Joe Biden is committing “an apparent violation of U.S. law” by continuing to send military assistance to Israel while the nation blocks American aid for Gaza, 25 prominent humanitarian and human rights organizations argued in a Tuesday letter to the U.S. president.
In the letter, shared exclusively with HuffPost, the groups cited Biden’s decisions in recent days to airdrop aid into Gaza and launch a complex plan to build a floating pier to provide food to people there, some of whom have begun dying of malnutrition and dehydration, as an acknowledgment that Israel is impeding the delivery of crucial U.S. supplies.
“Both efforts are the latest implicit recognition of Israel’s severe restrictions on humanitarian access amid extraordinary human suffering,” reads the message, which was delivered to the U.S. National Security Council. “Your administration has now publicly recognized what humanitarian organizations have reported for months: that the government of Israel is obstructing the delivery of humanitarian aid to starving Palestinians.”
The letter came after eight senators also sent Biden a missive saying Netanyahu is breaching laws governing U.S. military aid.
At question is Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act, which says that presidents cannot provide military aid to foreign countries if they know those nations are barring the delivery of U.S. humanitarian relief. In the letter, the groups argued that Biden is violating the law by refusing to end “unconditional arms transfers” and other support for Israel’s ongoing deadly offensive in Gaza, which has so far killed more than 30,000 Palestinians, per local authorities.
The Biden administration has repeatedly said that it and Israel are abiding by U.S. laws in their actions in Gaza, and challenged demands for probes of Israeli actions and potential U.S. complicity in war crimes.
The Tuesday statement represents a striking accusation from well-respected groups, ranging from rights watchdogs…
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