Concerns About Arms Transfers to Israel Continue To Grow | Palestine Policy Roundup 4.12.2024
Welcome to the Palestine Policy Roundup, a weekly publication of the IMEU Policy Project.
👀 ICYMI: MEMBERS OF CONGRESS SPEAK OUT
Rep. Chellie Pingree: The World Central Kitchen massacre by Israeli Defense Forces is just one of many humanitarian atrocities the US cannot ignore in Gaza. President Biden, we cannot approve more weapons transfers to Israel. Ceasefire now.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley: The images & testimonials coming out of Al-Shifa Hospital are beyond horrific. Palestinians should not have to endure such violence. The Israeli military’s barbaric assault on Gaza’s hospital system is shameful & must end. #CeasefireNOW
Rep. Rashida Tlaib: This Eid al-Fitr, as we end the holy month of Ramadan, our hearts are with the Palestinians in Gaza experiencing starvation and ethnic cleansing. Palestinian children are celebrating Eid on top of the rubble of their homes, schools, and masjids.
Rep. Becca Balint: We’re urging the Biden Administration to immediately withhold weapons transfers to Israel. As Gaza descends into famine and aid continues to be blocked from getting to those in need, it’s unjustifiable to approve further weapons transfers.
DC DEVELOPMENTS
MORE THAN 50 MEMBERS OF CONGRESS URGE BIDEN TO WITHHOLD WEAPONS TRANSFERS TO ISRAEL
More than 50 members of Congress led by Reps. Mark Pocan, Jim McGovern, and Jan Schakowsky urged President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken to withhold pending offensive weapons transfers to Israel should it fail to investigate and hold accountable those responsible for its deadly strike on World Central Kitchen aid workers and to place conditions on future weapons assistance should Israel continue to fail to mitigate civilian harm or to deny or restrict the delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza. This letter comes after the Biden administration approved the transfer of 1,000 500-pound bombs and over 1,000 small-diameter bombs to Israel. The authorization occurred on the same day Israeli strikes in Gaza killed seven aid workers from the charity group World Central Kitchen.
Since this letter was sent, Israel delayed the opening of the Erez crossing for the supply of additional humanitarian aid to Palestinians who are being starved to death by Israel. This delay in opening Erez makes it clear that Israel is still continuing to restrict humanitarian aid and that weapons transfers to Israel should be halted now as proposed in the letter.
💡 POLICY ASK: Introduce or co-sponsor legislation that would halt the transfer of offensive weapons to Israel as proposed in the letter.
DEAR COLLEAGUE LETTER ON NSM-20 ASSURANCES
Reps. Veronica Escobar and Joaquin Castro are circulating a letter which seeks answers from the Biden administration about its process for determining the credibility of Israeli assurances provided under National Security Memorandum 20 (NSM-20). Last month the State Department found Israel’s assurances that it was not blocking humanitarian aid and was using US weapons in conformity with international humanitarian law to be credible, despite more than 20 humanitarian aid organizations operating in Gaza reporting that “U.S. funded humanitarian assistance, has been consistently and arbitrarily denied, restricted, and impeded by the Israeli authorities.”
💡 POLICY ASK: To sign on to the letter, please click here before 3PM on Friday, April 12, and please direct any questions about the letter to Zahraa Saheb in Rep. Escobar’s office.
REP. GREGORY MEEKS SAYS HE IS “WAITING FOR ASSURANCES” BEFORE APPROVING F-15 SALE TO ISRAEL
During an interview with CNN News Central this week, House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Gregory Meeks said he wants assurances before approving a sale of F-15 fighter jets to Israel. The Biden administration reportedly notified the committee of this $18 billion sale last week, which also includes 30 AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles, as well as Joint Direct Attack Munition kits.
IN THE NEWS
📺 WATCH: CHRISTIANS FOR A FREE PALESTINE STAGE PROTEST IN SENATE CAFETERIA OVER STARVATION OF GAZA
Members of Christians for A Free Palestine staged a disruption of lunch service in the Senate Cafeteria to call attention to starvation in Gaza caused by Israel’s blockade. The group also demanded the restoration of funding for UNRWA and to end US sales of weapons to Israel.
UNRWA DISPUTES INCREASE IN HUMANITARIAN AID
Reuters reported this week that approximately 800 aid trucks entered Gaza on Monday and Tuesday, but those figures were disputed by UNRWA, which claims that only approximately 200 trucks entered on Monday, far fewer than the 500 trucks which entered Gaza before October.
🔑 KEY TAKEAWAY: Speaking to Reuters, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs spokesperson Jens Laerke also reported that “Trucks that go in, screened by COGAT, are typically only half full” and that “Food convoys that should be going particularly to the north, where 70% of people face famine conditions, are more likely, actually three times more likely, to be denied than any other humanitarian convoy with other kinds of material”.
GAZANS CELEBRATE EID AMID DESTROYED MOSQUES, MASS DEATH
As Muslims around the world celebrated Eid al-Fitr, the end of the holy month of Ramadan, Gazans dealt with the devastation caused by Israeli attacks on places of worship. Far from the joyous celebrations that usually accompany Eid, Palestinians in Gaza prayed in the rubble of mosques as Israel has killed more than 33,000 people so far. Speaking to the BBC, Khalil Abu Hassanein, a 13-year-old boy from the Sheikh Radwan area of Gaza City, who is sheltering at a hospital north of Rafah, said: “This Eid has no taste because of the bodies of people… that we see.”
📺 WATCH: Al-Jazeera captured video of children playing on the remains of a destroyed mosque on Eid.
PALESTINE/ISRAEL DEVELOPMENTS
PALESTINIANS RETURN TO KHAN YOUNIS TO FIND DEVASTATION FOLLOWING ISRAELI TROOP WITHDRAWAL
Following the withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Gaza on Sunday, Palestinians returned to Khan Younis to find 55% of all buildings in the city destroyed or damaged. Speaking to The Guardian, Muhammad Abu Diab said: “There is nothing left. I cannot bear the sight. I’m going to look in the rubble until I find clothes to wear. I’ll go back and live next to the rubble of my house even if it’s in a tent.”
🔑 KEY TAKEAWAY: UNRWA reported last week that 62% of all homes and 84% of all health facilities in Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, and that 1.7 million people are internally displaced and sheltering in UNRWA installations.
📷 PHOTO: View photos of the devastation from The Guardian
🏥: HUNDRED OF BODIES EXHUMED FROM MASS GRAVES AT AL-SHIFA HOSPITAL
Following the siege of Al-Shifa hospital by Israeli forces, more than 300 bodies have been exhumed from the vicinity of the hospital. Witnesses reported that some bodies had been completely disfigured and rendered unidentifiable by Israeli forces when Israeli tanks crushed them to death. Ahmad Alaiwa, a doctor at Al-Shifa, told CNN that “We are here to recover the remains of the bodies who are in the sand mounds that the Israeli occupation have plowed in a big pile.”