Senator Sanders's resolution to force the United States to reckon with its complicity
Senator Bernie Sanders introduced S.Res.504, which requests information on Israel’s human rights practices under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 that regulates the provision of U.S. foreign aid to other countries. The references to Section 502 in what follows are sections of the Foreign Assistance Act.
Although some of the following refers to Saudi Arabia, the same is being applied to Israel now.
Section 502B also allows Congress to request a targeted report on a specific country’s human rights situation and to pass a joint resolution to continue, restrict, or terminate security assistance to that country. Section 502B is a tool that Congress can use to enforce human rights standards and to re-evaluate the U.S. relationship with countries that violate them.
The central prohibition of Section 502B(a) bans the provision of U.S. security assistance “to any country the government of which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.” Section 502B defines gross violations of internationally recognized human rights, and the same definition applies for the purpose of the Leahy Law. Based on the Section 502B definition the State Department classifies “torture, extrajudicial killing, enforced disappearance, and rape under color of law” as gross violations of human rights in the context of Leahy vetting. However, Section 502B(d) includes “other flagrant denial of the right to life, liberty, or the security of person” as a gross violation of human rights
A Long-Forgotten Law Could Force the U.S. to Re-Evaluate its Relationship with Saudi Arabiaby John Ramming Chappell, Just Security, March 29, 2023
The Washington Post has published an interactive presentation; Israel has waged one of this century’s most destructive wars in Gaza.
The Israeli military campaign in the Gaza Strip has been unlike any other in the 21st century.
In response to the unprecedented assault by Hamas on Oct. 7, Israeli airstrikes and a ground invasion that began 20 days later have destroyed large swaths of the besieged territory, killed at least 20,057 people and displaced a vast majority of the population.
The most ferocious attacks have come from the air, flattening entire city blocks and cratering the landscape.
“There’s no safe space. Period,” said Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, who visited Gaza on Dec. 4. “I haven’t passed one street where I didn’t see destruction of civilian infrastructure, including hospitals.”
The war has wounded more than 53,320 people, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. More than 7,700 Palestinian children have been killed, and women and children make up around 70 percent of the dead, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which also says that 1.9 million people have been displaced, equivalent to 85 percent of the population. The vast majority of Gazan civilians fleeing the invasion are not allowed by Israel and Egypt to leave.
“The scale of Palestinian civilian deaths in such a short period of time appears to be the highest such civilian casualty rate in the 21st century,” said Michael Lynk, who served as the U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories from 2016 to 2022.
Israel has waged one of this century’s most destructive wars in Gaza. The damage in Gaza has outpaced other recent conflicts, evidence shows. Israel has dropped some of the largest bombs commonly used today near hospitals. by Evan Hill, Imogen Piper, Meg Kelly and Jarrett Ley, The Washington Post, December 23, 2023
I made these two graphics using an artificial intelligence graphics program.
