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440702 |
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Date: September 04, 2024 at 12:13:38
From: old timer, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Groups Say Biden's Own Policy Requires US to Stop Arming Israel |
URL: Groups Say Biden's Own Policy Requires US to Stop Arming Israel |
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Groups Say Biden's Own Policy Requires US to Stop Arming Israel
"International and U.S. law, as well as your administration's policies
including NSM-20," said the groups, "require suspending weapons
transfers to the Israeli government."
JULIA CONLEY
Sep 04, 2024
As U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller was telling
reporters on Tuesday that assessments regarding whether Israel is
abiding by international humanitarian law in Gaza are ongoing, more than
two dozen rights groups were telling the Biden administration that it need
look no further than its own memo released months ago to see that the
U.S. must end its support for the Israeli military.
Groups including Amnesty International, the Center for Civilians in
Conflict, and Refugees International were among 25 organizations that
signed a letter sent Tuesday to President Joe Biden; Vice President
Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee; and their foreign
policy advisers. The letter was sent a day after the British government
announced it was suspending 30 arms export licenses for Israel, citing "a
clear risk that they might be used to commit or facilitate a serious
violation of international humanitarian law."
The letter pointed out that it's been nearly four months since the
administration released its report on May 10 on National Security
Memorandum 20 (NSM-20), which "concluded that U.S.-provided arms
had likely been used by Israeli security forces in manners 'inconsistent
with its IHL [international humanitarian law] obligations.'"
NSM-20, issued in February, required Secretary of State Antony Blinken to
confirm that countries using U.S. weapons—including Israel, which has
received more than 100 military transfers from the U.S. since last October
—are not blocking U.S. humanitarian aid and are using the weapons in
accordance with international law.
The groups on Tuesday noted that despite the finding in the May 10
report, the administration claimed that Israel's assurances that it had not
used U.S. weapons in strikes that violated international law were "credible
and reliable," and that the U.S. would not suspend weapons transfers at
that time.
The claim that Israel's assurances were credible was in direct opposition
to a leaked internal memo in which four State Department officials said
they had "serious concern over non-compliance" with international law.
"Since your May 10 report, the U.N. estimates a 300% increase in acute
malnutrition in Northern Gaza."
The official assessment released in May also "stood in stark contrast to
the realities in Gaza and across occupied Palestine and appeared to
blatantly disregard both the requirements of U.S. law and policy and
extensive documentation submitted by human rights and humanitarian
organizations and independent experts," reads the new letter, citing
reports by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and other groups
that detailed how U.S. weapons have been used in attacks that killed
civilians and could constitute war crimes.
Moreover, the letter states, "the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza has
only worsened" since the NSM-20 report, but the U.S. policy of providing
"virtually unconditional military support for the Israeli government
continues."
The letter notes that the U.S. continues to support the Israel Defense
Forces (IDF) despite continued restrictions on aid flowing into Gaza by
Israel, with the level of aid entering Gaza through the Karem Abu Salem
crossing dropping by more than 80% over the past three months.
"As a result of the compounding access and delivery challenges,
malnutrition and the perpetual risk of famine remains rampant across
Gaza," wrote the groups. "Since your May 10 report, the U.N. estimates a
300% increase in acute malnutrition in Northern Gaza, while the
Integrated Food Security Phase Classification, the leading analyst on food
insecurity, found in June that all of Gaza is at high risk of famine and 96%
of the population is currently food insecure."
Annie Shiel, U.S. advocacy director for the Center for Civilians in Conflict,
noted that the Biden administration's continued military support for Israel
as famine takes hold of Gaza may violate the Humanitarian Aid Corridor
Act—Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.
The Biden administration's continued support for the IDF sends "a
political signal of unconditional support for Israel's conduct," said Shiel.
"The U.S. has the leverage to bring about a cease-fire—but chooses not to
use it."
The letter on Tuesday also pointed to numerous reports that U.S.-made
weapons have been used by Israel in attacks that killed civilians since May
10, including:
A strike that used U.S.-made GBU-39 guided bombs on a camp for
internally displaced people in west Rafah on May 26, killing at least 36
people, including six children;
A July 9 airstrike on a school that killed at least 27 people and used an
American small-diameter bomb; and
An August 10 attack on a school in Gaza City that was being used as a
shelter, which killed 93 people using a U.S. small-diameter bomb.
"These developments should compel the United States to suspend arms
transfers to the Israeli government under the Conventional Arms Transfer
policy, which prohibits arms transfers when 'the United States assesses
that it is more likely than not that the arms to be transferred will be used
by the recipient to commit, facilitate the recipients' commission of, or to
aggravate risks that the recipient will commit' serious violations of
international humanitarian or human rights law," wrote the groups.
The organizations urged "an immediate, public review of Israel's
compliance with NSM-20, accounting for the numerous apparent
violations of international law and restrictions on humanitarian aid
documented by civil society and the media since May 10 and throughout
the NSM-20 reporting period."
As U.S. support continues, said the groups, "the risk of United States' and
U.S. officials' complicity in Israeli violations of international law due to
U.S. arms transfers has only increased."
"We urgently call upon your administration to change its approach and
suspend weapons transfers to Israel, which continue to cause devastating
harm and risk making the United States complicit in war crimes," they
wrote. "International and U.S. law, as well as your administration's
policies including NSM-20, require suspending weapons transfers to the
Israeli government."
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Responses:
[440703] [440708] [440712] [440713] [440715] [440717] [440722] [440723] [440727] [440719] [440720] |
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440703 |
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Date: September 04, 2024 at 12:21:40
From: akira, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Groups Say Biden's Own Policy Requires US to Stop Arming Israel |
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I've posted about this at least twice. Nobody around here cares.
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Responses:
[440708] [440712] [440713] [440715] [440717] [440722] [440723] [440727] [440719] [440720] |
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440708 |
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Date: September 04, 2024 at 12:42:07
From: ao, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Groups Say Biden's Own Policy Requires US to Stop Arming Israel |
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I care. But engaging with you about it.. not so much.
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Responses:
[440712] [440713] [440715] [440717] [440722] [440723] [440727] [440719] [440720] |
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440712 |
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Date: September 04, 2024 at 13:58:11
From: akira, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Groups Say Biden's Own Policy Requires US to Stop Arming Israel |
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I consider that a blessing. You're a dishonest, sociopathic bore.
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Responses:
[440713] [440715] [440717] [440722] [440723] [440727] [440719] [440720] |
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440713 |
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Date: September 04, 2024 at 14:12:09
From: ryan, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Groups Say Biden's Own Policy Requires US to Stop Arming Israel |
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if you had just stuck with the first sentence...
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Responses:
[440715] [440717] [440722] [440723] [440727] [440719] [440720] |
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440715 |
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Date: September 04, 2024 at 15:00:22
From: akira, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Groups Say Biden's Own Policy Requires US to Stop Arming Israel |
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You don't read many of ao's posts do you? ao is one of the most 'reactive' ( a
favorite word of yours, right?), abusive, dishonest, narcissistic people posting
here. But then ao can sound perfectly reasonable. One of the crowd. delightfully
agreeable. ao is an imitator. Often just riding the waves created by others. All the
time? of course not. Sorry that you can't or won't see.
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Responses:
[440717] [440722] [440723] [440727] [440719] [440720] |
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440717 |
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Date: September 04, 2024 at 18:00:41
From: ryan, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Groups Say Biden's Own Policy Requires US to Stop Arming Israel |
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i know ao and i know his heart...known him for 50 years (omg!)...he only wishes the best for you...and ot and karen too! he is a passionate man, and a truth sayer...not a lot of filters...says it like it is...doesn't beat around the bush...don't be so quick to dismiss him...he is a teacher...
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Responses:
[440722] [440723] [440727] [440719] [440720] |
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440722 |
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Date: September 04, 2024 at 20:37:06
From: shadow, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Groups Say Biden's Own Policy Requires US to Stop Arming Israel |
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I don’t think the energy of *genuine harmlessness* is something our Old
Timer can register, recognize for what it is…unfortunately…it’s a
frequency that’d do his soul such good, could he savor it….
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Responses:
[440723] [440727] |
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440723 |
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Date: September 04, 2024 at 21:28:04
From: old timer, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Groups Say Biden's Own Policy Requires US to Stop Arming Israel |
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yes, it is hard for me to comprehend how a person that full of hate and
vulgarity could be described by any of those words. i suppose it’s
possible he is a nice person in life and just plays the internet bully here
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Responses:
[440727] |
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440727 |
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Date: September 05, 2024 at 04:11:56
From: shadow, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Groups Say Biden's Own Policy Requires US to Stop Arming Israel |
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Old Timer, can you not tell the difference between when
someone is simply using harsh wording to vent frustrated
feelings...and when the feelings that live within harsh
wordings are not just passing frustration, but carry
energies of violence that's seriously dangerous to
others?
It occurs to me that you can't...because if you could, it
would be more obvious to you, as it is to myself and to
ryan and probably most others, that ao is an entirely
nonviolent soul, and is simply...as are sooooo many of
the rest of us...exhausted beyond tears and rage that we
have the dilemma before us, that we do, of having to
defend hundreds of years of civilization-efforting
against those who would turn humanity directly backward
upon itself................ It makes us angry. It makes
us say bad words. It makes us get right up in the faces
of those attempting to sell fascism as if it were
acceptable and be loud as we can.
But real, true violence? You will not find that energy
within his words, nor mine, nor ryan's, nor the words and
energies of anyone truly invested within humanity's
highest cause and destiny...
Only in the rightwing GOP fascist cause will you find
that violent energy...and from them, it seethes through
every word...
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Responses:
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440719 |
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Date: September 04, 2024 at 19:05:02
From: old timer, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Groups Say Biden's Own Policy Requires US to Stop Arming Israel |
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i have to say it is difficult to reconcile your description with the vulgar
hateful person we see on display here daily. the man needs help, mentally
healthy people don’t attack and belittle and bully others
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Responses:
[440720] |
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440720 |
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Date: September 04, 2024 at 20:27:30
From: ryan, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Groups Say Biden's Own Policy Requires US to Stop Arming Israel |
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well then, it is obvious that you need help...lol...beauty is in the eye of the beholder...
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Responses:
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