[ A group of progressive Democrats in the United States Congress
has called on President Joe Biden to “shift” American policy on
the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, saying that US aid should not be
used to fund abuses of Palestinian rights.]
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CONGRESS MEMBERS URGE PROBE INTO USE OF US WEAPONS BY ISRAEL  
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Al Jazeera Staff
April 14, 2023
Al Jazeera
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_ A group of progressive Democrats in the United States Congress has
called on President Joe Biden to “shift” American policy on the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict, saying that US aid should not be used to
fund abuses of Palestinian rights. _

US Representative Jamaal Bowman wrote the letter along with Senator
Bernie Sanders, Eduardo Munoz/Reuters // Al Jazeera

 

In a letter to Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken on
Thursday, 14 lawmakers also urged the US administration to investigate
whether American weapons were used to commit rights violations against
Palestinians and ensure that “US taxpayer funds do not support
projects in illegal settlements”.

“Furthermore, we call on your administration to ensure that all
future foreign assistance to Israel, including weapons and equipment,
is not used in support of gross violations of human rights, including
by strengthening end-use monitoring and financial tracking,” it
read.

US regulations, including a provision known as the Leahy law
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prohibit assistance to military forces that commit gross violations of
human rights.

The letter, led by Congressman Jamaal Bowman and Senator Bernie
Sanders, marked a rare call from Congress for restricting the $3.8bn
that Israel receives in US military aid every year.

It cited the killing of two American citizens by Israeli forces last
year – Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akleh
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Assad
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an elderly Palestinian-American who died after being arbitrarily
detained.

While the letter only garnered a relatively small number of
signatures, progressive activists have described it as norm-breaking.
Israel has traditionally enjoyed near unanimous, bipartisan support in
Congress.

“These 14 members of Congress represent the rapidly growing
popular opinion of Democrats
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the country: Americans want to see an end to US support for Israel’s
blatant violence against Palestinians,” Beth Miller, political
director Jewish Voice for Peace Action, an advocacy group that
supports Palestinian rights, told Al Jazeera in an email.

Miller added that the letter was backed by dozens of civil society
groups, including racial justice, climate advocacy and civil rights
organisations.

“The lawmakers who are pushing this initiative represent the future
of US policy toward Palestine/Israel. Democratic leadership
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pay attention and catch up,” Miller said.

Palestinian rights advocates have long called on Washington to use
its aid to Israel
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leverage to pressure the Israeli government to end its abuses,
including the expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank.

“We urge immediate action to prevent the further loss of Israeli and
Palestinian lives,” the Sanders-Bowman letter read.

“At this inflection point, we ask your administration to undertake a
shift in US policy in recognition of the worsening violence, further
annexation of land, and denial of Palestinian rights.”

Violence has escalated in Israel and the Palestinian territories in
recent weeks, with Israeli forces storming Al-Aqsa Mosque
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regularly conducting deadly raids in the West Bank. Palestinian
gunmen have also carried out fatal attacks
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Israeli settlers.

The far-right government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu faced condemnation
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across the world earlier this year after Finance Minister Bezalel
Smotrich said the Palestinian village of Huwara should be “wiped
out”.

Thursday’s letter accused ultranationalist officials in
Netanyahu’s government of “pushing repressive, anti-democratic
policies and escalating violence towards the Palestinian
population”.

The Democratic lawmakers noted that the Israeli government has
continued to authorise settlement-building despite US objections.

“We are deeply concerned by Israeli government moves that
demonstrate that illegal de facto and de jure annexation of the
occupied West Bank is well underway,” the letter said.

Signatories include prominent progressives Rashida Tlaib, Cori Bush,
Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley as well as
Muslim-American Congressman Andre Carson and first-term House members
Delia Ramirez and Summer Lee
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Betty McCollum, who previously introduced bills
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would restrict aid to Israel, also joined the letter.

“We must stop funding Israeli apartheid,” Bush wrote on Twitter on
Friday.

Leading rights groups, including Amnesty International
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Human Rights Watch, have accused Israel of imposing apartheid against
Palestinians.

The letter came weeks after disagreements between Biden
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Netanyahu played out publicly following a call by the US president for
halting a judicial overhaul plan in Israel that critics have said
would weaken the courts’ oversight of the government.

The Biden administration has also criticised Israeli settlement plans
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but US officials often stress that Washigton’s commitment to Israel
is “ironclad”.

As a candidate, late in 2019, Biden dismissed conditioning aid to
Israel as a “bizarre” idea.

* Israel
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* Israel Lobby
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* Benjamin Netanyahu
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* U.S.-Israel relations
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* U.S.-Israel military aid
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* Palestinian rights
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* Palestine
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* Palestinians
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* israeli-palestinian conflict
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* zionism
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* Bernie Sanders
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* Jamaal Bowman
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* The Squad
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* progressive Democrats
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* Democratic Party
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* Congress
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* Antony Blinken
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* U.S. foreign policy
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* Biden Administration
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