A Chasm Opens
Israel Has Until March 25th to Comply with International and Humanitarian Law or Else...
According to a trusted source in the United States intelligence community, the Biden administration is heading toward a major confrontation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his conduct of the current war in Gaza. In the next few weeks, Biden may go so far as to suspend offensive weapons shipments to Israel, an unpreceded action that would have far-reaching consequences for the two countries’ “special relationship.”
“The tripwire is a national security memorandum Biden signed last month which gives Israel until March 25th to provide the U.S. with written assurances that weapons sales from the U.S. will only be used in accord with international law and that it will pledge to facilitate and not obstruct aid deliveries into Gaza,” the source said. The national security memorandum titled, “National Security Memorandum on Safeguards and Accountability With Respect to Transferred Defense Articles and Defense Services,” was signed on February 8, 2024, and gives the President explicit authority to deny arms shipments to any nation-state deemed to be violating international and humanitarian law.
The memorandum states:
“In order to effectively implement certain obligations under United States law, the United States must maintain an appropriate understanding of foreign partners’ adherence to international law, including, as applicable, international human rights law and international humanitarian law. As a matter of international law, the United States looks to the law of state responsibility and United States partners’ compliance with international humanitarian law in assessing the lawfulness of United States military assistance to, and joint operations with, military partners.
For these reasons, I am issuing this memorandum, which requires the Secretary of State to obtain certain credible and reliable written assurances from foreign governments receiving defense articles and, as appropriate, defense services, from the Departments of State and Defense, and requires the Secretaries of State and Defense to provide periodic congressional reports to enable meaningful oversight. In addition to the requirements of this memorandum, the Secretaries of State and Defense are responsible for ensuring that all transfers of defense articles and defense services by the Departments of State and Defense under any security cooperation or security assistance authorities are conducted in a manner consistent with all applicable international and domestic law and policy, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law, the applicable “Leahy Law” (22 U.S.C. 2378d, 10 U.S.C. 362), and NSM-18.”
In the next few weeks, Israel will have to provide written assurances to Biden and Congress that they are adhering to international and humanitarian law. If they cannot provide hard evidence that they are doing so—and the evidence seems scant that they currently are—then the source asserts that Biden will halt all future offensive military arms shipments to Israel.
Meanwhile, the war of words between Biden and Netanyahu is intensifying. In an interview with MSNBC on Saturday, Biden said that Netanyahu is “hurting Israel more than helping Israel” with his handling of the war against Hamas. To which Netanyahu replied Monday on Fox and Friends, “You don’t have an issue with me. You have an issue with the entire people of Israel. They’re really united as never before, united to destroy Hamas, and ensure that we don’t have another Palestinian terror state like the one that we had in Gaza that could threaten the State of Israel.”
In the same interview, Netanyahu asserted that the public disagreements between him and Biden only serve Hamas. “To the extent that Hamas believes that there’s daylight between us, that doesn’t help,” Netanyahu said.
In what may be a foreshadowing of things to come Biden also stated in his MSNBC interview that although he was not going “to cut off all weapons [to Israel] so that they don’t have the Iron Dome [missile defense system] to protect them,” he made no mention of offensive weapons systems.
The clock is ticking. March 25th may see a fundamental shift in relations between Israel and the United States if Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza does not change.
To view Biden’s full national security memorandum, go here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2024/02/08/national-security-memorandum-on-safeguards-and-accountability-with-respect-to-transferred-defense-articles-and-defense-services/