More Weapons to Israel Violates US Law

IMEU Policy Project Memo #4

The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote tomorrow on H.R.8034, the Israel Supplemental Appropriations Act, 2024. The bill includes a total of $26 billion in appropriations, of which $14.1 billion are for weapons to Israel.

Topline

The House of Representatives should not provide more weapons to Israel because:

• Israel is in violation of US law and is ineligible to receive weapons from the US

• The majority of weapons in this bill will enable Israel to continue its attacks on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip

• The bill does not earmark any humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza; instead, it bans UNRWA funding and imposes new conditions and reporting requirements on such aid

Details

Through its ongoing attacks on Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, Israel is in blatant violation of US laws such as the Foreign Assistance Act, which prohibits US weapons to a country that engages in a systematic pattern of gross human rights violations. Israel is also in violation of the Arms Export Control Act, which limits the usage of US weapons to internal security and legitimate self-defense. 

In addition, further weapons transfers to Israel violate the Biden administration’s Conventional Arms Transfer (CAT) policy, which prohibit weapons to a country when they are more likely than not to result in genocide, crimes against humanity, breaches of the Geneva Convention, and violence against children. Weapons transfers to Israel also violate NSM-20, which prohibits weapons transfers to a country which violates assurances that it will not commit violations of international humanitarian law or block US humanitarian aid.

By killing more than 33,000 Palestinians, including more than 13,000 children, by deliberately destroying Palestinian homes and infrastructure, by forcibly displacing most Palestinians in Gaza, by targeting humanitarian aid workers and medical professionals, and by blockading food to the point where 1.1 million Palestinians are at risk of imminent starvation, providing Israel with additional weapons of any kind is clearly against US law and policy. 

Despite Israel’s clear ineligibility for any US weapons, should Representatives nevertheless still believe that Israel should receive additional anti-missile weapons, it is important to note that of the $14.1 billion in weapons to Israel which would be appropriated by H.R.8034, $8.9 billion (nearly two-thirds) of this appropriation would go toward the types of weapons which Israel is using in violation of US law and policy in its ongoing attacks against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

Weaponry appropriated by the act which could be used by Israel against Palestinians in Gaza includes:

• $4.4 billion to replenish the War Reserve Stockpiles Allies–Israel (WRSA-I), an opaque form of weapons transfers to Israel which provides Congress with no mechanism for oversight.

• $3.5 billion in Foreign Military Financing (FMF), more than doubling Israel’s annual FMF appropriation, including provisions to allow Israel to spend an unlimited percentage of this appropriation on its own domestic weapons manufacturers and to allow the president to waive congressional notifications for weapons deals, again making Congressional oversight of this appropriation impossible.

• $1 billion for the development of artillery and munitions.  

Nor should Representatives vote for this bill on the pretext that it will provide any humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza. While the bill includes $6.655 billion for International Disaster Assistance and $3.495 billion for Migration and Refugee Assistance, no amount of money is earmarked for humanitarian relief of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

In fact, the opposite is true: the bill bans US funding to UNRWA (Sec. 308) and imposes a whole new set of conditions, certifications, and reporting requirements on humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, all of which makes it extremely unlikely that any of this appropriation will benefit Palestinians even if US humanitarian aid was allowed in by Israel. For example, Sec. 309 allows Israel to play a role in determining the certification of whether US humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza has been diverted or misused and imposes a vague “third party monitoring” of such aid.

While H.R.8034 will come up for debate and a vote under a closed rule precluding amendments from being offered on the floor, it is important to note the following positive amendments that were offered:

• Amendments 59 and 61, introduced by Rep. Castro, to strike the provisions for waiving presidential notification requirements and for offshore procurement for FMF to Israel.  
  

• Amendment 77, introduced by Rep. Kildee and cosponsored by Reps. Dingell, Stansbury, Castro, Doggett, Raskin, Pocan, and Schakowsky, which “Restricts offensive military transfers, excluding funds made available for defensive purposes, under the Act until the completion of a full investigation regarding whether U.S. weapons are being used in accordance with U.S. and international law.”

• Amendments 78 and 80, introduced by Rep. Pressley, which would provide $17.25 billion in humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza and which would enact “a one-year moratorium on the transfer of weapons, excluding missile defense, to Israel.”

• Amendment 83, introduced by Rep. Bush and cosponsored by Rep. Tlaib, which “Prohibits funding, with limited exceptions including humanitarian assistance, from being obligated or expended so long as there is no lasting ceasefire in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, hostages taken on October 7th and arbitrarily detained Palestinians have not been freed, and there is no credible diplomatic process aimed at securing equal rights and self-determination for Palestinians and Israelis alike.”

• Amendment 84, introduced by Rep. Tlaib, a sense of Congress resolution “that Palestinians are human beings with an inherent right to live full and happy lives the same as any other human beings.”