T. Belman. The purpose of this demand is to give the US the power to say Israel is violating international law, whether they are or not, and therefore weapons will be “paused. It is similar to their dictates regarding “settler violence”.
There is a distinction between Customay humanitarian law, which nobody follows, and Treaty humanitarian law, that Israel follows better than anyone else.
Officials tell Axios that Biden administration gave Israel until mid-March to sign letter that provides assurances that it will abide by international law while using US weapons in Gaza.
Israel National News Feb 28, 2024, 2:09 AM (GMT+2)
Netanyahu and BidenAvi Ohayon/GPO
The assurances are now a requirement under a memorandum issued earlier this month by President Joe Biden. While it does not single out Israel, the new policy came after some Democratic senators expressed concern over the Israeli military campaign in Gaza. If the assurances aren’t provided by the deadline, US weapon transfers to the country will be paused.
According to Axios, the national security memorandum, published on February 8, states that prior to supplying US weapons, a country must give the US “credible and reliable written assurances” that it will use any such weapons in accordance with international humanitarian law.
It also stresses that a country that uses US weapons in conflict areas needs to provide “credible and reliable written assurances” that it will “facilitate and not arbitrarily deny, restrict, or otherwise impede, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance and United States Government-supported international efforts to provide humanitarian assistance.”
The memorandum was issued by the White House after pressure from Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and other senators who wanted to add these requirements as an amendment to the Senate supplemental funding bill.
Three US officials told Axios on Tuesday that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told the White House he was concerned that such an amendment would divide the Democratic caucus in the Senate and asked to take executive action instead.
A senior Israeli official said the US request was to have the written assurances by mid-March so that Blinken can certify them by the end of the month. Israel can decide who in the government will sign the letter.
A State Department official said in response, “We continue to implement National Security Memorandum-20, including having discussions with our security cooperation partners around the world.”
The Israeli Defense Ministry declined to comment.
Hopefully Israelis (and neither the IDF nor the intel), learned their lesson about dependence on US for weapons!
Can’t be trusted.
A very hypocritical approach to selling weapons!
Maybe Israel should send back these white phosphor weapons so that the USA can send them to Ukraine instead. Don’t forget to get a refund or at least a raincheck.
Are our “allies” going to demand that those nice F35 aircraft also be put in mothballs for the duration, or maybe also transferred elsewhere.
This memorandum of (mis)understanding actually implies that if Israel intends to use these aircraft to fight an enemy that does not match US intentions, they can’t be used. In other words, if Israel feels that it is necessary to bomb certain targets in Iran, for example, which are part of their nuclear program, that would be forbidden since the USA feel the need to support Iran in its endeavours.