A lawsuit filed Tuesday by Palestinians from Gaza and their U.S. relatives accuses the State Department of circumventing a law that prohibits U.S. military aid to foreign forces implicated in gross human rights abuses by sending aid to Israel.
Plaintiffs argue in the lawsuit filed at the United States District Court for the District of Columbia that the State Department had created loopholes specifically benefiting Israel, allowing continued military support despite what they claim are credible allegations of violations.
The loopholes, they wrote, were designed to bypass the 1997 Leahy Law.
U.S. assistance to foreign armed forces comes from two budgets, so two versions of the Leahy amendment were enacted into law. One covers assistance funded through the State Department, and another covers assistance funded through the Department of Defense.
Supported by former officials and architects of the Leahy Law, the lawsuit demands it be applied to Israel. U.S. military aid to Israel during the ongoing conflict in Gaza is estimated to have reached $17.9 billion.
The lawsuit highlights alleged exceptions, such as a special committee to assess Israeli violations and a process requiring deputy secretary-level approval, said to be unique to Israel. It also alleges Israel can avoid aid restrictions by demonstrating corrective measures, whereas other countries cannot.
The case coincides with a wave of protests against Israel’s attacks on Hamas in Gaza, which followed the invasion by some 6,000 Hamas-led terrorists into Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, when they murdered about 1,200 people and abducted another 250. About 100 of the hostages are still in Gaza but dozens of them are believed to have died.
Filed under the Administrative Procedures Act, the lawsuit seeks to force compliance with the Leahy Law. It follows years of advocacy and unmet demands for stricter enforcement.
Separately, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller on Tuesday told reporters as a briefing that the department under outgoing Secretary of State Antony Blinken wants to “get access to information about a number of incidents that we have concerns about” involving Israeli activity in Gaza.
This was part of the reason that the State Department under Blinken has sought to set up what Miller referred to as a “conflict channel for Gaza,” to be handled on the U.S. side by an assistant secretary. No meetings under this framework have taken place, Miller said.
