governance.”
In contrast, Josh Ball says the Biden administration is “certainly not acting within a conventional arms transfer policy.”
A few days ago, reports indicated that the Biden administration approved a new deal worth $320 million for precision-guided bombs for Israel, at a time when the occupation army continues to bomb civilian targets in Gaza.
The contradiction between Biden’s directive last February and his administration’s new arms transfers comes at a time when the White House is now asking… Congress Legislation authorizing the administration to sell Israel up to $3.5 billion in weapons.
violation
The Biden administration also called for additional aid worth $14.3 billion to Israel within the emergency supplementary budget.
“Given the well-documented death and destruction in Gaza, and the well-documented abuses in West Bank“It is difficult to see how the Biden administration can continue to provide weapons without violating its conventional arms transfer policy.”
The Biden administration insists that arms transfers to Israel will not violate the president’s directives, and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on October 20 that “all of our arms transfers, including transfers to Israel, are rooted in the basic proposition that “It will be used in accordance with the law of armed conflict.”
Reports indicate United nations When explosive weapons are used in populated areas, on average 90% of the victims are civilians.
In November 2022, the United States joined 82 other countries in supporting the Political Declaration on Explosive Weapons in Populated Areas to strengthen the protection of civilians from the consequences of the use of these weapons in these areas.
Although the declaration is not legally binding, it represents a high-level commitment by the United States to implement policies designed to avoid and address civilian harm resulting from the use of these weapons.
The Declaration also obliges its signatories to actively promote the Declaration, follow up on its adoption and implementation by additional states, and seek compliance with its obligations by all parties to the armed conflict.
Given the fact that significant harm to civilians in Gaza has so far been caused by the Israeli army’s use of explosive weapons in densely populated urban areas, and despite Washington’s commitments in this regard, the Biden administration continued to transfer explosive weapons to Israel without any conditions regarding their use.
The International Explosive Weapons Network also raised concerns about the use of these weapons by the Israeli army in Gaza, and recommended stopping the transfer of 155 mm artillery shells in particular.
“Leahy’s Law”
The Leahy Act is among the most important laws related to military aid and human rights, as it prohibits the US government from providing assistance to foreign military units that have committed serious human rights violations such as torture, enforced disappearance, or extrajudicial killing.
Under this law, the State Department vets recipients of US security assistance and prohibits assistance to any foreign military unit when there is credible evidence that the unit has committed a gross human rights violation.
But over the years, this law has not been applied to US military aid to Israel. Josh Paul, the resigned State Department official, considers the Leahy Law with regard to Israel to be a “broken system.”
No Israeli unit has been listed as prohibited under the Leahy Law, despite all the violations and ongoing violations inside the Gaza Strip and various West Bank cities.
