[[link removed]]

BLINKEN IS SITTING ON STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS TO SANCTION ISRAELI
MILITARY UNITS LINKED TO KILLINGS OR RAPES  
[[link removed]]


 

Brett Murphy
April 17, 2024
ProPublica
[[link removed]]


*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

_ A special State Department panel told Secretary of State Antony
Blinken that the U.S. should restrict arms sales to Israeli military
units that have been credibly accused of human rights abuses. He has
not taken any action. _

,

 

_ProPublica is a nonprofit newsroom that investigates abuses of power.
Sign up to receive our biggest stories
[[link removed]] as
soon as they’re published._

A special State Department panel recommended months ago that Secretary
of State Antony Blinken disqualify multiple Israeli military and
police units from receiving U.S. aid after reviewing allegations that
they committed serious human rights abuses.

But Blinken has failed to act on the proposal in the face of growing
international criticism of the Israeli military’s conduct in Gaza,
according to current and former State Department officials.

The incidents under review mostly took place in the West Bank and
occurred before Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. They include reports
of extrajudicial killings by the Israeli Border Police; an incident in
which a battalion gagged, handcuffed and left an elderly Palestinian
American man for dead; and an allegation that interrogators tortured
and raped a teenager who had been accused of throwing rocks and
Molotov cocktails.

Recommendations for action against Israeli units were sent to Blinken
in December, according to one person familiar with the memo.
“They’ve been sitting in his briefcase since then,” another
official said.

A State Department spokesperson told ProPublica the agency takes its
commitment to uphold U.S. human rights laws seriously. “This process
is one that demands a careful and full review,” the spokesperson
said, “and the department undergoes a fact-specific investigation
applying the same standards and procedures regardless of the country
in question.”

The revelations about Blinken’s failure to act on the
recommendations come at a delicate moment in U.S.-Israel relations.
Six months into its war against Hamas, whose militants massacred 1,200
Israelis and kidnapped 240 more on Oct. 7, the Israeli military has
killed more than 33,000 Palestinians, according to local authorities.
Recently, President Joe Biden has signaled increased frustration with
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the widespread civilian
casualties.

Multiple State Department officials who have worked on Israeli
relations said that Blinken’s inaction has undermined Biden’s
public criticism, sending a message to the Israelis that the
administration was not willing to take serious steps.

The recommendations came from a special committee of State Department
officials known as the Israel Leahy Vetting Forum. The panel, made up
of Middle East and human rights experts, is named for former Sen.
Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the chief author of 1997 laws that requires the
U.S. to cut off assistance to any foreign military or law enforcement
units — from battalions of soldiers to police stations — that are
credibly accused of flagrant human rights violations.

The Guardian reported this year that the State Department was
reviewing
[[link removed]] several
of the incidents but had not imposed sanctions because the U.S.
government treats Israel with unusual deference. Officials told
ProPublica that the panel ultimately recommended that the secretary of
state take action.

This story is drawn from interviews with present and former State
Department officials as well as government documents and emails
obtained by ProPublica. The officials spoke on the condition of
anonymity in order to discuss internal deliberations.

The Israeli government did not respond to a request for comment.

Over the years, hundreds of foreign units, including from Mexico,
Colombia and Cambodia, have been blocked from receiving any new aid.
Officials say enforcing the Leahy Laws can be a strong deterrent
against human rights abuses.

Human rights organizations tracking Israel’s response to the Oct. 7
attacks have collected eyewitness testimony and videos posted by
Israeli soldiers that point to widespread abuses in Gaza and the West
Bank.

“If we had been applying Leahy effectively in Israel like we do in
other countries, maybe you wouldn’t have the IDF filming TikToks of
their war crimes now because we have contributed to a culture of
impunity,” said Josh Paul, a former director in the State
Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs and a member of
the vetting forum. Paul resigned in protest shortly after Israel began
its bombing campaign of Gaza in October.

The Leahy Laws apply to countries that receive American-funded
training or arms. In the decades after the passage of those laws, the
State Department, under both Democratic and Republican
administrations, followed a de facto policy of exempting billions of
dollars of foreign military financing to Israel from their strictures,
according to multiple experts on the region.

In 2020, Leahy and others in Congress passed a law to tighten the
oversight. The State Department set up the vetting forum to identify
Israeli security force units that shouldn’t be receiving American
assistance. Until now, it has been paralyzed by its bureaucracy,
failing to fulfill the hopes of its sponsors.

Critics have long assailed what they view as Israel’s special
treatment. Incidents that would have disqualified units in other
countries did not have the same result in Israel, according to Charles
Blaha, the former director of the State Department’s Office of
Security and Human Rights and a former participant in the Israeli
vetting forum. “There is no political will,” he said.

Typically, the reports of wrongdoing come from nongovernment
organizations like Human Rights Watch or from press accounts. The
State Department officials determining whether to recommend sanctions
generally do not draw on the vast array of classified material
gathered by America’s intelligence agencies.

Actions against an Israeli unit are subject to additional layers of
scrutiny. The forum is required to consult the government of Israel.
Then, if the forum agrees that there is credible evidence of a human
rights violation, the issue goes to more senior officials, including
some of the department’s top diplomats who oversee the Middle East
and arms transfers. Then the recommendations can be sent to the
secretary of state for final approval, either with consensus or as
split decisions.

Even if Blinken were to approve the sanctions, officials said, Israel
could blunt their impact. One approach would be for the country to buy
American arms with its own funds and give them to the units that had
been sanctioned. Officials said the symbolism of calling out Israeli
units for misconduct would nonetheless be potent, marking a sign of
disapproval of the civilian toll the war is taking.

Since it was formed in 2020, the forum has reviewed reports of
multiple cases of rape and extrajudicial killings, according to the
documents ProPublica obtained. Those cases also included several
incidents where teenagers were reportedly beaten in custody before
being released without charges. The State Department records obtained
by ProPublica do not clearly indicate which cases the experts
ultimately recommended for sanctions, and several have been tabled
pending more information from the Israelis.

Israel generally argues it has addressed allegations of misconduct and
human rights abuses through its own military discipline and legal
systems. In some of the cases, the forum was satisfied that Israel had
taken serious steps to punish the perpetrators.

But officials agreed on a number of human rights violations, including
some that the Israeli government had not appeared to adequately
address.

Among the allegations reviewed by the committee was the January 2021
arrest of a 15-year old boy by Israeli Border Police. The teen was
held for five days at the Al-Mascobiyya detention center on charges
that he had thrown stones and Molotov cocktails at security forces.
Citing an allegation shared by a Palestinian child welfare nonprofit
[[link removed]],
forum officials said there was credible information the teen had been
forced to confess after he was “subjected to both physical and
sexual torture, including rape by an object.”

Two days after the State Department asked the Israeli government for
information about what steps it had taken to hold the perpetrators
accountable, Israeli police raided the nonprofit that had originally
shared the allegation and later designated it a terrorist
organization. The Israelis told State Department officials they had
found no evidence of sexual assault or torture but reprimanded one of
the teen’s interrogators for kicking a chair.

Do you have any information about American arms shipments to countries
accused of human rights violations? Contact Brett Murphy
at [email protected]
[[link removed]] or
by Signal at 508-523-5195.

_Alex Mierjeski
[[link removed]] contributed
reporting._

_Brett Murphy [[link removed]] is a
reporter on ProPublica’s national desk. His work
[[link removed]] uncovering
a new junk science known as 911 call analysis won a George Polk Award,
among other honors. [email protected]
[[link removed]]_

* Anthony Blinken
[[link removed]]
* Israel
[[link removed]]
* war crimes
[[link removed]]

*
[[link removed]]
*
[[link removed]]
*
*
[[link removed]]

 

 

 

INTERPRET THE WORLD AND CHANGE IT

 

 

Submit via web
[[link removed]]

Submit via email
Frequently asked questions
[[link removed]]
Manage subscription
[[link removed]]
Visit xxxxxx.org
[[link removed]]

Twitter [[link removed]]

Facebook [[link removed]]

 




[link removed]

To unsubscribe, click the following link:
[link removed]