Amnesty International Report Finds Israel is Committing Genocide in Gaza | Palestine Policy Roundup 12.13.24
Welcome to the Palestine Policy Roundup, a weekly publication of the IMEU Policy Project.
👀 ICYMI: MEMBERS OF CONGRESS SPEAK OUT
Sen. Bernie Sanders: “If the Democratic Party is to become a democratic party, the first job of a new DNC Chair is to get super-PAC money out of Democratic primaries. AIPAC and other billionaire-funded super-PACS cannot be allowed to select Democratic candidates.”
Rep. Delia Ramirez: “Diplomacy, not bombs, achieved a ceasefire deal between Israel and Lebanon. But our work is not done. Now, it's time for our nation to leverage our power for an arms embargo and ceasefire in Gaza. IT CAN BE DONE!”
Rep. Rashida Tlaib: “A horrific genocide is happening right now and it should be documented in the Congressional Record. The silence and indifference in Congress is disturbing. I submitted @Amnesty’s 296-page report concluding that the Israeli government is committing genocide against Palestinians.”
Rep. Cori Bush: “No matter how much money AIPAC & its affiliates spend to obscure & deny the facts on the ground, the truth will prevail. @amnesty now joins the @UN, @IntlCrimCourt, @CIJ_ICJ & others in concluding that Israeli authorities are indeed committing genocide.”
DC DEVELOPMENTS
❌ BIDEN ADMINISTRATION APPROVES $680 MILLION WEAPONS PACKAGE TO ISRAEL
On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, President Biden reportedly approved a new $680 million weapons transfer to Israel, which flies in the face of US and international law as Israel continues its genocide in Gaza. The deal includes “thousands of joint direct attack munition kits (JDAMs) and hundreds of small-diameter bombs”, according to an anonymous administration official. This deal came less than a day after a ceasefire was reached in Lebanon and after the Biden administration approved a $20 billion weapons package to Israel in August. Part of that deal was opposed by 19 Senators in the first-ever Senate vote on blocking weapons to Israel.
This latest deal includes weapons Israel has used in numerous apparent war crimes in Gaza:
On July 13, 2024, Israel attacked a so-called “safe zone” in al-Mawasi, in which internally displaced Palestinians were sheltering, killing at least 90 people and injuring hundreds more. A CNN investigation found that Israel carried out this attack with at least one JDAM.
On June 6, 2024, Israel dropped small diameter bombs made by Boeing on the al-Sardi school in Nuseirat, also serving as a shelter for displaced families, killing 40.
On January 9, 2024, an Israeli plane dropped a US-made small diameter bomb on a residential building, killing 18. On May 13, 2024, Israel dropped the same type of US-made bomb on a school serving as a shelter, killing approximately 30.
Time and time again, weapons supplied by the US are found in the aftermath of Israeli attacks on Palestinians in Gaza. As of August, there were at least 20 known incidents of US weapons being used in apparent war crimes committed by Israeli forces. This likely only represents a fraction of the true scale of the carnage and destruction caused by these weapons; their use by Israeli forces has likely grown since then.
Time is running out for President Biden to do the right thing and comply with US law and his administration’s own policies on weapons transfers by halting all weapons to Israel. Israeli officials have repeatedly noted that the flow of US weapons allows Israel to continue its genocide in Gaza and to reject a ceasefire.
If President Biden refuses to use his leverage to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, it is up to Congress to use its oversight authority to block these weapons and all weapons transfers to Israel. This $680 million weapons deal is reportedly subject to a hold in Congress. Representatives, especially those on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, should support this hold on this weapons package.
IN THE NEWS
On Thursday, IMEU Policy Project convened lawyers, analysts, and academics to discuss the Antisemitism Awareness Act, a bill which threatens to censor Palestinian advocacy by falsely conflating criticism of Israel with anti-Jewish hatred.
This bill was passed in the House earlier this year, and has been the subject of negotiations between Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. Schumer is now reportedly planning to include the controversial legislation in the continuing resolution after failing to add it to the National Defense Authorization Act.
The Antisemitism Awareness Act would codify into law that the Department of Education “shall take into consideration” the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism when determining if a violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act has occurred.
The briefing covered key aspects of the bill as it relates to new, repressive campus protest policies and other growing restrictions on student activism, including the exploitation of Title VI to suppress advocacy for Palestinian freedom.
Leading legal experts discussed First Amendment and free speech concerns, and provided an overview of Students for Justice in Palestine v. Abbott, a case in which a federal judge ruled that Texas universities’ usage of the controversial IHRA definition of antisemitism violates the First Amendment, and that incorporation of the definition into speech policies is viewpoint discrimination.
Finally, students and faculty shared perspectives on how the bill would deny Palestinian students the right to speak about their experiences of racism, military occupation, apartheid, and genocide, and how the bill would impact thousands of students and faculty already facing university administrative and legal retaliation for their advocacy for Palestinian rights.
📺 WATCH: The IMEU Policy Project’s webinar on the Antisemitism Awareness Act.
📖 LEARN MORE: Check out the IMEU Policy Project’s policy memo on the dangers posed by the Antisemitism Awareness Act, the IMEU Policy Project’s policy paper on how higher education policy is being used to repress pro-peace speech on Palestine, and analysis from IMEU, our sister organization, on how the IHRA definition of antisemitism stifles free speech.
PALESTINE/ISRAEL DEVELOPMENTS
⚖️ AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: ISRAEL HAS COMMITTED GENOCIDE IN GAZA
In a landmark report, Amnesty International has found that “Israel has committed and is continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip”. This report vindicates what Palestinians in Gaza have experienced and told the world, and is an important step in demanding accountability for Israel’s crimes in Gaza.
🔑 KEY TAKEAWAY: Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International, said: “Amnesty International’s report demonstrates that Israel has carried out acts prohibited under the Genocide Convention, with the specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza. These acts include killings, causing serious bodily or mental harm and deliberately inflicting on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction. Month after month, Israel has treated Palestinians in Gaza as a subhuman group unworthy of human rights and dignity, demonstrating its intent to physically destroy them.”
The Israeli military has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, including thousands of children. Amnesty International’s findings detail Israel’s calculated starvation and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and destruction of life-sustaining infrastructure.
The report found that Israel has a clear intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza, and that the annihilation of Palestinian lives and life-sustaining infrastructure cannot be explained in another way. The report also found that Israel’s blocking of humanitarian aid to Gaza is also a part of this genocidal campaign, and that Israel has refused to take steps within its power to improve the humanitarian situation in the occupied territory.
The report examined Israeli violations in Gaza between October 7, 2023 and July 2024. Amnesty International interviewed more than 200 people, many of whom are Palestinian victims or witnesses of Israeli crimes, healthcare workers, and local authorities in Gaza. The report also examined statements by Israeli officials.
Amnesty International called on the US government to immediately suspend all arms transfers, military funding, and training to Israel, urgently fund humanitarian assistance for Palestinians in Gaza, restore funding to UNRWA, and use all leverage to support an immediate and permanent ceasefire.
This report has added to the mountain of evidence on Israel’s genocide in Gaza and has detailed a systemic campaign of death and destruction that involves various individuals and governmental bodies of Israel–it demonstrates that this genocide is not just the result of the orders of one leader or a few officials. The Biden administration must heed the call of Amnesty International and immediately halt all weapons to Israel.
🖊️ ISRAELI FORCES USED US-SUPPLIED WEAPONS IN STRIKE ON JOURNALISTS IN LEBANON
A report released by Human Rights Watch found that Israeli forces used a US-supplied Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) guidance kit in a deliberate attack on civilians in Lebanon. The kit used in the attack was marketed by Boeing and manufactured by the US company Woodard. The report called this attack an apparent war crime. In the immediate aftermath of the attack, Committee to Protect Journalists Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna noted that targeting journalists is a war crime under international law. It also recommended that “The US government should suspend weapons transfers to Israel because of the military’s repeated, unlawful attacks on civilians”.
According to the report, there was “no evidence of fighting, military forces, or military activity in the immediate area at the time of the attack.” Additionally, it notes that “the Israeli military knew or should have known that journalists were staying in the area and in the targeted building.”
The Israeli airstrike killed three journalists and injured at least four others who were staying in a guest house in Hasbaya, Lebanon. The guesthouse was a part of a larger compound hosting 18 journalists from seven media organizations.
Other journalists who were staying in the same compound reported that both Israel and Hezbollah had been told that journalists were staying in this area, and that the courtyard of the compound contained vehicles which were clearly labeled as press. Journalists had moved to the area from another area further south because of Israeli airstrikes on the previous area.
Photo: Palestinian News & Information Agency (Wafa) in contract with APAimages, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported