But First I’ll post Bernie’s reply to Bibi’s mendacious charges of antisemitism against US students and staff.
Go, Bernie!
Right, that done, back to the diary.
About the Authors
Noura Erakat I recommend for X/twitter users twitter.com/… and her profile on Just Security www.justsecurity.org/…
Josh Paul his profile on Just Security www.justsecurity.org/…
It is a powerful memorandum and can be read in full here www.justsecurity.org/…
by Noura Erakat and Josh Paul
In early February, we formed the Independent Task Force on the Application of National Security Memorandum-20 to Israel, whose report we provided to the Biden Administration on April 18. The National Security Memorandum 20 (NSM-20), adopted by President Joe Biden, directs the Department of State to seek assurances from partners involved in conflict and receiving U.S. military grant assistance that they would abide by U.S. and international law and also requires the Departments of State and Defense to report to Congress within 90 days on the extent to which such partners are abiding by their assurances.
The final report features sixteen clear, credible, and compelling incidents that should certainly be included in the administration’s upcoming reporting to Congress as well as an 18-page appendix of additional incidents worthy of examination. It also identifies multiple restrictions on humanitarian assistance, including strikes by the IDF, that trigger Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act (which bars military assistance to states impeding U.S. humanitarian aid) and should be reportable to Congress by the Departments of State and/or Defense under the terms of NSM-20.
Our findings were striking. Though Israel has attributed the 34,000 Palestinian casualties, 70 percent of whom are women and children, to alleged human shielding by Hamas, we found that in 11 out of the 16 incidents we analyzed, Israel did not even publicly identity a military target or attempt to justify the strike. Of the remaining five incidents, Israel publicly named targets with verification in two incidents, but no precautionary warning was given and we assess the anticipated civilian harm was known and excessive.
The mounting evidence before the Biden administration now pales only in comparison to the humanitarian crisis afflicting Palestinians in Gaza. As the Task Force’s work demonstrates, the facts could not be more clear. It is now up to the Biden administration to act on them.
*All bolding is mine
The report in full can be found here www.justsecurity.org/…
Report of the Independent Task Force on the Application of National Security Memorandum-20 to Israel
The Key findings can be found on pages 23 to 30
The Task Force considered several thousand distinct incident reports from multiple sources that it received in both raw and finished formats, and provides below a selection of those reports that are most credible and best documented in reflection of the reporting requirements of NSM-20 including a link to U.S.-provided weapons.22 NSM-20 requires an assessment of any credible reports or
allegations that defense articles and, as appropriate, defense services, provided by the Departments of State or Defense and funded with congressional appropriations have been used in a manner not consistent with international law, including international humanitarian law. As such, the incidents described in this section are restricted to those for which a nexus to such defense articles can be established (see footnote to methodology for further discussion). These incidents are representative of numerous similar incidents widely documented by credible open source investigations, rights groups, and international institutions, indicating patterns of systematic commission of the relevant violations. The Task Force notes that these incidents represent a tiny percentage of all potentially credible relevant reports, but that collecting concrete data from the ground in Gaza in the way that would be required for a comprehensive assessment of all incidents is impossible in the current context in which, for instance, over 100 journalists have been killed.
Beyond the specific incidents cited below, and in light of the several thousand incidents the Task Force has reviewed, the Task Force makes the following general findings.
Please have a good read, nothing I can add matters except possibly having a read of this ProPublica article
Netanyahu Resists U.S. Plan to Cut Off Aid to Israeli Military Unit
The public dispute between Israel and the United States follows a ProPublica article Wednesday that revealed Blinken has failed to act for months after a special State Department panel recommended that he disqualify multiple Israeli military and police units from receiving U.S. assistance after reviewing allegations that they had committed flagrant violations, including extrajudicial killings and rape.
Until now, the State Department has never disqualified an Israeli military unit from receiving aid, which would make Blinken’s decision a significant shift in U.S. foreign policy. “This is a very important law,” he told reporters over the weekend, “and it’s one that we apply across the board.”
Fail is a pretty good word to describe our Israeli policies for decades.
As with Apartheid South Africa, the last domino to fall will be our Federal Government.