TEL AVIV — The
Biden administration is pressing Israel to
provide answers regarding a series of incidents in which, it claims, Israeli
army units operating in the occupied West Bank violated the so-called
"
Leahy Law,” a set of legal amendments that restrict the funding of
military aid to units over human rights concerns, Israel
Hayom reported Sunday.
اضافة اعلان
The Leahy Law states that Pentagon-appropriated funds
"May not be used for any training, equipment, or other assistance for a
foreign security force unit if the
US Secretary of Defense has credible
information that such unit has committed a gross violation of human
rights."
The warning implies that should Israel fail to provide
satisfactory answers, Israeli forces serving in the West Bank will not get
US-funded munitions.
According to information obtained by Israel Hayom, the
warning was conveyed to Israel over a month ago and is known to the Israeli
Foreign Ministry.
In order to deal with the claims, the
Israeli International Law Department in the Military Advocate General's office and other legal
entities have been in contact with the US and are supposed to answer their
questions regarding the incidents under discussion, with only two months left
to send the response.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry confirmed that "over the
years, the ministry has cooperated with requests from the American
administration in the context of the Leahy Law." However, an Israeli
official said that there was no knowledge of a concrete warning being issued.
A spokesperson from the US Embassy in Israel said the
"Leahy vetting" was an effective foreign policy tool, which promotes
respect for human rights by America's security partners, and the accountability
of security force units credibly implicated in gross violations of human
rights. It further noted that the law's requirements apply to all countries
receiving relevant US assistance, including Israel, and the State Department
provides assistance consistent with the law's requirements.
Every Israeli security force unit proposed to receive
relevant US assistance is subject to Leahy vetting as a matter of course. As
provided for under the law, the
US State Department also has a process for
assessing reports of potentially serious human rights violations by Israeli
security forces, the spokesperson said.
It should be noted that this is not the first time that the
Leahy Law requirements have been mentioned in the context of Israel. Senator
Patrick Leahy himself tried, in the final stages of the Obama administration,
to use the law to stop security assistance to certain Israeli units over
allegations of human rights violations.
Two weeks ago, the British Guardian published that
the US State Department was conducting an in-depth, extensive examination
according to the Leahy Law requirements regarding Israeli army activities in
the West Bank. Since the beginning of the Gaza war, the
Israeli Occupation Forces (
IOF) has also operated intensely in these areas, killing over 500
Palestinians and arresting thousands.
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