Democratic Senator calls US report on Israel war conduct ‘woefully inadequate’

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said the Biden administration’s review of Israel’s acts of war in the Gaza Strip, which acknowledged potential violations of international humanitarian law using U.S. weapons, was “woefully inadequate.” ”, but did not mention a ban. Weapon transfer.

“God help us all if this practice complies with international standards,” Van Hollen said in a call with reporters shortly after the State Department submitted its report to Congress.

“Because it would set the bar very low for what is permissible, it would set the bar very low for the rules of war, it would set the bar very low for what is necessary to facilitate the provision of humanitarian assistance. Because you’ll have to set it low.

The Biden administration submitted a report to Congress late Friday afternoon in which it determined there was a “reasonable assessment” that Israel had violated international humanitarian law (IHL) in its actions in the Gaza Strip. The report is required by National Security Memorandum 20 (NSM20), which Biden issued in February.

NSM20 provides written assurances to foreign governments receiving U.S. military assistance and engaged in active combat that U.S.-provided weapons are being used in accordance with IHL and do not preclude the provision of further humanitarian assistance. He asked Washington to provide guarantees. The memo also calls on the State Department and the Department of Defense to review credible reports of IHL violations.

NSM20 urges President Biden to acknowledge the large-scale deaths of Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip as a result of Israel’s war against Hamas and that challenges on the Israeli side are hindering the delivery of humanitarian aid. This came about as a result of pressure from Mr. Van Hollen to .

Van Hollen called the Biden administration’s report “woefully inadequate” and said there were “huge gaps” in its assessment of the report by international NGOs that have been scrutinizing Israel’s war against Hamas for seven months. showed that.

“The administration makes several important general findings in this report, including the conclusion that it is reasonable to conclude that Israel violated international law in its use of U.S. weapons. , all of which fall short of making difficult decisions in specific cases,” he said. .

“But the administration ignored all the hard questions about actually making decisions,” Van Hollen continued.

“My reading of this report shows that the Biden administration is taking many of the statements made by the Netanyahu administration at face value,” the senator said, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The administration indicates in its report that Israel is committed to investigating reports of IHL violations.

Van Hollen said the discovery could increase calls for restrictions on arms transfers to Israel. President Biden this week withheld more than 3,000 heavy bombs to Israel and threatened further restrictions on arms transfers in opposition to Israeli military action in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

“This report does not go into too much depth because I believe that by doing so we need to make judgments about specific cases and not just reach general conclusions about potential violations of international humanitarian law,” Van said.・Mr. Whalen stated.