Death Toll From Israel’s Genocide in Gaza Surpasses 45,000 | Palestine Policy Roundup 12.20.24
Welcome to the Palestine Policy Roundup, a weekly publication of the IMEU Policy Project. This newsletter is curated to bring you the latest news from Congress and the White House regarding policy toward Palestine/Israel.
👀 ICYMI: MEMBERS OF CONGRESS SPEAK OUT
Rep. Cori Bush: “Never before have we seen such vital collective action on Palestine or support for the calls for an arms embargo on Israel. And never before have we seen such brazen efforts by AIPAC and its affiliates to try and shut out our voices. But they wouldn't be coming for us if we weren’t powerful. We won’t back down. We won’t go backwards. We’ll keep fighting for equal rights, dignity, security, justice, and self-determination for ALL people.”
Rep. Rashida Tlaib: “The images of Palestinians being burned alive, children carrying dead children & the unimaginable human suffering in Gaza are unbearable. Our country is funding this genocide. It's disgusting. The inaction of @POTUS & his administration will be remembered in the world.”
Rep. Delia Ramirez: “Through letters and conversations, we have asked the administration to stand on its word, ‘If you hurt an American, we will respond.’ Well, we’re here. We’ve been here, and it’s time to respond. It is time for an independent, U.S.-led investigation into her killing, and all the American citizens who have been murdered by Israeli military operations. It is time to put an end to the weapons and the bombs that feed a campaign of death and of destruction. It is time to have those responsible be held accountable.”
Rep. Summer Lee: “Claiming to fight for a ceasefire and continuing to send weapons to the Israeli government to indiscriminately bomb Gaza are mutually exclusive. Proud to join @RepCasar in leading 20 of my colleagues to demand an end to this conflict.”
DC DEVELOPMENTS
🔍 FAMILY OF AYŞENUR EYGI, AMERICAN CITIZEN KILLED BY ISRAELI FORCES IN WEST BANK, CALL FOR ACCOUNTABILITY IN WASHINGTON
The family of Ayşenur Eygi, an American citizen who was killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank after she observed a demonstration in September, traveled to Washington, DC this week to demand accountability for both the Israeli soldier who shot her and for Israeli forces who continue to commit genocide and enforce apartheid against Palestinians. Her family is demanding an independent investigation into her killing, which has so far been unmet despite evidence that cast doubt over the initial account of events provided by Israeli forces.
🔑 KEY TAKEAWAY: Hamid Ali, the widower of Ayşenur Eygi, wrote about his demand for justice for his wife in The Hill: “Aysenur’s killer, who unprovokedly fired a bullet into her skull, remains unpunished just like the soldier who killed Shireen, further emboldening Israeli soldiers to take the lives of U.S. citizens, Palestinians and others with impunity…If the U.S. had held Israel accountable for the killing of other Americans like Rachel Corrie or Shireen Abu Akleh, perhaps Israeli soldiers would not feel so emboldened to kill Americans, and other civilians, today. Perhaps, instead of standing in this closet now alone and paralyzed with pain, I would be with Aysenur trying to pick out what we would wear to dinner.”
The family met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday, who reportedly offered no prospect of an independent investigation, instead deferring to an investigation conducted by Israel that has yet to be completed more than three months after the killing of Ayşenur. After the meeting, Ayşenur’s sister Ozden Bennett said “Nothing left us optimistic about justice for my sister moving forward.” The family later met with members of Congress and held a press conference with Reps. Delia Ramirez, Pramila Jayapal, Rashida Tlaib, and Summer Lee. They detailed the lack of urgency that the State Department has treated this case with, and emphasized that Ayşenur would also demand accountability for the thousands of Palestinians who have been killed by US-supplied weapons during Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
The IMEU Policy Project is proud to have helped bring the family to Washington and assist in their call for justice not only for Ayşenur but also for all Americans killed by Israeli forces and Palestinians killed during Israeli genocide and occupation. Ayşenur was far from the first American killed by Israeli forces–in 2003, Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by a bulldozer operated by an Israeli soldier, and in 2022 Palestinian-Americans Omar Asad and journalist Shireen Abu Akleh were killed by Israeli forces. No case has received any accountability from Israel.
In the waning days of his administration, President Joe Biden must order an independent investigation into the killing of Ayşenur Eygi and stop treating Israel with impunity. Biden must also enforce US law and administration policies on weapons transfers and withhold all weapons from Israel in response to its continued and well documented crimes against Palestinians. Members of Congress must continue to demand justice for Ayşenur and pressure the Biden administration to treat her case with the urgency it deserves.
🍎 20 REPRESENTATIVES CALL ON BIDEN TO WITHHOLD WEAPONS FROM ISRAEL OVER OBSTRUCTION OF AID TO GAZA
Reps. Greg Casar and Summer Lee led 20 of their colleagues this week in a letter to the Biden administration urging them to uphold US law and administration policies and withhold weapons from Israel. The letter was sent in response to the Biden administration continuing the flow of weapons to Israel despite its failure to meet any stipulations outlined in a letter sent by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
This “30-day letter” sent by the administration provided the Israeli government with benchmarks to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza or risk the U.S. cutting off weapons. This 30-day grace period is not provided for by Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act nor by National Security Memorandum 20 (NSM-20), which were referenced in the letter, and weapons transfers to Israel should have stopped as soon as it became clear that Israel was blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza according to US law and Biden administration policies.
Despite the Israeli government failing to meet any of the benchmarks required by Blinken and Austin, the administration made the illegal and immoral decision to continue transferring weapons to Israel nonetheless, blatantly violating Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act and NSM-20.
In the month since this assessment was made, the amount of aid entering Gaza remains close to all-time low levels. Israel’s obstruction of aid has clearly not stopped, and conditions have worsened according to some humanitarian officials. Israeli forces have continued to target and kill humanitarian aid workers, including three World Central Kitchen workers and Mahmoud Almadhoun, the founder of the Gaza Soup Kitchen.
These developments directly contradict the tortured reasoning behind the Biden administration’s failure to live up to its own policies and U.S. law. The Biden administration must follow US law and policy and end the continued transfer of weapons to Israel as it has clearly violated them.
IN THE NEWS
⚖️ PALESTINIANS SUE SECRETARY OF STATE ANTONY BLINKEN OVER FAILURE TO APPLY LEAHY LAW TO ISRAEL
Palestinians and Palestinian-Americans filed a federal lawsuit against Secretary of State Antony Blinken over the State Department’s deliberate failure to apply the Leahy Law to Israel and continued provision of funding and weapons to Israeli military units accused of gross violations of human rights. This lawsuit marks the first time that victims of human rights abuses have challenged the State Department over its exceptional treatment of Israel.
Plaintiffs in the lawsuit include a math teacher in Gaza identified by the pseudonym Amal, who has been displaced seven times since the beginning of Israel’s assault on Gaza and who has lost twenty family members to Israeli attacks, and Shawan Jabarin, who was subjected to six years of arbitrary detention by Israeli forces in the West Bank. The lawsuit alleges that the State Department evaded application of the Leahy Law by creating insurmountable processes to do so.
Over the last year the different rules and exceptional policies that the State Department has used to circumvent application of the Leahy Law to Israel have been well documented. Investigative journalism outlet ProPublica also revealed earlier this year that Blinken failed to act on recommendations to sanction Israeli units made by the Israel Leahy Vetting Forum.
Former State Department official Charles Blaha also revealed how the State Department fails to hold Israel accountable under the law. Former Senator Patrick Leahy, for whom the law is named, outlined how the State Department has failed to adequately apply the law to Israeli forces.
In August, State Department officials failed to apply the Leahy Law to Israel’s Netzah Yehuda battalion–which killed Palestinian-American citizen Omar Asad–in a decision that Blaha called “directly contrary” to the law. A CNN investigation published earlier this year revealed the unit’s “culture of violence” against Palestinians and how its former members are now training and leading Israeli forces in Gaza.
Netzah Yehuda was one of five Israeli units found to have committed gross violations of human rights, though the other four were deemed to be “effectively remediated” at the time of the announcement. However, experts criticized that decision, saying that punishments like community service are not considered adequate and not consistent with the Leahy law. Despite finding that Netzah Yehuda had committed a gross violation of human rights that had not been deemed remediated, the unit remained eligible for US-supplied weapons and funding in violation of the law.
The Biden administration cannot continue its inaction. In the remaining days of his tenure, Secretary Blinken must remove these insurmountable barriers to accountability and hold Israel to the same standard that it holds other nations to when it applies the Leahy Law. Additionally, the Biden administration must recognize the systemic nature of gross violations of human rights committed by Israeli forces in Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and elsewhere and withhold all weapons to Israel. Members of Congress must continue to pressure the Biden administration to fairly and adequately apply the Leahy Law to Israel and must exercise their oversight authority over weapons to Israel and end weapons transfers to put a stop to US complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
🚨 HUMAN RIGHTS REPORTS CONTINUE TO SHOW HOW ISRAEL IS COMMITTING GENOCIDE IN GAZA
New reports published by Human Rights Watch and Doctors Without Borders continue to demonstrate how Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. In its report published on Thursday, Human Rights Watch found that Israeli authorities are responsible for “the crime against humanity of extermination and for acts of genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza through their intentional and widespread deprivation of adequate access to water.
The Human Rights Watch report details how Israeli authorities and forces have restricted pipe water to Gaza, how restrictions on aid have rendered sanitation and water infrastructure inoperable, and how Israeli forces have deliberately destroyed this infrastructure. Tirana Hassan, executive director at Human Rights Watch, notes in the report that Israel’s deliberate deprivation of water has likely led to thousands of deaths from dehydration and disease. This is in line with what other organizations have published throughout the year, including a report published by Oxfam which presented the startling statistic that Palestinians in Gaza only had 4.74 liters–1.25 gallons–of water available per person per day.
The report published by Doctors Without Borders outlines how Israel’s attacks on civilians and dismantling of the medical infrastructure of Gaza, along with attacks on other forms of infrastructure, are “destroying the conditions of life in Gaza.” Doctors Without Borders Secretary General Christopher Lockyear noted that “What our medical teams have witnessed on the ground throughout this conflict is consistent with the descriptions provided by an increasing number of legal experts and organizations concluding that genocide is taking place in Gaza.” The report also details how the displacement of Palestinians in Gaza is contributing to the spread of skin diseases, respiratory infections, and diarrhea, and is putting children at risk of malnutrition and diseases like polio and measles.
These reports are just the latest in the growing recognition of Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. Earlier this month, Amnesty International published its report that concluded that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. This report detailed how Israeli authorities have “carried out acts prohibited under the Genocide Convention, with the specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza. Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have both called on states to end weapons transfers to Israel in order to stop their complicity in these crimes and to act to bring these crimes to an end.
PALESTINE/ISRAEL DEVELOPMENTS
🎯 MORE THAN 45,000 PALESTINIANS KILLED BY ISRAEL DURING ONGOING GENOCIDE IN GAZA
As ceasefire negotiations continue, Israeli forces unleashed devastating attacks across Gaza over the last week. More than 45,000 Palestinians, including 17,000 children, have been killed by Israel’s assault on the occupied territory according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
This milestone is yet another reminder of the carnage unleashed by Israeli forces on Palestinians in Gaza, and is likely an undercount because it does not include the more than 10,000 Palestinians estimated to be trapped under the rubble of destroyed infrastructure and homes. The death toll may also be far greater than this number suggests–in an open letter to President Biden published earlier this year, American medical workers who volunteered in Gaza estimated the death toll to be more than 118,000 when accounting for indirect deaths from disease and starvation.
Among the dozens of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces this week was Khaled Nabhan, a Palestinian grandfather who was featured in a viral video after an Israeli strike killed his granddaughter Reem and his grandson Tarek in November 2023. The video showed his emotional goodbye as he cradled his granddaughter’s body, who he called “the soul of my soul” as he kissed her eyes. After his grandchildren were killed, Nabhan devoted himself to helping injured Palestinians and helping the children of Gaza. Four more Palestinians were also killed by the Israeli tank shell that killed Khaled, which targeted a home in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.
📺 WATCH a brief report on Khaled Nabhan and his devotion to helping other Palestinians produced by AJ+.
Photo: Anas Mohammed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license, in collaboration with APAimages.