Palestinians are suing the U.S. Department of State over the Biden-Harris government’s supply of military aid to Israel for its ongoing military campaign against the Hamas terrorist group in the Gaza Strip. The lawsuit, which was filed in a U.S. federal court on Tuesday, alleges the American government is allowing Israel to circumvent a series of U.S. human rights laws enacted by former Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) in 1997. According to the “Leahy Laws,” the United States cannot grant foreign military aid to a country if there is evidence of human rights abuses.

“My surviving family members in Gaza have been forcibly displaced four times since October, living in constant fear of indiscriminate Israeli attacks carried out with American weapons,” one of the plaintiffs, a Palestinian-American, said in a statement. “The U.S. government’s military assistance to these abusive Israeli forces, which our own laws prohibit, is enabling these Israeli harms to me and my family,” he added.

‘DOUBLE STANDARD.’

The plaintiffs in the case contend the U.S. is engaging in a double standard by supplying Israel with military aid. In the legal filing, they claim it is “reasonable to assess” that the Jewish State—using American-supplied weapons—violated international law in the course of its military operations in Gaza. These violations, they argue, should trigger the Leahy Laws, barring any further support. Hamas-aligned Gaza health officials claim 45,000 Palestinians have died in the conflict. However, Israel has consistently claimed its military has made every effort to minimize civilian casualties.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken continues to maintain that the allegations of a double standard in how the U.S. treats Israel compared to other nations are unfounded. In May, the Department of State—in a report to Congress—claimed insufficient evidence existed to trigger the Leahy Laws. The report did state, however, that the department continues to monitor Israel’s compliance with both the foreign military aid statute and international human rights laws.

The U.S. government has allocated approximately $17.9 billion in military aid to Israel since the start of the country’s war against Hamas over a year ago.

Image by Naaman Omar via Wikimedia Commons.

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