‘Time has long passed’: US must end arms sales to Israel, HRW and Oxfam say
The US should immediately suspend arms transfers to Israel, Oxfam and Human Rights Watch (HRW) say, citing evidence that Israel is violating international law.
“There are good reasons why US law prohibits arms support for governments that block life-saving aid or violate international law with US weapons,” Sarah Yager, HRW’s Washington director, said in a statement. “Given ongoing hostilities in Gaza, the Israeli government’s assurances to the Biden administration that it is meeting US legal requirements are not credible.”
The organisations submitted a report to the US government listing a wide range of Israeli violations of international law, including indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks on or near hospitals and systematic blocking of humanitarian assistance, despite Israeli assurances to the contrary.
“The time has long passed for the Biden administration to end lethal arms sales to Israel, and we call on them to do so now and work to end the death and suffering in Gaza,” Scott Paul, associate director for peace and security at Oxfam America, said in a statement.
Humanity needs to ‘look at ourselves in horror and dismay’
South Africa accused Israel of setting a precedent for some world leaders to defy the top UN court as she again alleged a campaign of “mass starvation” in Gaza. Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said Israel defied a January ruling by the International Court of Justice to prevent “acts of genocide” during its bloody war.
“The provisional measures have been entirely ignored by Israel,” Pandor said at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, DC. “We’re seeing mass starvation now and famine before our very eyes. I think we, as humanity, need to look at ourselves in horror and dismay and to be really worried that we have set an example.”
Israel’s actions may mean other nations will believe “there’s licence – I can do what I want and I will not be stopped.”
Despite global claims, US says Israel not using starvation as a weapon of war
US Department of State spokesman Vedant Patel has told reporters that the US has “not yet seen conclusive evidence indicating that Israel is using starvation as a weapon in the Gaza war”. These comments come as top officials of the EU, UN and major NGOs worldwide have accused Israel of weaponising hunger in its war on Gaza.
Yesterday, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that the widespread starvation in the Gaza Strip is “unacceptable”. Starvation is being used as “a weapon of war”, said Borrell.
Also, in a new report, UK charity Oxfam said Israel’s policies of obstructing aid are creating the “perfect storm for humanitarian collapse”, and earlier today a spokesman for the UN’s human rights office said that these policies may amount to a war crime.
Still, the State Department’s Vedant said that the US is “concerned” about a UN-backed report, which found that famine is imminent in Gaza.
Concerned about the report coming out, not about the imminent famine...
