Palestinians Sue US Government to Halt Military Aid to Israel Over War Crimes

Gaza (Quds News Network)- Five Palestinians in Gaza, the occupied West Bank, and the United States have filed a lawsuit against the US government. The case seeks to stop American military assistance to Israel over serious human rights abuses.

The lawsuit, announced Tuesday, accuses the US State Department of failing to enforce the Leahy Law. This federal law bars military aid to foreign units implicated in extrajudicial killings, torture, and other gross rights violations.

“The State Department’s calculated failure to apply the Leahy Law is particularly shocking in the face of the unprecedented escalation of Israeli [gross violations of human rights] since the Gaza War erupted on October 7, 2023,” the lawsuit states.

Israel’s bombardment and ground operations in Gaza have killed over 45,000 Palestinians since October 2023. The United Nations and leading rights organizations accuse the Israeli military of committing war crimes, including genocide.

The lead plaintiff, referred to as Amal Gaza for safety, is a teacher who has been displaced seven times during the war. She lost 20 family members in Israeli attacks. “My suffering and the unimaginable loss my family has endured would be significantly lessened if the US stopped providing military assistance to Israeli units committing gross violations of human rights,” she said.

The case hinges on the Leahy Law, which prohibits the US from funding foreign military units with “credible information” linking them to abuses. Despite mounting evidence from Gaza and the West Bank, the lawsuit accuses Washington of selectively enforcing the law.

Raed Jarrar, advocacy director at DAWN, the US-based nonprofit supporting the case, urged the government to comply. “We’re asking the government to obey the law,” he told Al Jazeera.

Rights groups report Israel’s use of US-made weapons in indiscriminate strikes that have killed dozens of Palestinian civilians. The war in Gaza has also triggered a surge in military and settler violence in the West Bank, where 770 Palestinians have been killed since October 7, 2023, according to UN figures.

The US provides Israel with $3.8 billion in annual military aid. Analysts at Brown University estimate the Biden administration has given an additional $17.9 billion since the Gaza genocide began. Observers say Israel could not sustain its genocide effort without this funding.

“The violations committed by Israel are so widespread – very severe – that most if not all Israeli [army] units will actually be deemed ineligible for US military assistance if the Leahy Law were applied,” Jarrar explained.

However, Washington has not acted. Special procedures, known as the Israel Leahy Vetting Forum (ILVF), have shielded Israel from accountability. Unlike standard Leahy reviews, Israel’s cases require higher-level meetings, formal requests for information, and a prolonged process.

Charles Blaha, a former State Department official who oversaw Leahy Law implementation, said the system effectively exempts Israel. “Information that for any other country would without question result in ineligibility is insufficient for Israeli security force units,” Blaha wrote in Just Security.

In four years, ILVF has not identified a single ineligible Israeli unit.

Plaintiff Ahmed Moor, a Palestinian-American, said he joined the case over fears for his family in Gaza. “My surviving family members in Gaza have been forcibly displaced four times, … living in constant fear of indiscriminate Israeli attacks carried out with American weapons,” he said.

The lawsuit calls for a federal court judge to declare the State Department’s handling of the law “arbitrary” and unlawful. It also demands the US government issue a list of Israeli military units ineligible for aid and halt funding to those committing rights violations.

While past lawsuits on US aid to Israel have been dismissed, Jarrar stressed this case is different. Filed under the Administrative Procedure Act, it focuses on enforcing existing law, not foreign policy decisions.

“This is not an issue of politics or foreign policy,” Jarrar said. “We’re just asking the judge to instruct the State Department to obey the law.”