When the histories of his administration are written, will probably be clear that Joe Biden held on to his callous disregard for Palestinians till the tip of his presidency. How else to clarify why Biden would refuse a remaining probability to cease Israel’s brutal battle on Gaza and save Palestinian lives, when he has nothing to lose?
On Tuesday, the Biden administration quietly ignored its personal deadline for Israel to extend the minuscule quantity of humanitarian help it permits to enter Gaza. The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and protection secretary, Lloyd Austin, imposed the 30-day deadline in a letter despatched to Israeli officers on 13 October, which warned that they have to take “concrete measures” to make sure that Palestinian civilians in northern Gaza have entry to meals, medication and different requirements. The administration stated it might droop US navy help to Israel if circumstances didn’t enhance. Regardless of the US ultimatum, the quantity of help reaching the besieged territory in October had dropped to its lowest stage in 11 months.
Because the deadline handed, the Biden administration did what it has completed for greater than a yr: it caved and continued sending weapons to the federal government of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, regardless of the devastation and famine Israel has inflicted on Gaza. And Washington sheepishly advised the world that it will not impose any penalties on Israel, regardless that the US is legally certain to cease arming an ally that blocks humanitarian help in a battle zone.
It’s the newest in an extended collection of choices by Biden over the previous 13 months that present his disdain for Palestinian lives. However his lack of motion this week is particularly egregious as a result of Biden is politically unrestrained: the presidential election is over, and Donald Trump gained. Biden can do no matter he needs with out incurring a political price. He doesn’t even have to fret a few transition to his fellow Democrat and vice-president, Kamala Harris. If there was ever a time for Biden to make use of his appreciable energy to avoid wasting Palestinians, this was it. But he squandered this remaining alternative to make the best and ethical selection – and assist finish the Gaza battle earlier than leaving workplace.
Biden’s choice to maintain supplying weapons to Israel reinforces his legacy as the first enabler of the slaughter in Gaza, and Netanyahu’s marketing campaign to broaden the battle into Lebanon. Whereas Biden and his allies have completed a whole lot of hand-wringing about Trump’s disregard for the rule of legislation, the Biden administration didn’t uphold US legislation and its personal insurance policies – and it has undermined US credibility all over the world even earlier than Trump takes workplace as soon as once more.
Biden has been absolutely complicit in Israel’s destruction of Gaza, wherein greater than 43,000 Palestinians have been killed, though the true determine might be a lot increased. One estimate revealed by researchers within the Lancet, a medical journal, discovered that the loss of life toll might finally attain 186,000. That accounts for “oblique casualties” of battle, comparable to widespread starvation, a cholera epidemic, unsanitary circumstances and the destruction of Gaza’s well being system.
Following a relentless Israeli navy assault that began after the Hamas assaults of seven October 2023, practically all of Gaza’s 2.1 million individuals have been displaced at the very least as soon as, and at the moment are residing in makeshift tents or within the ruins of bombed-out buildings. Final week, a UN-affiliated group of consultants warned that famine is imminent, or might already be unfolding, in northern Gaza – and that the enclave’s total inhabitants faces acute meals insecurity, which is one step under a full-blown famine.
Days after Biden determined to proceed arming Israel into the twilight of his presidency, Human Rights Watch (HRW) launched a devastating 154-page report that contradicted most US and Israeli assurances that Israel will not be violating worldwide legislation. The report, issued on Thursday, concluded: “Israeli authorities have precipitated the large, deliberate pressured displacement of Palestinian civilians in Gaza since October 2023 and are accountable for battle crimes and crimes towards humanity.” HRW urged western governments to impose sanctions and droop their arms shipments to Israel.
The US has supplied Israel with practically $18bn in weapons and different navy help since October 2023, based on a report launched final month by Brown College. Washington spent one other $4.8bn by itself navy actions within the Center East because of the battle. General, the Biden administration spent at the very least $22.7bn in US taxpayer funds to allow Netanyahu and his authorities to delay the Gaza battle.
However the US administration didn’t should turn out to be so deeply complicit in Israel’s battle crimes. Biden and his aides had the leverage, coverage instruments and authorized mechanisms to restrain Israel, finish the battle, and save 1000’s of Palestinian lives. For months, Biden, alongside together with his secretary of state, squandered any affect they may have exerted over Netanyahu by refusing to implement US legislation and their very own administration’s insurance policies on weapons transfers.
In February, as Biden confronted strain from a handful of Democrats in Congress important of his unwavering help for Israel, he issued a brand new nationwide safety memo which required the state division to certify that recipients of US weapons would enable the supply of humanitarian help throughout energetic conflicts and abide by worldwide legislation. Biden’s memo didn’t set new insurance policies for arms transfers to overseas nations, however as a substitute used provisions of present US legal guidelines, particularly beneath the 1961 International Help Act.
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Washington can droop shipments if it suspects {that a} overseas navy will use US weapons to hold out violations of worldwide legislation, or to nations that block the supply of humanitarian help – as Israel has completed all through its battle in Gaza. By Could, the state division despatched a 46-page report back to Congress stuffed with bureaucratic double-speak to justify Biden’s choice to flout US and worldwide legal guidelines to guard Netanyahu.
Lengthy earlier than the administration’s report, the UN and human rights teams had amply documented that Israel was utilizing hunger as a weapon of battle – a violation of worldwide legislation – and intentionally blocking meals and different provides from coming into Gaza.
But the report prevented concluding that the Israeli navy had obstructed humanitarian help, or violated worldwide legislation whereas utilizing US weapons. Such findings would have pressured Biden to droop most weapons shipments to Israel beneath the insurance policies outlined in his personal nationwide safety memo. However as a substitute of upholding US legislation and utilizing the suspension of navy help to power Netanyahu to simply accept a ceasefire, Biden sat by and enabled Israel to kill 1000’s of Palestinians since Could.
Again then, Biden was nonetheless working for re-election and will have feared political repercussions for breaking with Netanyahu. However this week, the US president was as free from politics as he’s ever been in his total profession. He merely determined that Palestinians don’t matter – and sealed his legacy because the enabler of Israel’s battle crimes.
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