On Wednesday, April 24, President Biden signed a foreign aid package into law. The package is worth $95 billion in total and will give aid to Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific. The aid going to Israel includes $15 billion in military aid and $9 billion in humanitarian aid for Gaza, with the rest going to U.S. military operations in the region. Despite his obvious commitment to the Israel-Palestine conflict, Biden’s actions continually speak louder than his words. Israel’s military campaign in Gaza has been severely bloody, and the United States needs to apply the Leahy Law in order to immediately stop sending military aid to Israel.
The Leahy Law prohibits the U.S. from sending funds to foreign security forces if they are committing gross human rights violations. In March, Francesca Albanese, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, told the Human Rights Council that since Oct. 7, Israel’s actions against Gaza have amounted to genocide. Israel clearly meets the criteria for the law’s application, given its treatment of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. To add to this, in 2021 the International Criminal Court opened an investigation into crimes committed against Palestine and U.N. Special Rapporteur Michael Lynk reported back that Israel’s occupation of Palestine is a system of apartheid.
Despite this, the U.S. has not applied the Leahy Law. Currently, the State Department claims that only five Israeli military units have committed human rights violations. Nonetheless, the U.N.’s claims show that the Israeli government as a whole is committing the abuses, meaning the U.S. needs to apply the law to all of Israel. America can no longer pretend that Israel’s long-term policies on Gaza and the West Bank are in the interest of long-term peace.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu doesn’t seem like he will stop his genocidal policies anytime soon, either. Even when Biden said an invasion of Rafah would cross a red line, Netanyahu continued ahead. Words are no longer enough. Israel knows they can get away with the killing with only a slap on the wrist.
Although Biden has withheld some arms shipments, like the sale of up to 6,500 Joint Direct Attack Munitions, his arms embargo is starting to crack. The U.S. House of Representatives recently passed H.R. 8369, which states that “no federal funds may be used to withhold, halt, reverse, or cancel the delivery of defense articles or defense services to Israel.” On May 15, three congressional aides said the Biden administration is planning to move ahead on a new $1 billion sale of arms and munitions to Israel. While the arms embargo seemed like a step in the right direction, the situation in Gaza only continues to get worse. As it currently stands, the U.S. is complicit in genocide. With the possibility of more weapons shipments, the amount of blood on our government’s hands only increases.
Taking away military aid would demonstrate to Israel that they can no longer commit a genocide unpunished. The billions of dollars of military aid only exacerbates conflict, with a report from the Naval Postgraduate School and UNC Chapel Hill indicating that it increases both the duration and intensity of war.
It’s possible that Biden is trying to limit his involvement in the name of diplomacy. U.S. interests in the Middle East have traditionally been aligned with Israel’s. While diplomatic relationships are important, they should not come with an added cost of complacency in genocide. America was built on the basis of freedom and liberty; genocide goes against these principles. By not actively working to stop the harm of the Palestinian people, our country hasn’t shown true commitment to the democratic ideals it claims to care about.
America has a reputation as the world’s pivotal power, and the international community often expects American involvement in global conflicts. Although we are involved, we aren’t doing enough. More than 34,000 people have died and that number is only rising. Despite the intuitiveness of helping innocent people, the United States continues to forsake its moral imperative to aid the Palestinian people.
If the U.S. wants to help Israel and Palestine pursue peace, then the country needs to focus on ending this conflict without giving either side more reason to fight. Applying the Leahy Law would end military aid to Israel and would guarantee a new focus on humanitarian aid. Currently, Gaza is the deadliest place in the world for civilians. Damage has displaced more than 75% of Gaza’s population, and destroyed around 62% of all the homes in the country.
In addition to issues with shelter, famine ison the horizon. 1.1 million people in Gaza are suffering from catastrophic levels of hunger. In the north, where the situation is the worst, 16% to 25% of children between the ages of six months and five years have acute malnutrition and 2% to 4% have acute severe malnutrition. To make matters worse, there’s also a lack of access to clean drinking water.
Gaza’s health infrastructure shows some of the worst damage. Of the 36 hospitals in Gaza, only 11 are functioning. Even then, they struggle with frequent power outages and supply shortages. There are more people injured every day, and 9,000 people currently need immediate evacuation.
Right now, America is watching a genocide unfold and doing the absolute bare minimum to stop it. Biden must apply the Leahy Law to Israel and start focusing on humanitarian efforts. Diplomatic relations are important, but they should not come before protecting the Palestinian people.
If we are truly committed to “liberty and justice for all,” then the U.S. must hold the Israeli government accountable.
Sophia Perrault is a Senior Opinion Editor and can be reached at sophiafp@umich.edu.