An administration report kowtows to the Israel lobby while telling the rest of us that the US is deeply disturbed by the nation’s conduct

By Herbert Rothschild

In a column on Feb. 16 sub-titled “The Biden administration just promised to obey the law. We’ll see,” I applauded the issuance of National Security Memorandum-20. The memo acknowledged that U.S. law requires countries receiving U.S. military aid to use the weapons in compliance with internationally recognized human rights and international humanitarian law, or IHL. It affirmed the administration’s obligation to report to Congress, beginning within 90 days after issuance of the memo and annually thereafter, whether such countries now engaged in combat (Colombia, Iraq and Israel) are in compliance.

The State Department duly issued its report on May 10. Regarding its section on Israel, U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, appearing on CNN’s “Erin Burnett OutFront,” called it “a massive diplomatic dodge.”

He said, “On the one hand, it says that it’s very reasonable to conclude that there’s been restriction of aid, it’s very reasonable to conclude that our weapons have been used in violation of international law and then it proceeds to say that we just don’t want to give an answer on that yet.”

Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, who exerted the most pressure to publish the national security memorandum, said, “The administration ducked all the hard questions about making the actual determination. I think what they’re trying to do is make clear that they recognize how bad the situation is, but they don’t want to have to take any action to hold the (Benjamin) Netanyahu government accountable for what’s happening.”

Indeed, the report is just what we’ve become accustomed to from the administration of President Joe Biden — kowtowing to the Israel lobby while trying to assure the rest of us (which includes most of the world) that it’s deeply disturbed by Israel’s conduct.

As Merkley, an Oregon Democrat, pointed out, the report found that weapons covered under NSM-20 have been used by Israeli security forces in instances inconsistent with its IHL obligations or with established best practices for mitigating civilian harm. Then it adds, “At the same time, it is also important to emphasize that a country’s overall commitment to IHL is not necessarily disproven by individual IHL violations, so long as that country is taking appropriate steps to investigate and where appropriate determine accountability for IHL violations.” It called Israel’s assurances made under the national security memorandum “credible and reliable.”

Just so you can get a firsthand sense of how much the report weasels, I’ll quote at length its treatment of a highly publicized subset of Israeli atrocities.

“One specific area of concern is the impact of Israel’s military operations on humanitarian actors. Despite regular engagement from humanitarian actors and repeated USG (U.S. government) interventions with Israeli officials on deconfliction/coordination procedures, the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) has struck humanitarian workers and facilities. While Israel repeatedly committed to improve deconfliction and implemented some additional measures, those changes did not fully prevent subsequent strikes involving humanitarian workers and facilities during the reporting period. The USG will continue to press the government of Israel on the need to do more to create a permissive and safe environment for delivery and distribution of aid.

“The U.N. reports that more than 250 humanitarian workers have been killed in the course of their work or in other circumstances. Multiple military operations have taken place in protected or deconflicted sites or in areas designated for evacuees.” Then it adds, “As noted above, we are not able to reach definitive conclusions on whether defense articles covered by NSM-20 were used in these or other individual strikes.”

Regarding Israel’s restriction of humanitarian aid into Gaza, we now know that the report went beyond waffling to lying. It said, “We do not currently assess that the Israeli government is prohibiting or otherwise restricting the transport or delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance within the meaning of section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act.”

However, in late April, before the report was written, the U.S. Agency for International Development sent Secretary of State Antony Blinken a detailed 17-page memo on Israel’s conduct. It described instances of Israeli interference with aid efforts, including killing aid workers, razing agricultural structures, bombing ambulances and hospitals, sitting on supply depots and routinely turning away trucks full of food and medicine. USAID officials wrote that because of Israel’s behavior, the U.S. should pause additional arms sales to the country. Obviously, Blinken and the Biden administration didn’t concur.

On Aug. 13, the State Department announced that the Biden administration had approved $20 billion in new arms sales to Israel, including more than 50 F-15 fighter jets, advanced medium-range air-to-air missiles, 120 mm tank ammunition, and high-explosive mortars and tactical vehicles. One can only imagine the contempt in which the Netanyahu government regards Biden’s efforts to contain his onslaughts in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon.

To her credit, Vice President Kamala Harris refused to attend when Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu addressed a joint session of Congress on July 24 at the invitation of Republican members of the House.

Congress can disapprove of arms sales by passing Joint Resolutions of Disapproval. On Sept. 25, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders filed a JRD to block the $20 billion sale.

In remarks on the Senate floor the previous week, Sanders said, “Mr. President, it’s not just the civilian casualties and the violations of international human rights. Other provisions of U.S. law are also applicable. Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act also states that: ‘No assistance shall be furnished … to any country when it is made known to the president that the government of such country prohibits or otherwise restricts, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance.’

“The whole world has witnessed Israel’s restriction of humanitarian aid. The U.N. and virtually every humanitarian group says that Israel’s restrictive policies are the primary cause of the humanitarian catastrophe. The administration says as much, admitting that ‘Israel did not fully cooperate with United States government efforts and United States government-supported international efforts to maximize humanitarian assistance flow to and distribution within Gaza.’ That severely understates the reality.”

Merkley has joined Sanders as a sponsor of the Joint Resolution of Disapproval. When he runs for re-election in 2026, doubtless the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) will spend many millions to convince us that he, like Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-New York, and Rep. Cori Bush, D-Missouri, whom it successfully “primaried” this summer, is a bad person.

Herbert Rothschild’s columns appear on Friday in Ashland.news. Opinions expressed in them represent the author’s views. Email Rothschild at herbertrothschild6839@gmail.com.