A group of Palestinians has filed a lawsuit against President Joe Biden's administration on claims that Washington's support for Israel during the war in Gaza is a breach of US law.
The plaintiffs, including one person in Gaza who has lost 20 family members, are suing the State Department over its refusal to enact a statute known as the Leahy Law, which blocks the US from providing assistance to foreign governments that have committed human rights abuses.
“Collectively, [they] further allege that US assistance directly and significantly enables Israeli security forces to commit [violations of human rights] that cause their imminent harms,” the lawsuit reads.
Ahmed Moor, a Palestinian-American writer born in Gaza, told reporters on Tuesday that his “family continues to suffer the direct consequences of the State Department's failure to enforce American law”.
Mr Moor told of a family member who was killed in Gaza and described the many times his loved ones have been displaced since October last year. He said his aunt is living in a tent.
“My family is living a nightmare," he said. "The daily search for food and water is desperate, and they live under a constant fear of the next bombardment or drone attack. The weapons being used against them – the bombs, the artillery, the ammunition, almost all of it – comes from the United States."
The Biden administration increased financial and military support to Israel since it launched military operations in the Gaza Strip after the Hamas-led October 7 attacks on southern Israel, which killed 1,200 people.
Israeli actions have since led to the deaths of more than 45,000 people in the Palestinian enclave, according to the local Health Ministry, as well as repeated mass eviction orders and limited humanitarian aid access.
The UN and other aid groups have expressed concerns about famine-like conditions and the spread of disease, and the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant over Israeli conduct in the war.
The lawsuit is not the first time the Biden administration has faced questions about its compliance with the Leahy Law. The law is named after former senator Patrick Leahy, who has said US support for Israel is in breach of it.
Last month, Senator Bernie Sanders led a historic vote to block US aid to Israel on claims that Washington's support had violated its own Foreign Assistance Act, on which the Leahy Law's principles build.
The measure failed but picked up significant support from Democrats, including Senator Jeanne Shaheen, who will soon be the highest-ranking Democrat on the Senate foreign relations committee, which has oversight authority on the State Department.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that he “wasn't aware of [the] case” that named his boss Antony Blinken, and referred news reporters to the Department of Justice.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to The National's request for comment.
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Smoke rises after Israeli air strikes targeted Palestine Tower in Gaza city on October 7, 2023. EPA -
Palestinians take control of an Israeli Merkava battle tank after crossing the border fence with Israel from Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023. AFP -
This video grab from footage released by the Israeli Hostage and Missing Families Forum campaign group on May 22 shows what the group described as Israeli female soldiers being captured by Palestinian Hamas militants during the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel. AFP -
Smoke rises following an Israeli air strike in Gaza city on October 9, 2023. EPA -
A rocket is launched from the coastal Gaza strip towards Israel by militants of the Ezz Al-Din Al Qassam militia, the military wing of Hamas movement, in Gaza city. EPA -
Israel's Iron Dome anti-missile system intercepts rockets launched from the Gaza Strip, as seen from the city of Ashkelon, Israel, on October 9, 2023. Reuters -
Lightning strikes as smoke billows following an Israeli air strike in Gaza city on October 9, 2023. AFP -
An Israeli artillery unit fires at an area along the border with Gaza, southern Israel, on October 11, 2023. EPA -
Ultra-Orthodox Jewish people carry their belongings before boarding a ship for US nationals and their immediate family members, as they leave Israel headed for Cyprus. Reuters -
Palestinian youths take cover behind a rubbish container as they clash with Israeli forces at the northern entrance of the West Bank city of Ramallah near the Israeli settlement of Beit El on October 20, 2023. AFP -
A man mourns as he attends a funeral of Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on October 24, 2023. Reuters -
A man holds a child, survivors of Israeli bombardment, as they are treated at a trauma ward at Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on October 24, 2023. AFP -
People search for survivors and the bodies of victims through the rubble of buildings destroyed during Israeli bombardment in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on October 26, 2023. AFP -
Anti-war protesters raise their 'bloody' hands behind US Secretary of State Antony Blinken during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on President Biden's $106 billion national security supplemental funding request to support Israel and Ukraine, as well as bolster border security, on Capitol Hill in Washington on October 31, 2023. Reuters -
Palestinians run for cover after a strike near the Al Shifa hospital in Gaza city on November 1, 2023. AFP -
Palestinian children run as they flee from Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on November 6, 2023. AFP -
An injured Palestinian woman covered in dust and blood hugs an injured girl child at the hospital following the Israeli bombardment of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on November 15, 2023. AFP -
Hostages released by Hamas Gal, left, and Tal Almog-Goldstein, second left, stand in a bus transporting them to an army base in Ofakim in southern Israel after they were released by the Palestinian militant group from the Gaza Strip on November 26, 2023. AFP -
Palestinian boys stand in their makeshift tent at a camp set up on a schoolyard in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip where most civilians have taken refuge, on December 13, 2023. AFP -
Palestinians fleeing the north through the Salaheddin road in the Zeitoun district on the southern outskirts of Gaza city, walk past Israeli army tanks on November 24, 2023. AFP -
In this picture taken during a media tour organised by the Israeli military on December 15, 2023, soldiers visit a tunnel that Hamas reportedly used to attack Israel through the Erez border crossing on October 7. AFP -
Jewish protesters block the passage of aid trucks being sent to Gaza in Ashdod, Israel on February 1, 2024. Reuters -
A man pulls water containers as he walks past destroyed buildings in Khan Younis on May 5, 2024. AFP -
Relatives of Hanan Yablonka, one of the Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip since the October 7, 2023 attack by Palestinian Hamas militants, mourn during his funeral in Tel Aviv on May 26. AFP -
Humanitarian aid packages land after being dropped from a plane in Al Mawasi district of Khan Younis, on May 30, 2024. Reuters -
Palestinians attend Eid al-Adha prayer in Khan Younis town, southern Gaza strip, on June 16. EPA -
Displaced Palestinians play football in Jabalia on July 23, 2024. AFP -
Palestinians injured in an Israeli strike on a school ride on the back of a cart in Deir Al Balah on July 27, 2024. AFP -
Palestinians gather to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in the northern Gaza Strip, September 11. Reuters -
Palestinians survey the damage at the site of Israeli strikes on a displacement camp in Khan Younis on September 10, 2024. AFP -
A medical staff member carries supplies through a destroyed section of Al Shifa hospital in Gaza city on September 17. AFP -
People walk past makeshift graves in Gaza city on September 17. AFP
Mr Moor said “this lawsuit matters” during briefing hosted by Dawn, a Washington-based non-profit advocating democracy and human rights in the Middle East. The group is supporting the plaintiffs in the case.
Other plaintiffs include Shawan Jabarin, director of Palestinian human rights group Al Haq, and three other US citizens. Al Haq has sued the UK government for its decision not to suspend licences allowing arms exports.
“It's not just about legal principles. It's about saving lives,” Mr Moor said. “It's about preventing more families from experiencing what mine has endured. The State Department's failure to enforce the Leahy Law isn't an abstract policy issue. It has real, devastating consequences for real people.”
The lawsuit states that the plaintiffs would support the US government “materially diminishing Israeli security force units’ capacity to commit such violations by terminating US assistance” or “deterring them” from committing further human rights abuses.
Willy Lowry contributed to this report from Washington
