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BIDEN (FINALLY) THREATENS TO HALT ARMS TO ISRAEL OVER GAZA CARNAGE  
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Jessica Corbett
October 15, 2024
Common Dreams
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_ "We should not wait 30 days," one group argued. "U.S. law requires
ending the weapons NOW." _

President Biden with Secretary of State Antony Blinken at tri-lateral
meeting in Hawaii., U.S. Indo-Pacific Command

 

After a year of outrage over U.S. support for Israel's devastating
assault on the Gaza [[link removed]] Strip,
multiple media outlets reported Tuesday that the Biden administration
threatened to cut off U.S. weapons if the Israeli government does not
take "urgent and sustained actions" to improve humanitarian conditions
in the Palestinian territory within 30 days.

The October 13 letter from U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin is addressed to Israeli Minister of
Defense Yoav Gallant and Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron
Dermer. _Axios_ reporter Barak Ravid published
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letter on social media and _The Washington Post_reported
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U.S. and Israeli officials."

Blinken and Austin noted requirements under federal law—which
critics of the war have often cited
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arguments that continuing to provide Israel
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illegal—and National Security Memorandum 20
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which President Joe Biden issued in February. NSM-20 directs the
secretary of state "to obtain certain credible and reliable written
assurances from foreign governments" that they use U.S. arms in line
with international humanitarian law and will not "arbitrarily deny,
restrict, or otherwise impede, directly or indirectly, the transport
or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance."

The U.S. secretaries wrote that "to reverse the downward humanitarian
trajectory and consistent with its assurances to us, Israel must,
starting now and within 30 days, act on the following concrete
measures. Failure to demonstrate a sustained commitment to
implementing and maintaining these measures may have implications for
U.S. policy under NSM-20 and relevant U.S. law."

The letter calls on the Israeli government to "surge all forms of
humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza," with a list of specific
actions. It also demands that Israel "ensure that the commercial and
Jordan Armed Forces (JAF) corridors are functioning at full and
continuous capacity" and "end the isolation in northern Gaza."

While acknowledging concerns about Israel's unverified allegations
that a small number of staff from the United Nations Relief and Works
Agency for Palestine
[[link removed]] Refugees in the Near
East were involved in the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack, Blinken
and Austin also expressed alarm about the Knesset's potential adoption
of UNRWA legislation that "would devastate the Gaza humanitarian
response at this critical moment and deny vital educational and social
services to tens of thousands of Palestinians in the West Bank and
East Jerusalem, which could have implications under relevant U.S. law
and policy."

As _CNN_reported
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Israel appears to already be responding to the letter, at least
indirectly. Just one day after the letter was sent, COGAT, the Israeli
agency that manages policy for the Palestinian territories and the
flow of aid into the strip, tweeted photos of aid going into Gaza.

"30 trucks entered northern Gaza through the Erez Crossing earlier
today. Israel is not preventing the entry of humanitarian aid, with an
emphasis on food, into Gaza," COGAT said in a post on X. "Israel will
continue to allow the entry of humanitarian aid to the residents of
Gaza, while simultaneously destroying Hamas’ military and governance
infrastructures."

However, since Sunday, Israel has also continued killing civilians in
Gaza, bombing
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hospital complex and refugee camps—actions that have led progressive
U.S. lawmakers to call on
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stop "this evil genocide."

Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice
over its yearlong assault on Gaza—which, according to
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officials in the Hamas-governed enclave, has killed at least 42,344
Palestinians and wounded another 99,013, with thousands more missing.

Responding to the new letter in a Tuesday statement, Sarah Leah
Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now, said
that "however long overdue, this official warning that Israel must
stop blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza or face a suspension of U.S.
military aid is an important and unprecedented signal that Israel has
crossed even the Biden administration's permissive red lines."

"We now need the Biden administration to show action, not just words,
in enforcing U.S. laws, which prohibit aid to Israel given not only
its relentless obstruction of humanitarian relief but deliberate
starvation and incessant bombardment of Gaza's civilians," she added.

The Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project noted
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that the United States Agency for International Development and the
State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration
"recommended
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weapons to Israel months ago for these violations."

"Blinken ignored them and lied to Congress about their findings," the
group said. "We should not wait 30 days. U.S. law requires ending the
weapons NOW."

Georgia state Rep. Ruwa Romman (D-97), who is Palestinian American,
agreed. She declared
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There's 370 days of evidence. The hundreds of thousands of people
being starved in Gaza won't survive 30 more days."

Outgoing Congressman Jamaal Bowman
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June primary to a pro-Israel candidate backed by lobbyist
money—also argued
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that "30 days is too long to wait and see if we will impose an arms
embargo."

"How many more Palestinians are we going to allow Israel to murder in
30 days?" he asked. "How many more children and families and
generations? We need an arms embargo NOW!"

_Jessica Corbett is a senior editor and staff writer for Common
Dreams._

* Israel-Gaza War
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* Humanitarian Aid
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* Arms embargo
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