175
submitted 6 months ago by GrymEdm@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

The State Department is divided over whether Israel is using American-provided weapons in accordance with international law ahead of a fast-approaching deadline next week for Secretary of State Antony Blinken to make a determination to Congress.

There is not unanimity about whether to accept Israel’s assurances about this as “credible and reliable,” a department official said. Israel was required to make those assurances to the US under a national security memorandum issued by President Joe Biden in February.

The memorandum requires all countries receiving US weapons to make assurances that they are using them “in a manner consistent with all applicable international and domestic law and policy, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law.”

Under that memorandum, Blinken must tell Congress by May 8 whether he has certified the assurances to be credible and reliable.

top 7 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 47 points 6 months ago

wait... there's people that believe that Israel is using US weapons in accordance with relevant international law?

[-] small44@lemmy.world 25 points 6 months ago

No, they just act like they believe it

[-] tortillaPeanuts@lemmy.world -1 points 6 months ago

At least when it comes to bombs I believe that Israel is following international law. Selecting valid targets while making some calculation considering civilian casualties is a pretty low bar especially when your enemy is operating in civilian areas without wearing any uniforms. Prisons and individual soldiers are another matter but idk what US weapons are involved in that.

[-] Xenon@lemmy.world 32 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

It must have come as a real shock to the Israelis to learn that someone in the state department knows what international law is.

[-] gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works 23 points 6 months ago
[-] xmunk@sh.itjust.works 22 points 6 months ago

Shocked_Pikachu.gif

[-] autotldr@lemmings.world 4 points 6 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Israel was required to make those assurances to the US under a national security memorandum issued by President Joe Biden in February.

Several hundred officials from Western countries, including some from the US, have previously raised concerns that their governments may be complicit in war crimes in their support of Israel’s fight against Hamas.

“We don’t comment on leaked documents, especially those purporting to contain classified information,” State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement.

Progressives are growing increasingly frustrated with Biden’s support for Israel, as protests over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza spread across the US, most notably on college campuses, where protesters have decried the stance of “Genocide Joe.” But the president on Sunday again reaffirmed his “ironclad” commitment to Israel in a call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The White House could slow military provisions, curtail monetary assistance, or drastically ratchet up the public pressure on Netanyahu if the US concludes Israel is impeding aid to Gaza and not adhering to human rights laws.

During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing this month, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said that to his knowledge, “we don’t have any evidence of genocide being created” by Israel during its war in Gaza.


The original article contains 746 words, the summary contains 199 words. Saved 73%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

this post was submitted on 30 Apr 2024
175 points (97.3% liked)

World News

39112 readers
822 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS