US Washington ‘ignoring reports of human rights abuses by Israeli forces’
The US state department has failed to act on internal reports of human rights abuses by the Israeli army and police units, according to a new report, raising new questions over whether Washington’s continued supply of arms is breaking US law.
The ProPublica investigative journalism site quoted officials as saying that a special panel set up by the Biden administration had recommended that multiple Israeli military and police units be denied US funding because of serious human rights abuses. But the state department has yet to act on the recommendations.
The incidents involving alleged abuses mostly took place in the West Bank before the 7 October Hamas attack. They included extrajudicial killings by the border police, a case in which an elderly PalestinianAmerican man was gagged, handcuffed and left to die, and an allegation that interrogators tortured and raped a teenager accused of throwing rocks and molotov cocktails.
The Biden administration set up another mechanism last August for monitoring civilian casualties around the world caused by US-supplied weapons, in what was billed as an important new human rights safeguard. But the system, Civilian Harm Incident Response Guidance, has been run since then by just six parttime staffers, and was overwhelmed soon after its creation by the Gaza conflict, in which over 34,000 people have been killed.
“I am deeply sceptical that the administration is paying these issues the attention that they deserve,” said a former state department official, Josh Paul. As a consequence of the lack of scrutiny, he said: “There’s such a culture of impunity that has developed where the Israeli soldiers at the lowest level feel free to act without any concern of any repercussions.”
Asked about the staffing levels, a state department spokesperson said: “We are reviewing a number of incidents worldwide … but we aren’t going to comment on specifics.”
Until now, the Biden administration has justified the continued flow of weapons to Israel – despite widespread allegations of abuses – on the grounds that the US has internal mechanisms constantly monitoring the conflict and they have yet to find Israel in violation of international humanitarian law.
Critics have complained that the internal processes were deliberately designed to work slowly and not reach conclusions, particularly in Israel’s case. The ProPublica report suggests for the first time that a recommendation had been made to take action on Israel, but it had been ignored.
The panel, which reportedly made the recommendation to cut funding to the Israeli Border Police and other units in the West Bank, is known as Israel Leahy Vetting Forum, made up of Middle East and human rights experts, under 1997 laws written by a former Democratic senator, Patrick Leahy.
“The Leahy Laws were passed to ensure US military aid is not provided to foreign military units that commit gross violations of human rights – contrary to American values and interests,” said the Democratic senator Chris van Hollen.
“Reports that the administration is sitting on its hands in the face of known violations are deeply troubling and, if true, would undermine the credibility of America’s commitment to applying our human rights laws in a uniform and unbiased manner.”
A Guardian investigation in January found that under the ILVF panel, alleged abuses carried out by Israeli forces were judged by “different rules” than those committed by other governments.
Asked about the ProPublica report, a state department official said: “The Department of State takes seriously its commitment to upholding the Leahy Law.
“This process is one that demands a careful and full review, and the Department undergoes a fact-specific investigation applying the same standards and procedures regardless of the country in question.”
Next month, the administration faces a deadline for providing a formal assessment to Congress of assurances from Israel and other countries receiving US arms supplies that they are using them in accordance with international law.
The requirement for the report was established by Joe Biden in a national security memorandum, NSM-20, issued in February.
On receiving Israel’s written assurances in March, the state department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, said: “We have not found them to be in violation of international humanitarian law, either when it comes to the conduct of the war or when it comes to the provision of humanitarian assistance.”
After an outcry from Van Hollen and other senior Democrats, the state department clarified that it would make no formal determination on the matter until the NSM-20 report was due on 8 May.
Human rights activists say they fear that the administration will try to dodge any form of direct finding against Israeli forces.
‘Reports that the administration is [ignoring] violations are deeply troubling’
Chris van Hollen Democratic senator