As President Biden, Vice President Harris, and the U.S. Congress welcome Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington, Amnesty International warns that the U.S. is on notice of the government of Israel’s unlawful use of U.S.-origin weapons, including in war crimes, and will be complicit in further violations committed with these weapons.
“Enough is enough,” said Paul O’Brien, Executive Director of Amnesty International USA. “The U.S. government has been presented with ample evidence from experts around the world that U.S.-origin arms have been used in war crimes and unlawful killings by the Israeli government. Continued weapons transfers will make the U.S. complicit in violations of international law committed with these arms.”
In the absence of a UN Security Council arms embargo, Amnesty International is calling on states to immediately impose a comprehensive arms embargo on Israel, Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups, until there is no longer a substantial risk that arms could be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international human rights or humanitarian law.
States which continue to transfer arms to Israel or Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups with knowledge that the recipient state or group is using these arms to commit “internationally wrongful acts,” which include crimes under international law such as war crimes and crimes against humanity, are not only violating their obligation to ensure respect for international humanitarian law, but are in fact assisting these violations.
“Amnesty International’s own research has shown on multiple occasions that the government of Israel is using U.S.-supplied weapons in serious violations of international humanitarian and human rights law, as well as U.S. law and policy,” said O’Brien. “The International Court of Justice found the risk of genocide in Gaza is plausible and even in its own assessment, the U.S. determined that it is reasonable to assess that Israeli security forces have used U.S. weapons to violate international humanitarian law. In its recent Advisory Opinion, the Court also found that Israel’s occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory is unlawful and it should be urgently brought to an end. In light of these finding, as a first step, President Biden must end U.S. complicity with the government of Israel’s grave violations of international law and immediately suspend the transfer of weapons to the government of Israel.”
“President Biden has expressed concern about the actions of Israeli forces in Rafah on a number of occasions and even had one weapons shipment delayed because of these concerns,” continued O’Brien. “Surely he must know that continued weapons transfers will lead to an even bigger unmitigated—and unlawful— disaster, human suffering and death that he and the U.S. government is enabling with U.S. taxpayer dollars.”
Companies manufacturing and exporting arms also have a responsibility to respect human rights and international humanitarian law throughout their value chains. This responsibility is independent of a state’s own human rights obligations and exists over and above compliance with national laws and regulations. Companies providing material assistance in the commission of a war crime can be found legally liable for such a crime.
“With thousands of civilian lives on the line every single day, the U.S. Government and U.S. companies are leaving themselves vulnerable to liability and culpability because of their complicity,” concluded O’Brien. “Now is the time to urgently suspend all transfers of weapons to the government of Israel and push for a permanent ceasefire.”