State Department officials pushed to restrict weapons sales to Israel due to human rights concerns in Gaza, but their appeals were repeatedly denied by higher-ups, according to an investigation by ProPublica.
In late August, the Times of Israel said, citing the Israeli Defence Ministry, that the army received over 50,000 tons of weapons since the start of Tel Aviv's genocide in besieged Gaza. / Photo: AA Archive
Top American officials dismissed appeals from several State Department officials to stop weapons deliveries to Israel, even amid escalating civilian casualties in besieged Gaza, according to a new investigation.
According to an investigative piece by ProPublica, which cited leaked emails and cables, when the Palestinian death toll stood at around 25,000 deaths in late January, US envoy to Israel Jack Lew urged the State Department to approve the delivery of 3,000 more bombs to Israel, arguing it wasn't possible the Israeli military would misuse the weapons.
ProPublica, a non-profit investigative journalism outlet based in New York, said the pressure to keep arms deliveries to Israel also came from US military contractors who manufacture the weapons.
"Lobbyists for those companies have routinely pressed lawmakers and State Department officials behind the scenes to approve shipments both to Israel… When one company executive pushed his former subordinate at the department for a valuable sale, the government official reminded him that strategising over the deal might violate federal lobbying laws," the ProPublica investigation said, citing leaked emails.
The US State Department's response to ProPublica article didn't address any of the highlighted issues, and only said that the US expects recipients of US arms to be compliant with international law.
An Israeli government spokesperson, however, slammed the article as "biased", saying it's trying to portray the US-Israel relations as "improper."
Despite documented reports and evidence of Israel deliberately targeting Palestinian civilians, Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged the civilian sufferings, but said, "We started with the premise on October 7 that Israel had the right to defend itself."
Protecting Israel from scrutiny
The investigation also emphasised that the US embassy in Israel tries to protect Israel from scrutiny, with US diplomats in Israel refusing to take funds from the State Department's Middle East Bureau earmarked to probe human rights violations carried out by Israel.
"In most places, our goal is to address human rights violations," Mike Casey, a former US diplomat in occupied Jerusalem, was quoted in the investigation as saying.
"We don't have that in Jerusalem."
Despite disagreeing on almost every issue, both Democrats and Republicans hail Israel as a "beacon of democracy" in a region filled with opposition to US interests.
Vice President and Democratic candidate Kamala Harris has said she has no intention of changing Joe Biden's policy towards arming Israel during an interview with CNN.
Republican candidate Donald Trump has also argued that no US president served Israel like he did, saying that he is the "best friend Israel has ever had".
Israel lives on US donation
Israel is the largest recipient of US aid and military assistance. Since 1948, Israel has received over $310 billion in aid from the US, both economic and military.
According to Israeli media, the military has received over 50,000 tonnes of weapons since the start of Tel Aviv's genocide in besieged Gaza.
The Biden administration has so far resisted calls to condition any arms transfers to Israel even though senior US officials have criticised Tel Aviv over the high civilian death toll in Gaza, where Tel Aviv has killed more than 42,000 Palestinians and wounded nearly 100,000 others in last 365 days.
Some 10,000 Palestinians are feared to be buried under rubble of the bombed homes.
Another 10,000 have been abducted by Israel and dumped in Israeli torture chambers. Experts and some studies say this is just a tip of an iceberg and the actual Palestinian death toll could be around 200,000.
Israel is accused of genocide at the ICJ and Palestinians says US is fully complicit in it.
SOURCE: TRT World
No comments:
Post a Comment