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Some US officials say in internal memo Israel may be violating international law in Gaza (www.reuters.com)

submitted 1 year ago by tardigrada@beehaw.org to c/news@beehaw.org

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Some senior U.S. officials have advised Secretary of State Antony Blinken that they do not find "credible or reliable" Israel's assurances that it is using U.S.-supplied weapons in accordance with international humanitarian law, according to an internal State Department memo.

Other officials upheld support for Israel's representation.

Under a National Security Memorandum (NSM) issued by President Joe Biden in February, Blinken must report to Congress by May 8 whether he finds credible Israel's assurances that its use of U.S. weapons does not violate U.S. or international law.

By March 24, at least seven State Department bureaus had sent in their contributions to an initial "options memo" to Blinken. Parts of the memo, which has not been previously reported, were classified.

The submissions to the memo provide the most extensive picture to date of the divisions inside the State Department over whether Israel might be violating international humanitarian law in Gaza.

"Some components in the department favored accepting Israel's assurances, some favored rejecting them and some took no position," a U.S. official said.

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[+] hedge@beehaw.org 18 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (15 children)

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[–] mozz@mbin.grits.dev 24 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I would recommend instead to specifically voice your concerns to Biden or to your congresspeople. It won't do all that much, but it will do infinitely more than just silently voting and nothing else.

Finding an organized group that is trying (through activism or voting or both) to influence policy is probably an even better way. Ralph Nader wrote a great article about this and he has a significant history of achieving wins like the creation of OSHA and FOIA -- basically in short summary, he recommended forming a coalition which will only vote for a particular leader if that leader will commit to some concession to humanity that you're trying to achieve. Then, communicating that to the leader in a credible fashion to put pressure on them. It takes a ton more effort and it's not guaranteed to work, and you have to get out of your house and find other people who feel the same way. But it does actually produce tangible results. Just leaving the box blank will either do nothing or produce a catastrophically worse result; there is no possible way that it can help in any capacity.

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