Amnesty International calls on Biden to ‘immediately suspend’ arms transfers to Israel

Human rights group Amnesty International this week called on President Biden to immediately suspend arms transfers to Israel, as the organization renewed allegations that the Israeli military is violating international law.

Amnesty said in a Monday’s post that a new investigation provided to the Biden administration detailed weapons supplied by the US to Israel being “used in serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law and in a way that is inconsistent with US law and policy.”

Amanda Klasing, national director of government relations at Amnesty International USA, said it is “shocking that the Biden administration continues to maintain that the Israeli government is not violating international humanitarian law with US-supplied weapons when our investigation shows the contrary and experts in international law disagree.”

“President Biden must end U.S. complicity in the Israeli government’s serious violations of international law and immediately suspend arms transfers to the Israeli government,” Klasing said in a statement.

The organization’s calls come as the White House faces a May 8 deadline to certify to Congress that weapons supplied by the US to Israel are being used in accordance with international law, with some reports suggesting there is friction. at the State Department on the matter.

Last week, Amnesty International – together with more than 20 human rights, refugee and religious groups – called on the US to block arms transfers to Israel, saying it “further risks US complicity in serious international crimes committed by Israel”.

Amnesty said it found that, on several occasions, Israel used US-made weapons in ways that violated international law, including the use of joint bombs and direct attack munitions in October in an attack that killed 43 civilians, most of them children. and women, in Gaza.

The group also documented the use of white phosphorus in southern Lebanon, a flammable chemical that must be used with caution in warfare, and four Israeli attacks on Gaza during December and January that resulted in the deaths of 95 civilians, about half of whom they were children.

Amnesty also said that verifiable photos show that Israel conducted an illegal attack in October that killed seven journalists in southern Lebanon, even though the reporters were clearly identified.

The rights group said in the report to the Biden administration that Israel is also not taking necessary precautions to protect civilian lives, citing hasty evacuation warnings and indiscriminate attacks, and that the Israeli military is conducting inhumane treatment of prisoners and restricting humanitarian aid to Gaza. .

More than 34,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza as Israel wages war against the militant group Hamas in retaliation for an OC attack. 7 that killed around 1,200 people. In the attack, Hamas also kidnapped around 250 hostages in southern Israel, leaving 130 in Gaza, dead or alive.

Israel continued its war in Gaza, despite international pressure calling for more restraint – including from Biden, who supports the US ally, but wants to minimize deaths and alleviate the terrible humanitarian crisis in the coastal strip.

Biden has been frustrated by the number of casualties in Gaza, but continues to send weapons to Israel, including signing a $26 billion package last week that authorizes more military assistance to the country.

The crisis in Gaza has become more complicated after the International Criminal Court (ICC) began considering filing arrest warrants for senior officials in Israel and among Hamas leaders in connection with the ongoing war.