U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to submit a highly critical report to Congress as soon as Friday on Israel’s conduct in Gaza that stops short of concluding it has violated the terms for its use of U.S. weapons, Axios said on Thursday. The report, citing three officials, added that the State Department was reviewing the use of weapons by Israel and six other countries engaged in different armed conflicts.
Quick Read
Blinken Report on Israel: Key Points and Developments
- Expected Release: Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s report to Congress, detailing Israel’s conduct in Gaza, is expected to be submitted by Friday. The report is seen as critical but concludes that Israel has not violated U.S. weapons use terms.
- Contentious Debate: The preparation of this report has sparked significant internal debate within the State Department, described as the most contentious since the October 7 attack on Gaza.
- Casualties and Use of U.S. Weapons: Reports indicate nearly 35,000 Palestinian casualties in Gaza. An Amnesty International report from April cited the use of U.S. weapons against civilians by Israel.
- Review Process: The State Department is reviewing weapon use by Israel and six other countries in different conflicts, as part of a new national security memorandum issued by President Biden in February.
- Potential Consequences: If any country is found to have violated international humanitarian law or hindered U.S.-supported aid delivery, it could face suspension of U.S. military aid.
- Report Delay: Initially set for May 8, the submission has been delayed due to technical issues, with all seven country reports not being ready.
- Internal Disagreements: There’s a division within the State Department regarding Israel’s compliance, with some recommending a violation conclusion and others, including U.S. Ambassador Jack Lew and outgoing Gaza envoy David Satterfield, arguing against it.
- Humanitarian Aid Situation: Recent memos suggest that Israel’s policy on humanitarian aid has improved significantly since April, following an ultimatum from President Biden to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.
- Report Details: The report will list various incidents during the Gaza conflict, describing them in “very critical terms” but will stop short of declaring Israel in violation of international law concerning the national security memorandum.
- Political Reactions: The report and the memorandum have elicited mixed reactions, with some Republicans criticizing it as unnecessary bureaucracy and Democrats asserting evidence of violations by Israel, leading to tensions with Israeli diplomats.
This summary provides an overview of the anticipated and politically sensitive Blinken report, set against the backdrop of ongoing debates and policy adjustments within the U.S. administration regarding Israel’s actions in Gaza.
The Associated Press has the story:
Blinken report expected to criticize Israel, but say it isn’t breaking weapons terms
Newslooks- WASHINGTON- (AP)
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to submit a highly critical report to Congress as soon as Friday on Israel’s conduct in Gaza that stops short of concluding it has violated the terms for its use of U.S. weapons, Axios said on Thursday. The report, citing three officials, added that the State Department was reviewing the use of weapons by Israel and six other countries engaged in different armed conflicts.
Blinken is expected to submit to Congress as soon as Friday a highly critical report about Israel’s conduct in Gaza that stops short of concluding it has violated the terms for its use of U.S. weapons, three U.S. officials said.
The report assessing whether Israel complied with international law and restricted humanitarian aid to Gaza sparked the most contentious internal debate in the State Department since the Oct. 7 attack, U.S. officials said.
Local health authorities report nearly 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza and an April report from Amnesty International found Israel used U.S. weapons against Palestinian civilians in the enclave.
The State Department has been engaged in an internal process to prepare the politically sensitive report required under a new national security memorandum issued in February by President Biden. The State Department is reviewing the use of weapons by Israel and six other countries engaged in different armed conflicts. If a country is determined to have violated international humanitarian law or impeded the delivery of U.S.-supported humanitarian aid, it could lead to suspension of U.S. military aid.
The State Department set its own deadline to submit the reports about the seven countries to Congress by May 8, but earlier this week said it would be delayed a few days. A U.S. official said the delay was largely technical and was related to not all the seven reports being ready.
The White House’stop Middle East advisor, Brett McGurk, told a group of Middle East experts from several think tanks on Thursday that the report will be submitted to Congress on Friday, according to people who attended the briefing. A State Department official said it is a possibility, but added it could still change.
In recent weeks, there has been a tug of war withinthe State Department over the contents of the report about Israel and its conclusions. The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor and USAID recommended Blinken conclude that Israel has violated the terms of the national security memorandum, but other parts of the department pressed Blinken to certify that it didn’t.
U.S. Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew and outgoing U.S. Gaza humanitarian envoy David Satterfield sent a memo to Blinken in recent weeks saying Israel isn’t violating international law in its war in Gaza, two U.S. officials who read the memo told Axios.
Lew and Satterfield recommended Blinken certify in the report that Israel isn’t hampering humanitarian aid, two U.S. officials said. The two made clear that while Israel did restrict humanitarian aid in the past and created obstacles for aid to reach Gaza, it has changed its policy since April after President Biden presented Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with an ultimatum. According to U.S. officials, Lew and Satterfield said that the situation today when it comes to Israeli policy regarding humanitarian aid has significantly improved and Israel isn’t intentionally impeding aid.
Three U.S. officials said Blinken’s report is going to list a series of incidents that took place during the war in Gaza and note that they raised serious concerns about violations of international law by Israel.
The officials said it is going to describe the situation in “very critical terms” and mention that the State Department is still looking into several of those incidents. At the same time, Blinken will stop short of concluding that Israel has violated international law in the context of the national security memorandum, the officials said.
A senior U.S. official said Blinken’s report also adopted the conclusions of Lew and Satterfield and certifies that Israel isn’t currently violating the national security memorandum when it comes to facilitating the delivery of U.S.-supported humanitarian aid. Lew, Satterfield and the State Department declined to comment.
Some Republican lawmakers have criticized the national security memorandum as “unnecessary bureaucracy” that “contributes to frustration from the partners and allies that count on U.S. security assistance.”
But 88 Democratic lawmakers wrote to the president last week saying there is “sufficient evidence” that Israel’s restrictions on aid violated U.S. law, drawing a harsh rebuke from the Israeli ambassador to the U.S.
The State Department report must be “seen to be based on facts and law, and not based on what they would wish it would be,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), who pushed for the national security memorandum, said last week.
On Tuesday, The Associated Press reported that the Biden administration was set to miss a Wednesday deadline to report to Congress on whether Israel is violating international humanitarian law in Gaza.
A national security memorandum, NSM-20, issued by President Joe Biden in February, required the department to report to Congress by May 8 how credible are Israel’s assurances that its use of U.S. weapons does not violate U.S. or international law.
On Tuesday, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told a press briefing the NSM-20 report was not yet finished but the department was working “very hard” to complete it.
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