Report Reveals Blinken Knew Israel Was Blocking Humanitarian Aid to Gaza | Palestine Policy Roundup 09.27.2024
Welcome to the Palestine Policy Roundup, a weekly publication of the IMEU Policy Project.
👀 ICYMI: MEMBERS OF CONGRESS SPEAK OUT
Rep. Jamaal Bowman: “Gaza isn’t starving. It’s being starved. Famine and disease are setting in across Gaza, all while Israel continues to obstruct humanitarian aid. … By depriving UNRWA of funding, we not only make it difficult to deliver desperately needed aid to Gaza, but we also undermine essential programs providing shelter, healthcare, education, and financial assistance to Palestinian refugees in the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. I’ve joined over 60 colleagues in co-sponsoring the UNRWA Funding Emergency Restoration Act to immediately right this wrong by restoring US funding to UNRWA. Congress must pass this urgent legislation and restore aid.”
Rep. Summer Lee: “Since the start of Israel's indiscriminate bombing of Gaza, we have warned of a regional escalation of war. Now, more American troops are being sent there. Americans do not want to be dragged into another endless war abroad. Preventing one starts with an arms embargo now.”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: “Major media outlets and the head of ADL amplified a fabricated and dangerous lie about @RashidaTlaib. Not only that, they did it after *another* outlet targeted her w/ a racist caricature. Anti-Palestinian bias is real. This is case in point. No one should be treated this way.”
Rep. Ayanna Pressley: “Israel’s indiscriminate bombing, forced displacement, & war crimes in Gaza have been beyond devastating. This must not be repeated in Lebanon. We must de-escalate and the U.S. must stop sending offensive weapons.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders: “Today, with colleagues, I introduced legislation to block arms sales to Israel. Sending more weapons to Netanyahu's extremist government is immoral & illegal: U.S. weapons are responsible for far too many civilian casualties in Gaza. We must end our complicity in this atrocity.”
DC DEVELOPMENTS
🔍 MORE THAN 100 MEMBERS OF CONGRESS CALL FOR INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION INTO ISRAELI KILLING OF AYŞENUR EYGI
103 Members of Congress led by Rep. Adam Smith sent a letter to the Biden administration calling for the US to conduct an independent investigation into the killing of American citizen Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi by Israeli forces after a demonstration in the West Bank on September 6th. The letter criticizes the preliminary conclusion by Israeli forces, which was contradicted by an analysis published by the Washington Post that found that Eygi was killed well after the height of the protest and nearly 200 yards away from Israeli forces.
The family of Ayşenur Eygi released a statement supporting the letter, expanding upon their call not only to hold accountable the killers of Ayşenur but also to enforce US law against Israel on arms transfers. The Biden administration must heed the call from Congress and Ayşenur’s family and hold the perpetrators of this crime accountable.
🔑 KEY TAKEAWAY: Statement from the family of Ayşenur Eygi: “As Ayşenur's family, we know the United States is more accustomed to providing impunity to Israeli military and officials instead of justice for the family members impacted by Israel's criminal actions. The U.S. has never held Israeli actors accountable for its killings of American citizens, and the killings of tens of thousands of Palestinians whose lives were violently taken from them by US-supplied weapons. We call on the US government to not only immediately launch a criminal investigation into the killing of Ayşenur, but to fully implement all existing laws against Israel and hold the perpetrators of these crimes accountable. No family should ever have to experience this kind of nightmare.”
❌ SEN. BERNIE SANDERS INTRODUCES JRDS AGAINST WEAPONS SALES TO ISRAEL
Sen. Bernie Sanders, along with Sens. Jeff Merkley and Peter Welch, have introduced joint resolutions of disapproval which would block $20 billion in weapons transfers to Israel announced by the Biden administration in August. These JRDs will be the first ever opportunity for Congress to vote on blocking weapons to Israel. The JRDs would block the sales of JDAMs, 120mm tank rounds, 120mm high explosive mortar rounds, Medium Tactical Vehicles, and new F-15 fighter jets and parts for older jets.
Many if not all of these weapons have been used by Israel to further its campaign of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, and US-provided weapons have been used in many potential war crimes committed by Israel. Congress must stop these weapons sales and uphold US law and policies on weapons transfers by ending all weapons to Israel.
💡 POLICY ASK: The IMEU Policy Project strongly encourages Senators to cosponsor Sen. Sanders’ joint resolutions of disapproval and strongly encourages Representatives to introduce companion JRDs in the House.
📖 LEARN MORE about these weapons transfers and how they have been used in apparent war crimes in the IMEU Policy Project’s policy memo on the need for these JRDs.
IN THE NEWS
🖊️ IMEU POLICY PROJECT RELEASES FIRST-EVER CONGRESSIONAL SCORECARD
The IMEU Policy Project released our first-ever Congressional scorecard. Members of the House and the Senate were scored on select positive actions they have taken for Palestinian rights so far during the 118th Congress, including signing on to letters, sponsorship of legislation, and key votes.
We want to thank Members of Congress who are trying to put a stop to US complicity in Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and standing up for Palestinian rights. As we approach a year of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, over 42,000 Palestinians, including over 16,000 children, have been killed and 1.9 million Palestinians–90% of Gaza’s population–have been displaced since October 2023. This scorecard reflects the increased focus on Palestinian rights by Congress, a stance also supported by American voters, 61% of whom oppose sending further weapons to Israel.
🍎 REPORT: ANTONY BLINKEN LIED TO CONGRESS AND REJECTED CONCLUSIONS THAT ISRAEL OBSTRUCTED AID TO GAZA
Leaked documents and emails published by ProPublica reveal that Secretary of State Antony Blinken lied to Congress and rejected conclusions made by USAID and the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration that Israel was obstructing aid to Gaza.
Blinken reportedly received a 17-page memo from USAID which detailed Israel’s obstruction of aid and recommended that the US should pause weapons transfers to the country. The head of the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration made a similar determination separately, concluding that Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act should be triggered to freeze weapons to Israel. Secretary Blinken received these determinations before his May 10th report to Congress, in which he stated that the Biden administration did not currently assess that Israel was restricting US humanitarian aid and that weapons to Israel would continue.
These determinations should have necessitated a halt in all weapons transfers to Israel under Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act. The Biden administration must immediately comply with US law and end all weapons to Israel, and Congress must exercise its oversight authority and pressure the Biden administration to do so.
🚨 ISRAEL KILLS MORE THAN 500 LEBANESE IN ONE DAY AS IT THREATENS TO INVADE
Israel killed more than 500 people in southern Lebanon on Monday, in one of the deadliest days in the country since its civil war ended in the 1990s. This follows attacks on walkie talkies and pagers by Israel last week, which killed 42 people and injured more than 3,000, including many civilians. Israeli strikes this week have also targeted crowded residential areas, including a strike on a Beirut suburb which killed 14 people. The head of Israeli forces, Herzi Halevi, told troops on Monday that Israel is preparing for a possible ground invasion of Lebanon.
Israel’s escalatory behavior is a direct result of the impunity provided to it by the United States over its 11-month genocide in Gaza and going back decades. Instead of using its leverage to rein in Netanyahu and forcing a ceasefire deal in Lebanon and Gaza, the Biden administration is doing the exact opposite.
The Biden administration cannot claim it is working to de-escalate when it keeps providing billions of dollars in weapons to Israel, and providing diplomatic cover when Israel violates international law, as it has done too many times to count in Gaza and now Lebanon. President Biden must use his leverage and halt all weapons to Israel now to stop the killing in Gaza and Lebanon.
PALESTINE/ISRAEL DEVELOPMENTS
🏫 ISRAEL STRIKES MORE SCHOOLS, KILLING NEARLY 30 DISPLACED PALESTINIANS
Israeli forces killed nearly 30 Palestinians in strikes on two schools in Gaza last weekend. On Saturday, Israeli forces killed 22 Palestinians when they struck the Zeitoun school in the eastern part of Gaza City, and on Sunday, 7 Palestinians were killed by an Israeli strike on the Kafr Qasem school in western Gaza City. 625,000 Palestinian children are being deprived of an education due to Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. Nearly 10,000 pupils and approximately 400 teachers and staff have been killed as of September 4.
Israel also sent to Gaza this week the remains of 88 Palestinians who were unidentifiable due to decomposition. The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza refused to receive the bodies until Israel provided the names of the victims, times of death, and locations from which they were taken. This is an inhumane and cruel move by Israel, and it highlights that so many Palestinians who have been killed by Israel remain uncounted in the official toll listed by the health ministry, whether due to being abducted by Israel or buried under rubble.
🎙️ ISRAELI FORCES RAID OFFICES OF AL JAZEERA IN WEST BANK IN LATEST ATTACK ON JOURNALISM
Israeli forces raided the Ramallah offices of Al Jazeera on Sunday, ordering the outlet closed in the West Bank for 45 days, months after Israel initially banned the outlet from operating inside Israel in May. While that ban was also initially for 45 days, it has been renewed and remains in effect. Israeli forces also raided the home of Palestinian journalist Mujahed al-Saadi last week, arresting him and taking him to a prison in Israel in violation of the 4th Geneva Convention. Mujahed’s brother Hamadah said that he is being held in administrative detention, a designation that Israel uses to detain Palestinians indefinitely without trial or charges.
These are just Israel’s latest attacks on journalism: more than 100 journalists have been killed by Israel in Gaza since October 2023 according to Reporters Without Borders. As Israel kills and arrests Palestinian journalists, no foreign reporters have been allowed to independently report from Gaza.
Image: U.S. Department of State, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons