Biden Administration Offers 'Concern,' But Refuses to Condemn Israeli Raids
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The Biden administration says it "doesn't share Israel's position" on criminalizing 6 Palestinian NGOs, but also won't criticize Israel following a military raid on the organizations.
MICHAEL ARRIAAugust 22, 2022 by Mondoweiss
On August 18 Israeli forces carried out an overnight raid on the offices of seven Palestinian civil society organizations in the occupied West Bank. Armed soldiers stole documents, damaged property, and welded the office doors shut.
Six of the seven targeted groups (Al-Haq, Addameer, Defense for Children International – Palestine, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, The Bisan Center for Research and Development, and the Union of Palestinian Women's Committees) had been designated as terrorist organizations by the Israeli government in October 2021. Israel has never provided any public evidence to back up these allegations and classified documents obtained by +972, Local Call, and The Intercept show that the accusations are dubious.
Shortly after Israel designated the groups as terrorists, they presented the Biden administration with what they claimed to be "unequivocal" intelligence against the Palestinian NGOs. "We receive detailed information from the Israeli government," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters at the time. "We appreciated the consultation. We're reviewing the information that they provided us."
That was ten months ago, but the Biden administration has still not made a public conclusion about the evidence. At an April 2022 State Department briefing Price reiterated the same sentiments from October and did not indicate that they were any closer to reaching a verdict. "We have received detailed information on that very question from our Israeli partners, and it's something that we're continuing to review," he said. "We received detailed information from our Israeli partners on the basis for their designation. We're taking a very close look at that ourselves."
At yesterday's briefing Price was hit with a barrage of questions from the AP's Matt Lee and Al Quds' Said Arikat about the raid. Price expressed "concern" about the raids and said the administration was awaiting information about situation from its Israeli partners, the reporters asked why it hadn't released a statement about the evidence from October and why people should expect them to assess any new evidence in a timely manner. Lee told Price that the administration seemed to be in a "perpetual state of limbo."
"We have not seen anything that has caused us to change our position," Price eventually admitted, which marks the first time that the administration has acknowledged that it doesn't share Israel's position on the issue. However, Price refused to disagree with the Israeli government directly, much less accuse them of lying.
"So you don't believe the Israelis' information?," asked Lee at one point.
"Intelligence information is always information that is the subject of analysis and different parties can read information differently," responded Price. "They can perceive of threats differently. Our own analysis heretofore of the information that was provided last year has not caused us to change our approach to these organizations."
When Price was asked why the administration is simply voicing concern, instead of condemning the raids, he curiously referenced October evidence. "I think the fact is that our Israeli partners..took an action..to designate these organizations as so-called 'terrorist organizations', said Price. "What we've seen publicly, what they've conveyed privately in recent hours, is that there's an appropriate basis for the actions that they have taken. It will be a matter of urgency for us to review the basis for that information."
U.S. complicity
On Twitter some pointed out that the Biden administration helped facilitate the raids via their inaction in regards to the original intelligence. "To be clear, while this is the furthest the U.S. government has come, it still falls very short of where it needs to be," wrote the Palestinian-American political analyst Yousef Munayyer. "Their equivocation for months emboldened Israel to raid these offices today. When will the US finally condemn these actions, how much further does Israel have to go?"
"The Biden Admin has had Israel's 'evidence' for almost a year," wrote Foundation for Middle East Peace president Lara Friedman. "It clearly knows this 'evidence' is BS—otherwise there is zero doubt they would have validated Israel's designations/designated the groups themself. But knowing the evidence was BS, they appear to have taken the politically & morally cowardly approach of staying silent—an approach that amounts to foreign policy gross negligence/complicity."
"Make no mistake: This is a Chekov's gun situation," she continued. "Israel put the gun on the table last October. The Biden Admin saw that gun and decided to do nothing to pressure Israel to remove it. Now, the Biden Admin cannot claim surprise when Israel aims/fires that gun at Palestinian human rights defenders."
A few Democratic House members also called Biden to act. "I am upset by the latest attacks by the Israeli army on Palestinian human rights groups," tweeted Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN). "Silencing human rights defenders is an attempt to avoid accountability. I reiterate calls from myself and my colleagues that the Biden administration immediately condemn this repression."
"Once again the IDF has launched a chilling attack on Defense for Children International-Palestine, a human rights organization supporting Palestinian children," wrote Rep. Betty McCollum. "The Biden administration must condemn these efforts to silence groups advocating for Palestinian human rights and civil society."
Last year McCollum introduced a resolution calling on the administration to condemn Israel's "authoritarian and antidemocratic" repression of the human rights groups.
© 2021 Mondoweiss
MICHAEL ARRIA is the US correspondent for Mondoweiss and the author of Medium Blue: The Politics of MSNBC.
The Biden administration says it "doesn't share Israel's position" on criminalizing 6 Palestinian NGOs, but also won't criticize Israel following a military raid on the organizations.
MICHAEL ARRIA
On August 18 Israeli forces carried out an overnight raid on the offices of seven Palestinian civil society organizations in the occupied West Bank. Armed soldiers stole documents, damaged property, and welded the office doors shut.
Six of the seven targeted groups (Al-Haq, Addameer, Defense for Children International – Palestine, the Union of Agricultural Work Committees, The Bisan Center for Research and Development, and the Union of Palestinian Women's Committees) had been designated as terrorist organizations by the Israeli government in October 2021. Israel has never provided any public evidence to back up these allegations and classified documents obtained by +972, Local Call, and The Intercept show that the accusations are dubious.
Shortly after Israel designated the groups as terrorists, they presented the Biden administration with what they claimed to be "unequivocal" intelligence against the Palestinian NGOs. "We receive detailed information from the Israeli government," State Department spokesman Ned Price told reporters at the time. "We appreciated the consultation. We're reviewing the information that they provided us."
That was ten months ago, but the Biden administration has still not made a public conclusion about the evidence. At an April 2022 State Department briefing Price reiterated the same sentiments from October and did not indicate that they were any closer to reaching a verdict. "We have received detailed information on that very question from our Israeli partners, and it's something that we're continuing to review," he said. "We received detailed information from our Israeli partners on the basis for their designation. We're taking a very close look at that ourselves."
At yesterday's briefing Price was hit with a barrage of questions from the AP's Matt Lee and Al Quds' Said Arikat about the raid. Price expressed "concern" about the raids and said the administration was awaiting information about situation from its Israeli partners, the reporters asked why it hadn't released a statement about the evidence from October and why people should expect them to assess any new evidence in a timely manner. Lee told Price that the administration seemed to be in a "perpetual state of limbo."
"We have not seen anything that has caused us to change our position," Price eventually admitted, which marks the first time that the administration has acknowledged that it doesn't share Israel's position on the issue. However, Price refused to disagree with the Israeli government directly, much less accuse them of lying.
"So you don't believe the Israelis' information?," asked Lee at one point.
"Intelligence information is always information that is the subject of analysis and different parties can read information differently," responded Price. "They can perceive of threats differently. Our own analysis heretofore of the information that was provided last year has not caused us to change our approach to these organizations."
When Price was asked why the administration is simply voicing concern, instead of condemning the raids, he curiously referenced October evidence. "I think the fact is that our Israeli partners..took an action..to designate these organizations as so-called 'terrorist organizations', said Price. "What we've seen publicly, what they've conveyed privately in recent hours, is that there's an appropriate basis for the actions that they have taken. It will be a matter of urgency for us to review the basis for that information."
U.S. complicity
On Twitter some pointed out that the Biden administration helped facilitate the raids via their inaction in regards to the original intelligence. "To be clear, while this is the furthest the U.S. government has come, it still falls very short of where it needs to be," wrote the Palestinian-American political analyst Yousef Munayyer. "Their equivocation for months emboldened Israel to raid these offices today. When will the US finally condemn these actions, how much further does Israel have to go?"
"The Biden Admin has had Israel's 'evidence' for almost a year," wrote Foundation for Middle East Peace president Lara Friedman. "It clearly knows this 'evidence' is BS—otherwise there is zero doubt they would have validated Israel's designations/designated the groups themself. But knowing the evidence was BS, they appear to have taken the politically & morally cowardly approach of staying silent—an approach that amounts to foreign policy gross negligence/complicity."
"Make no mistake: This is a Chekov's gun situation," she continued. "Israel put the gun on the table last October. The Biden Admin saw that gun and decided to do nothing to pressure Israel to remove it. Now, the Biden Admin cannot claim surprise when Israel aims/fires that gun at Palestinian human rights defenders."
A few Democratic House members also called Biden to act. "I am upset by the latest attacks by the Israeli army on Palestinian human rights groups," tweeted Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN). "Silencing human rights defenders is an attempt to avoid accountability. I reiterate calls from myself and my colleagues that the Biden administration immediately condemn this repression."
"Once again the IDF has launched a chilling attack on Defense for Children International-Palestine, a human rights organization supporting Palestinian children," wrote Rep. Betty McCollum. "The Biden administration must condemn these efforts to silence groups advocating for Palestinian human rights and civil society."
Last year McCollum introduced a resolution calling on the administration to condemn Israel's "authoritarian and antidemocratic" repression of the human rights groups.
MICHAEL ARRIA is the US correspondent for Mondoweiss and the author of Medium Blue: The Politics of MSNBC.
Letter to Biden Administration Following Israel's Recent Actions Against Palestinian CSOs
August 22, 2022
President Joe Biden
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500
Mr. Antony J. Blinken
Secretary of State
2201 C Street, NW
Washington, DC 20520
Dear Mr. Biden and Mr. Blinken,
We write in connection with the Israeli government's actions against seven leading Palestinian civil society organizations, confirming the decision to outlaw the activities of six of them, raiding their offices, and issuing closure orders against them. The Israeli Shin Bet subsequently targeted the leaders of at least two of these organizations in further acts of intimidation and harassment. These actions are an assault on the basic human rights of Palestinians to assemble and organize freely and an example of the Israeli government's weaponization of "counter-terrorism laws" in its relentless attacks against civil society activists. Despite repeated demands from governments and human rights organizations around the world, Israel has offered no credible evidence to support its allegations against these groups, and as a result, nine European Union (EU) states and Norway have rejected Israel's claims and continued to support the organizations.
The U.S. government's failure to censure Israel's human rights violations while continuing to provide it with matchless military and political support is understood as US acquiescence to these actions, and clearly the Israeli government feels empowered to repress Palestinian civil society with impunity. To demonstrate its stated commitment to human rights and the protection of civil society, the U.S. government should take immediate steps to support the Palestinian civil society organizations by meeting with representatives of the groups, openly rejecting the Israeli designations, demanding that Israel reverse its designations, and suspending military assistance to Israel so long as its systematic abuses of Palestinians, including this latest attack, continue.
On August 18, Israeli authorities raided the offices of seven prominent Palestinian civil society organizations, seizing documents, printers and computers, welding the doors shut, and issuing closure orders against the organizations. The organizations that were issued closure orders are: Defense for Children International – Palestine, Al Haq; Addameer; Bisan Center for Research and Development; Union of Agricultural Work Committees; Union of Palestinian Women's Committees; and Health Work Committees. This follows the Israeli government's move last year to outlaw the groups, designating them as "terrorist" organizations under Israeli law, and as "unlawful associations" under military law, which it applies in the occupied West Bank. Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz's confirmed many of these designations on August 17, though several groups still have a pending challenge against the 'terrorism' designation. On August 21, the Shin Bet interrogated Khaled Quzmar, General Director of DCI Palestine, for two hours and contacted Shawan Jabarin, General Director of Al-Haq, to threaten him, order Al-Haq to cease its activities and demand he come in for interrogation.
Following the initial designation on October 22, 2021 of the groups as "terrorist" organizations and in November 2021 as "unlawful associations," Israeli officials engaged in a political campaign to convince European and American officials that they had evidence against the organizations that supported the allegations against them. In November 2021, the Associated Press and +972 Magazine reported that a leaked 74-page document, apparently prepared by Israel's Shin Bet internal security agency, was shared with European governments in May 2021. In July 2022, nine EU states – Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden – said that they received "no substantial information" that justified the Israeli claims and that they would continue their financial support to the organizations. When announcing this decision, the nine countries stated, "No substantial information was received from Israel that would justify reviewing our policy towards the six Palestinian NGOs. In the absence of such evidence, we will continue our cooperation and strong support for the civil society in the OPT."
U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price acknowledged on November 4, 2021 that an Israeli delegation had presented information about the designations to U.S. officials and stated that the U.S. authorities would carry out an assessment and make its own determination. Since then, despite some Congressional support to the Palestinian organizations and Congressional rejection of the Israeli claims, as well as a joint statement by UN experts, including the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism, calling for the resumption of funding to the six organizations, the Biden administration remained silent. On August 18, 2022, Price stated: "We are concerned about the Israeli security forces' closure of the six offices of the Palestinian NGOs in and around Ramallah today. We have reached out to the Israeli government, including at senior levels, including here from Washington as well as our embassy in Jerusalem, for more information regarding the basis for these closures." According to the Guardian, a classified CIA report found that there was no credible evidence against the organizations.
At the same time, the U.S. government has continued to provide the Israeli government with billions in military support. Notwithstanding the overwhelming record of Israeli human rights abuses, President Biden reiterated the United States' "ironclad" support for Israel during his trip to Israel and the West Bank in July 2022, and refused to meet with the Palestinian organizations despite calls from U.S. civil society organizations for him to do so.
Israel's labeling of these Palestinian organizations as "terrorist" and the campaign to use evidence that has been roundly discredited could also undermine legitimate and lawful global efforts to respond to terrorism. In their April 2022 letter, UN Experts explained how Israel's actions abuse such efforts, stating:
The United Nations has been very clear that the drafting and application of anti-terrorism laws have to be rigorously consistent with international law and human rights protections, including the principles of legal certainty, necessity, proportionality, the rule of law and non-discrimination. We are deeply disturbed by Israel's apparent misuse of anti-terrorism legislation to attack some of the leading civil society organisations in Palestine. Such misuse must be rejected and countered.
By its silence and inaction to condemn Israel's actions against the Palestinian organizations while continuing to provide unconditional U.S. military and political support to Israel, the Biden Administration is effectively acquiescing to repressive attacks on Palestinian civil society. In addition to the threat against individual Palestinian human rights defenders, this could have devastating consequences for the marginalized communities these organizations serve, including women, children, farmers, and poor families.
We, the undersigned organizations, urge the Biden Administration to take immediate action and make public its promised but long delayed assessment of the Israeli evidence and to follow the lead of its European counterparts in explicitly rejecting Israel's baseless designation of these groups as "terrorist" and "unlawful associations." The administration should demand that Israel reverse its determinations and cease all punitive actions against them, and President Biden should instruct the U.S. Ambassador in Jerusalem, Tom Nides, to meet publicly with representatives of the targeted organizations. Finally, the Administration should suspend military assistance to Israel so long as its systematic abuses of Palestinians, including this latest attack, continue.
Signed:
- Adalah Justice Project
- AJP Action
- American Friends Service Committee
- American Muslims for Palestine
- Center for Constitutional Rights
- Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN)
- Human Rights Watch
- Jewish Voice for Peace Action
- MENA Rights Group
- US Campaign for Palestinian Rights
- Virginia Coalition for Human Rights
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