Ramona Wadi<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains set in his plans to invade Rafah, with or without US assistance. Responding to US President Joe Biden\u2019s warning earlier this week that arms supplies will be limited if Israel invades Rafah, Netanyahu responded, \u201cIf we must, we shall fight with our fingernails.\u201d It is quite likely that the fingernails will be spared, though, unlike countless Palestinian lives eliminated under Israel\u2019s bombing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the early hours of this morning, the Times of Israel reported White House National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby stating, \u201cI wouldn\u2019t go so far as to say that what we\u2019ve seen here [in Rafah] in the last 24 hours connotes or indicates a broad, large-scale invasion or major ground operation.\u201d The statement follows a public confirmation by US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin that a munitions shipment of approximately 3,500 had been halted over concerns that the weapons could be used in Rafah. The weapons shipment halt had prompted Haim Saban, Israeli-American billionaire and donor to the Democratic party, to send an email to Biden\u2019s aides opposing the decision. \u201cLet\u2019s not forget that there are more Jewish voters, who care about Israel, than Muslims voters that care about Hamas,\u201d the informal email partly read. But again, genocide is not about the US elections, or caring about Israel or Hamas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Two days ago, Axios summed up its predictions over the US State Department\u2019s review of the use of weapons provided to Israel which, if found to have violated international law, can lead to suspension. According to three unnamed US officials, the report would refrain from \u201cconcluding it [Israel] has violated the terms for its use of U.S. weapons.\u201d As it turns out, the report provided much in terms of shedding doubt on clarity, which means further veneer for Israel to proceed with its genocide in Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report did find that US weapons were being used in violation of international law but the narrative taken by the US is not in accordance with international law. Since October 7 2023, the report states, \u201cThroughout this period, the USG has engaged at all levels with the Government of Israel to understand Israel\u2019s view of the applicable legal frameworks relevant to the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.\u201d That is not how international law works. Israel\u2019s view normalises genocide and war crimes, to make international law inapplicable. Therefore, the so-called \u201cimperatives\u201d, among which the report lists \u201cminimising civilian casualties\u201d, already provides the necessary groundwork to dilute any measures the US can take in terms of weapons supply to Israel. And indeed, the language used in the report emphasises the usual trend of downplaying proof into likelihood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, the report notes that \u201cIsrael has not shared complete information to verify whether US defence articles covered under NMS_20 were specifically used in actions that have been alleged as violations of IHL or IHRL in Gaza, or in the West Bank and East Jerusalem during the period of the report.\u201d It does state the use of US origin weapons but states, regarding their use, that they were \u201clikely to have been involved in incidents that raise concerns about Israel\u2019s IHL compliance.\u201d Likely. Again, doubt is sown, and always in Israel\u2019s favour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The same tactic occurs throughout the report. The US State Department sources the UN, NGOs and human rights organisations to cite \u201ccredible reports of alleged human rights abuses by Israeli security forces\u201d. Again \u2013 take note of the language. Credible and alleged within the same sentence only disputes credibility. And following lists of violations Israel committed against Palestinian civilians, the State Department report gives Israel the benefit of the doubt once again because, \u201cwith Hamas seeking to hide behind civilian populations and infrastructure and expose them to military action, as well as the lack of USG personnel on the ground in Gaza, it is difficult to assess or reach conclusive findings on individual incidents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Given Israel\u2019s significant reliance on U.S.-made defense articles, it is reasonable to assess that defense articles covered under NSM-20 have been used by Israeli security forces since October 7 in instances inconsistent with its IHL obligations or with established best practices for mitigating civilian harm.\u201d This would be one of the clearest admissions by the US in terms of its weapons being used in Israel\u2019s genocide in Gaza. However, in the next paragraph, Israel\u2019s security forces harmed civilians \u201cpotentially using U.S.-provided equipment\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The report also attempts to discredit \u201cnumerous credible UN, NGO and media reports\u201d detailing Israel\u2019s targeting of civilian infrastructure. Indeed, specific instances are mentioned in the report, including those of Israeli airstrikes targeting humanitarian aid workers, market places and refugee camps, but then resorts to the Israeli narrative of Hamas using human shields. Additionally, the report casts doubt on the civilians killed by Israeli air strikes in Gaza, stating that \u201cthe reported death tolls do not distinguish\u201d between Hamas and civilians killed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIsrael has a sophisticated system for identifying where civilians are located in order to try to minimise civilian harm,\u201d the US report states. Undoubtedly Israel has the technology to locate civilians, but genocide wipes out everyone. Therefore, the report saying that international organisations have reported \u201cmitigation efforts as inconsistent\u201d is a very mild way of stating that Israel\u2019s precision targeting precisely targeted civilians. Israel dividing Gaza into over 300 sectors, for example, is also touted as a mitigation effort to avoid civilian casualties. But if that were true, how does the US account for the genocide and its final destination in Rafah?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If the report set out to determine Israel\u2019s compliance, it would have used definite language instead of employing purposefully contradictory language. Bureaucracy is not a deterrent for Israel. It merely suits the purpose of illusory action, but on the ground in Gaza, Palestinians are still facing genocide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The US is already downplaying Israel\u2019s actions in Rafah so far \u2013 how much impact will a report written in a way to protect Israel from accountability have? Furthermore, the report implicates the US not only by providing the means for Israel\u2019s genocide, but protecting genocidal actions as well. Diplomacy and genocide, it seems, make for durable compatibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ramona Wadi Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu remains set in his plans to invade Rafah, with or without US assistance. Responding to US President Joe Biden\u2019s warning earlier this week that arms supplies will be limited if Israel invades Rafah, Netanyahu responded, \u201cIf we must, we shall fight with our fingernails.\u201d It is quite likely …<\/p>","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":11467,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-172"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ameforum.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ameforum.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ameforum.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ameforum.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ameforum.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11466"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ameforum.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11469,"href":"https:\/\/ameforum.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11466\/revisions\/11469"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ameforum.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ameforum.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ameforum.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ameforum.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}