1y ago

US state department report absolving Israel on Gaza aid is false, says ex-official

www.theguardian.com

World News @lemmy.world

jeffw @lemmy.world

1y ago

US state department falsified report absolving Israel on Gaza aid – ex-official

www.theguardian.com /world/article/2024/may/30/stacy-gilbert-us-state-department-israel-gaza-aid

4 comments

There was a post just the other day about how the State Departments intelligence department was the best ever and it's always right and never does anything that's ever wrong, just compiles these reports...
But this bit is clearly wrong by now:
The NSM-20 report found that it was “reasonable to assess” that Israel had used US weapons in a way that was “inconsistent” with international humanitarian law, but that there was not enough concrete evidence to link specific US-supplied weapons to violations.
The recent bombing of a refugee camp in Raffah has been confirmed to have been committed with US supplied munitions.
So even if Biden's admin wants to try and say it was true back then, there's no indisputable evidence of it, and motherfuckers are still not doing anything.
I'm not holding my breath for them to do the right thing, but at this point the only thing I'm holding is my vote for Biden.
I wish it hasn't come to this, but moderates have shown time and time again that they're not willing to engage in civilized conversation about what voters want.
But goddamn do they respond quickly to demands. We have to start negotiating with them by whatever means they listen to, and Biden only responds to demands and threats. He's even responding to recent protests like trump did to BLM protests.
I just hope Biden wants to beat Trump more than he doesn't want to at least pause the genocide till the election is over.
- That bit was clearly BS even before the pictures of SDB tails. I mean, there's no way Israel made all of those 2000 lb bombs and kits themselves, they buy from us.
- It was my comment, and you’re misrepresenting it. I said it’s the responsibility of POTUS to abide by its findings rather than outside information. I also said Biden should be pressing Blinken for a reassessment, especially after the recent “accidents” involving civilians.
  The point of that comment was to combat the disinformation in your previous comment, as well as in your comment above. POTUS does not make decisions on international affairs based on the news or polls.
  This should absolutely prompt Biden to force a reevaluation from the State Department.
  Also, would you mind providing a source regarding your claim of Biden dispatching a DHS militia to violently suppress protesters? Or did he suggest shooting them in the legs?
Maybe I'm too used to deciphering GovSpeak, but the report does not obsolve Israel of anything.
The article quotes the report in saying:
[The department does not] currently assess that the Israeli government is prohibiting or otherwise restricting the transport or delivery of US humanitarian assistance [in Gaza]
However, that is a very selective quote, that is not at all what the report says.
The actual quote reads:
While the USG has had deep concerns during the period since October 7 about action and inaction by Israel that contributed significantly to a lack of sustained and predictable delivery of needed assistance at scale, and the overall level reaching Palestinian civilians – while improved – remains insufficient, 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.
Which translates into: "Israel is definitely obstructing the delivery of humanitarian aid. However, since US law says that puts restrictions on us, we talked to our lawyers who found a way for us to say that they are not"
They are not even being subtle about it. The only way the state department could have been any clearer would be to say "current policy is a clear violation of the Foreign Assistance Act". And a US agency is never going to say that.