Five Palestinian families filed a complaint Tuesday against the State Department over Washington’s military aid to Israel, based on a US law that prohibits arming foreign security forces accused of violating human rights. ‘Man.
The complaint, to which the State Department must respond within 60 days, calls for this law to be applied to Israel, which, according to the plaintiffs and human rights groups, has been illegally exempted from it.
Since the start of the war between Israel and Palestinian Hamas in October 2023, the United States has enacted laws authorizing it to provide the equivalent of $12.5 billion in military aid to its strategic ally.
The war, triggered by an unprecedented Hamas attack, resulted in the deaths of 1,208 people on the Israeli side, the majority civilians, according to an AFP count based on official figures.
More than 45,059 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli military campaign of retaliation on the Gaza Strip, the majority civilians, according to data from the Hamas government’s Health Ministry for Gaza, deemed reliable by the UN.
An American-Palestinian plaintiff, Said Assali, told a press conference in Washington on Tuesday that his aunt had been killed with her six children in an Israeli strike on Gaza City, and claimed that American weapons had been used on this occasion.
“Our families have paid an unbearable price for the State Department’s refusal to enforce its own laws,” Mr. Assali said.
Two former ministry employees told the press that US officials apply an informal “Israel exception” rule when it comes to reviewing its military actions.
“The reality is that Israel meets different rules. The State Department has created this unique, cumbersome, high-level process… that only applies to Israel,” the official said. one of them, Charles Blaha.
The State Department did not comment Tuesday on the filing of the complaint.
Amnesty International has accused Israel of “committing genocide” against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. And the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Israel has forcefully disputed all of these allegations.
Ahmed Moor, another complainant, said seven members of his family in Gaza lived “under constant fear of bombings” and that another had been killed.
“These members of my family are people like you and me, and their lives were destroyed by American weapons in direct violation of American law,” he pleaded.
