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Blinken says the focus of the Qatar talks is on preventing wider conflict
Secretary of State Antony Blinken says he’s focused on preventing a wider conflict during a moment of “profound tension” in the Middle East that could “easily metastasize.” He made the comments during a news conference with Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Doha on Sunday.
“We have been intensely focused on working to prevent the conflict from spreading. And that is indeed a major focus in what is now my fourth visit to the region since October 7. It was at the heart of discussions yesterday with President Erdogan and Prime Minister Mitsotakis, this morning with King Abdullah of Jordan and in the meetings that I just had with the Emir with the prime minister,” he said.
Perhaps you should be focused on ending the conflict ?!?
Al Thani also warned of an escalation of conflicts in the region and specifically condemned the recent strikes in Beirut and Syria. “Recent events that we have witnessed within Lebanon or Syria, unfortunately, are a violation to the sovereignty of those countries and we can see also a continuous violations. Our main target or purpose is to stop this war and to avoid the bigger escalation in the region,” he said. Al Thani reiterated his calls for a ceasefire and said it would have a “positive implication” on the region.
Blinken skirted a question about whether Arab countries were correct in calling for a ceasefire. He said the US wanted to ensure the October 7 attacks would not happen again, which "means dealing with the threat that Hamas continues to pose,” Blinken said. "But as we've made clear also from day one, it's imperative that in dealing with this very, very difficult challenge, that it do so in a way that puts a premium on protecting civilians. Making sure that people get the assistance they need,” Blinken added, speaking of Israel’s war against Hamas.
In response to a question about whether the US should make providing weapons to Israel conditional, Blinken said they will continue to make sure any US military assistance is used in accordance with international law.
“Any military assistance we provide – to any country, including Israel – comes with requirements including weapons be used in accordance with international and humanitarian law – the laws of war. And that is something we look at very carefully on an ongoing basis. And we will make sure in this case, as in any other case, that any weapons we provide are used accordingly. That is something we take very, very seriously and will continue to do so,” he said.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/dec/07/us-israel-military-support-scrutiny-human-rights
The law requires that the US vet any foreign military receiving US arms. However, that doesn’t happen with Israel
https://www.justsecurity.org/90010/a-law-and-policy-guide-to-us-arms-transfers-to-israel/
When it comes to current arms transfers to Israel, the implementation of the “more likely than not” standard deserves scrutiny. Josh Paul, who served as the chief liaison between the State Department’s political-military affairs bureau to Congress and the public, resigned in protest of U.S. arms transfers to Israel and insisted in a PBS interview that the United States is “certainly not acting within the Conventional Arms Transfer policy.”
The Biden administration is supposed to faithfully apply the CAT Policy for all recipients of U.S. weapons – including Israel. Amid growing evidence of possible violations of international humanitarian law during the current war in Gaza, the CAT Policy requires the administration to assess whether its current arms transfers to Israel are “more likely than not” to facilitate future IHL or human rights violations. Congress could also exercise oversight of the administration’s implementation of the CAT policy to ensure it is applied properly and universally.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2023/12/11/israel-us-white-phosphorus-lebanon/
Israel used U.S.-supplied white phosphorus munitions in an October attack in southern Lebanon that injured at least nine civilians in what a rights group says should be investigated as a war crime, according to a Washington Post analysis of shell fragments found in a small village.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/10/lebanon-evidence-of-israels-unlawful-use-of-white-phosphorus-in-southern-lebanon-as-cross-border-hostilities-escalate/
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/africa/photos-by-anadolu-serving-as-evidence-in-south-africas-genocide-case-against-israel/3097006
South Africa's submission highlights that over 55,000 Palestinians, mainly children and women, were injured in Israel's attacks on Gaza since Oct. 7.
Typical injuries include burns and loss of limbs, while the file underscores reports of Israel using white phosphorus in densely populated areas, noting its potential for severe burns, bone damage, and re-ignition after initial treatment. It highlights the absence of functional hospitals in northern Gaza, emphasizing that the injured lack access to treatment or surgery, often leaving them with no alternative but to await death.
Earlier this month, Anadolu published a book titled "Evidence," containing visuals that expose possibly criminal actions by Israel in Gaza. It features photos of white phosphorus artillery shells, a violation of the UN Convention on Conventional Weapons, used by the Israeli army in densely populated civilian areas of Gaza.CNN doesn't even bother to fact check with their own reporting
https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/13/politics/us-conditions-military-aid-israel/index.html
The Biden administration currently has no plans to place conditions on the military aid it is providing to Israel, officials told CNN, despite growing calls by Democratic lawmakers and human rights organizations for the US to stop providing weapons unless Israel does more to protect civilians in Gaza.
In a move underscoring how committed the US remains to arming Israel, the State Department transmitted an emergency declaration to lawmakers late Friday night for the sale of thousands of tank munitions to Israel, bypassing the standard 20-day period that congressional committees are typically afforded to review such a sale. (And again weeks later)
The State Department did not provide any assurances to lawmakers that the administration would monitor how the munitions are used, a congressional source told CNN, and some Democratic lawmakers were unhappy with the move.
Contrast to conditions on Ukraine
The US places conditions on the military equipment it provides to Ukraine and has made clear to Kyiv that it cannot use US-provided weapons to attack inside Russia. But there are no such red lines on the aid being provided to Israel. The US has advised Israel against opening another front in the war by launching a large-scale attack on Hezbollah, officials said, but has not threatened to cut off aid if they do.
In its supplemental funding request to Congress, the Biden administration included provisions that would lift several existing limits on US weapons transfers to Israel. The provisions would waive the current monetary cap on replenishing Israel’s internal stockpile of US-provided weapons, known as the War Reserve Stockpile Allies-Israel, allow the Pentagon to transfer weapons to Israel even if they are not obsolete or surplus to the US’ own stocks, and shorten the amount of time afforded to Congress to review weapons sales to Israel.
Not covered on CNN
Israel will be fighting in Gaza all year, military chief says
Herzi Halevi hints at a long-term conflict in Gaza, saying that 2024 will be a “challenging year”. “We will be fighting in Gaza all year – that’s for sure,” Halevi said during a visit to the occupied West Bank. He added that the Israeli military is inflicting a “heavy price” on Hezbollah amid the Lebanese group’s attacks on northern Israel.
Israel considers 2024 ‘year of fighting’: Expert
Esmat Mansour, a researcher on Israeli affairs, says that according to Israeli estimates, the war will take at least nine months to a year to conclude, and that will only happen after the army “combs through the Gaza Strip and rids it of rockets and tunnels”. “They will also aim to find the captives and reach the Hamas leadership.
All of this makes 2024 a year of fighting and puts Israel in a continuous state of emergency,” Mansour told Al Jazeera.“This means that the existing situation – the state of emergency, the emergency government, and all that those entail – will continue, and it is also possible that the captives may not return during this year,” he added.“ And this is why Israel is pushing for a deal with Hamas without a halt to the fighting. Israel wants the fighting to continue because it is looking for a clear victory in the form of changing the entire situation in the Gaza Strip, and this requires a lot of time.”
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