Washington DC – Elderly Palestinian American Omar Assad was handcuffed, blindfolded and gagged by Israeli soldiers and left to die in a cold parking lot.
His fatal arrest in January 2022 sparked outrage and calls for accountability in the United States, with advocates urging the American government to apply the country’s own laws to restrict military aid to the Israeli unit that killed the 80-year-old U.S. citizen. years.
The famous Israeli Netzah Yehuda battalion – which detained Assad – has also been accused of other abuses.
But more than two years later, this week, the US announced that it will not apply the Leahy Law, which prohibits assistance to foreign military units that commit abuses, to currently restrict aid to any divisions of the Israeli army.
“It is outrageous that the Secretary of State is violating U.S. law to continue a long series of treating Israel as an exception to the law,” said Raed Jarrar, advocacy director at Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), a think tank. tank in Washington, DC.
Last month, media reports indicated that the US was prepared to apply the Leahy Law to the Netzah Yehuda battalion, but after strong public resistance from Israeli leaders, the US appears to have decided against the measure.
Here, Al Jazeera looks at the Leahy Law and how successive US administrations have failed to apply it to Israel.
What is the Leahy Law?
Named after retired U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, the Foreign Assistance Act rules prohibit military assistance to forces involved in serious human rights violations.
There are two similar but specific sets of Leahy regulations for the State Department and the Pentagon, respectively. Consequently, the rules are sometimes called Leahy Laws in the plural.
The law allows funding to resume after the foreign country receiving U.S. aid takes steps to correct abuses and hold perpetrators accountable.
“Both laws aim to prevent US security assistance from going to foreign forces that we know – that the US knows – have committed serious human rights violations,” said Sarah Harrison, senior US analyst at the think tank Crisis Group.
“The idea is that Congress is trying to promote this value of human rights. And at the same time, they are also trying to promote the value of accountability – getting rid of these cultures of impunity among foreign security forces, which would allow assistance to flow again.”
What are serious human rights violations?
US law defines gross human rights violations (GVHR) in broad terms.
“The term ‘serious violations of internationally recognized human rights’ includes torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, prolonged detention without charge and trial, causing the disappearance of persons through the abduction and clandestine detention of such persons, and other flagrant denial the right to life, liberty or personal security”, says the text.
But Jarrar, who has worked on Leahy Act issues for years, said the U.S. State Department focuses primarily on four types of abuses: extrajudicial killings, torture, rape as a weapon of war and enforced disappearances.
How it works?
When Washington assesses that there is credible information that a unit in a country receiving US aid has committed serious human rights violations, it should isolate the forces involved in the abuses.
The US should also inform the foreign government so that it can bring the perpetrators to justice.
Harrison, a former associate general counsel at the Department of Defense, emphasized that enforcement should be automatic. She said media reports that the US would impose “sanctions” on the Israeli Netzah Yehuda battalion were wrong.
US sanctions – such as penalties aimed at violent Israeli settlers earlier this year – are largely discretionary options available to the executive branch. Officials, typically at the State Department or Treasury, decide if, when, and to whom sanctions should be applied, according to guidelines established by existing laws or executive orders.
However, no such executive discretion exists with Leahy. The law – if applied correctly – would legally obligate the Secretary of State to enforce it.
Leahy’s rules require cutting units that commit serious human rights violations from U.S. funding. It’s not a political choice, Harrison explained.
“It is not in a position to negotiate. It is a national law binding on the executive branch,” she told Al Jazeera.
How does the US deal with Leahy Law and Israel?
When it comes to Israel, there is a special Israel Leahy Verification Forum that reviews allegations of abuse by Israeli forces. Anyone can submit a report for Leahy’s review to the State Department, as DAWN did after Assad’s assassination.
But Jarrar said Israel gets special treatment when it comes to Leahy’s complaints.
The US gives Israel 90 days to respond to abuse inquiries, according to Jarrar – a deadline not given to any other country.
Was the Leahy Law ever applied to Israel?
No.
Why is Leahy Law in the news?
It all started on April 20, when Axios reported that the US would “sanction” the Netzah Yehuda battalion for abuses in the occupied West Bank, applying the Leahy Act to the unit.
How did Israel respond?
Israeli leaders vigorously rejected any measures against their forces. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant visited troops from the Netzah Yehuda battalion days after the news broke.
“No one in the world can teach us about values and morals,” said Gallant, quoted by Israeli media. “We are at the beginning of the war against seven armies and terrorist organizations. The security apparatus is behind you.”
For his part, War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz – who appears to have close ties to the Biden administration – warned that any US action against Israeli forces “sets a dangerous precedent and sends the wrong message to our common enemies during the war time.”
“I intend to take action to have this decision changed,” he wrote in a social media post.
O @Department of State should immediately suspend U.S. foreign military assistance to the Netzah Yehuda Battalion and investigate all units receiving U.S. military funding in light of extensive evidence of widespread and systematic rights violations, DAWN said today.
– DAWN MENA (@DAWNmenaorg) April 30, 2024
What did the US say?
The State Department said Monday that it concluded that five Israeli army units were responsible for serious human rights violations, but that it decided not to apply the Leahy Law to them.
“Four of these units have effectively remedied these violations, which is what we expect partners to do,” US spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters, adding that Washington is in discussions with Israel about the fifth unit, which is believed to be be Netzah Yehuda.
All of the abuses in question were committed before the outbreak of war in Gaza last year, Patel said.
The US administration has not named the units or identified steps taken to address their abuses, raising questions about its approach to Israel.
Al Jazeera contacted the State Department with a request for comment.
Harrison said the law sets a high standard for resuming funding for units involved in serious human rights violations.
“You have to investigate, you have to prosecute and you have to sentence,” she said of bringing the forces that commit abuses to justice.
Israel rarely prosecutes its own soldiers. For example, no one has been charged with the murder of Palestinian-American Omar Assad.
How does the decision violate the Leahy Law?
The Biden administration is engaging in the process in reverse, Harrison said. The law requires suspending funding to units involved in serious human rights violations and then engaging with the foreign government in holding them accountable.
But the State Department is allowing aid to flow to at least one Israeli unit that has not taken adequate corrective action to address violations.
“If it is in fact true that the department has known about these cases for years and assistance has continued to flow as they go through the remediation process — and no exceptions have been sent to Congress — they are violating the Leahy Act,” Harrison said. Al Jazeera.
For his part, Jarrar said the Biden administration is not only violating the law, but also its own lax 90-day system it established for Israel, while continuing to fund a unit whose unremedied abuses it has acknowledged.
“They determined that the unit had been involved in serious violations that the host country had failed to remedy,” Jarrar told Al Jazeera.
“And they haven’t cut that unit yet. This is an admission that the Secretary of State is violating US law. He is violating our law for political considerations.”
Why Does This Matter?
Israel receives at least $3.8 billion in US military aid annually. And Biden signed an additional $14 billion in aid to the US ally last month.
While withholding funding from a single battalion may seem inconsequential, Jarrar said the measure would have had an important effect.
“It sends a message that Israel is not the most moral army in the world, that Israel does not have a legitimate system to hold itself accountable,” Jarrar said.
“This would send shockwaves through Washington and Tel Aviv because it means Israel has been added to the club of human rights violators. It means that Israel would have to deal with a new reality: the blank check policy is over and there is a small hole in the dam, but the dam is breaking.”
On a practical level, Jarrar said isolating a military unit from U.S. funding would also allow for greater transparency, oversight and accountability in U.S. aid to Israel.
What about Gaza?
Israel’s war on Gaza, which killed 34,500 Palestinians, triggered a flood of allegations of human rights violations and war crimes.
Both Harrison and Jarrar said the Leahy Law should apply to Israeli forces in Gaza.
While the conduct of war is largely scrutinized through international humanitarian law, Harrison said serious human rights violations often overlap with violations of the laws of war.
She said abuses, including the execution of civilians, sexual violence and torture, for example, are serious violations of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law.
“If a crime occurs during wartime that is also a serious human rights violation, it will still trigger the Leahy Act,” Harrison said.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
