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Human Rights Watch warned on Tuesday, ahead of a planned meeting between President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, that the U.S. “will be complicit” in Israeli war crimes as long as the Trump administration continues sending military assistance to Israel.
In a statement, the human rights group said that the U.S.’s support of the Israeli military throughout its assault on Gaza has been “unprecedented.” The Biden administration, the group said, had already made the U.S. complicit in Israel’s “grave violations” of human rights by continuing to send weapons despite significant evidence that Israeli forces have used U.S. weapons to commit war crimes in Gaza.
“If President Trump wants to break with the Biden administration’s complicity in the Israeli government’s atrocities in Gaza, he should immediately suspend arms transfers to Israel,” said Human Rights Watch’s chief advocacy officer, Bruno Stagno. “Trump said the hostilities in Gaza were ‘not our war’ but ‘their war,’ but unless the US ends its military support, Gaza will also be Trump’s war.”
In the first 12 months of Israel’s genocide, the U.S. sent a record-breaking $17.9 billion in military aid to Israel — and likely more when weapons transfers that weren’t publicly reported are counted. This includes tens of thousands of bombs, artillery shells and other weapons that Israel has used extensively to slaughter and maim Palestinians. Over $20 billion more in weapons transfers have also been approved by the Biden administration and are slated to be sent in coming months and years.
“Biden administration officials were well aware of the mounting evidence that Israeli forces have committed grave abuses in Gaza, including with U.S. weapons. Human rights and humanitarian organizations and independent experts have submitted extensive documentation to the U.S. government, and civil servants have said they submitted similar reports internally,” furthering the administration’s complicity, Human Rights Watch said.
In his first two weeks in office, Trump has approved additional arms transfers to Israel, even as the White House is supposedly trying to maintain a ceasefire agreement in Gaza — an agreement that Israel has repeatedly violated, Palestinian sources say. The Trump administration is expected to lift the Biden administration’s hold on shipments of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel, according to former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. Mike Herzog.
Additionally, The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that the Trump administration has notified Congress of a planned $1 billion weapons transfer to Israel. The sale reportedly includes 4,700 1,000-pound bombs, which make up over $700 million of the sale. It also includes over $300 million worth of Caterpillar bulldozers, the publication reported, citing officials familiar with the deal.
Netanyahu is traveling to the White House on Tuesday to meet with Trump. At this meeting, Netanyahu is reportedly going to ask Trump to push forward an $8 billion arms sale proposed by the Biden administration just before Joe Biden left office. That sale has reportedly been held up in Congress by some Democratic lawmakers, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The meeting has raised alarm for human rights advocates. In a statement on Tuesday, Amnesty International condemned the U.S. for welcoming Netanyahu, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court for charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“[T]he United States is showing contempt for international justice” in inviting Netanyahu, the group said. “The Biden administration flouted any efforts at international justice for Palestine. Now, by not arresting Netanyahu or subjecting him to U.S. investigations, President Trump is doubling down welcoming him as the first foreign leader to visit the White House since the inauguration.”
Human Rights Watch also noted that, on top of sending weapons, U.S. agencies like the CIA and the Pentagon have worked closely with Israeli officials to help conduct the genocide. This assistance could also deepen the U.S.’s complicity, the group said.
“U.S. officials could also be found criminally liable for ‘aiding and abetting’ war crimes by Israeli forces,” Human Rights Watch said. “The U.S. should suspend military assistance and arms sales to Israel so long as Israeli forces commit widespread, serious abuses amounting to war crimes against Palestinian civilians with impunity. Given US provision of weapons used to carry out apparent war crimes, the U.S. should also contribute to reparation and reconstruction in Gaza.”
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