NEWS: Casar Leads 20 Members of Congress Calling for the Administration to Withhold Offensive Weapons from the Israeli Government, Follow Own Standards
Following ‘30-day letter,’ Biden Administration has continued transferring weapons to Israel despite Netanyahu failing to meet demands
WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Representatives Greg Casar (D-Texas) and Summer Lee (D-Penn.), along with 18 other Members of Congress, are calling on the Biden Administration to adhere to and uphold U.S. law by suspending offensive military transfers to the Israeli government.
The letter follows the Biden Administration’s Oct. 13, 2024 letter to Israeli Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant and Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer that correctly identified steps the Israeli government must take in order for continued transfers of offensive weapons to be in accordance with U.S. law and policy. The Israeli government has failed to meet those humanitarian standards. Casar, Lee, and their colleagues ask U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to follow their own standards that they publicly established.
“We believe continuing to transfer offensive weapons to the Israeli government prolongs the suffering of the Palestinian people and risks our own national security by sending a message to the world that the U.S. will apply its laws, policies, and international law selectively,” the members wrote. “Furthermore, a failure to act will put Israeli lives in danger by prolonging Netanyahu’s war, isolating Israel on the international stage, and creating further instability in the region… While Israel made nominal progress in some areas, it overwhelmingly failed to meet the minimum standards laid out in the Administration’s own letter.”
“We urge your Administration to adhere to and uphold U.S. law by suspending offensive military transfers to Netanyahu and his government. Failure to do so not only risks our leverage in ceasefire negotiations, it undermines our country’s own national security and weakens America’s commitment to human rights as a cornerstone of our foreign policy,” the members continued. “We remain committed to saving Palestinian and Israeli lives. This means doing everything possible to prioritize the release of hostages, secure a lasting ceasefire deal, and move toward long term peace.”
Standards in the Oct. 13, 2024 letter included:
- Humanitarian Aid Trucks:
- U.S. demand: “Enable a minimum of 350 [humanitarian aid] trucks per day to enter Gaza.”
- Reality: Since then, an average of 42 aid trucks have entered Gaza daily, with as few as six trucks on some days.
- Humanitarian Pauses:
- U.S. demand: “Institute adequate humanitarian pauses across Gaza as necessary to enable humanitarian activities.”
- Reality: The third phase of Gaza’s polio vaccination campaign was delayed in moving forward because of escalating violence. When the vaccinations did begin, medical professionals were not provided with access to northern Gaza and a vaccination center was attacked by the Israeli military during a humanitarian pause.
- End the Isolation of Northern Gaza
- U.S. demand: Reaffirm “that there will be no Israeli government policy of forced evacuation of civilians from northern to southern Gaza” and ensure “humanitarian organizations have continuous access to northern Gaza.”
- Reality: The leading humanitarian organizations reported last month that not only did the Israeli government fail to meet the Biden Administration’s criteria, but that it “concurrently took actions that dramatically worsened the situation on the ground, particularly in northern Gaza.” According to the United Nations, the Netanyahu government has denied 82 out of 91 attempts since Oct. 6, 2024 to deliver aid to cut-off areas in northern Gaza. During the 30-day time period provided to Israel, roughly 100,000 people were displaced from northern Gaza.
“Simply put, the Netanyahu government has not complied with the United States’ repeated requests to allow humanitarian aid to be delivered safely to innocent people. Under U.S. law, the United States government must suspend offensive weapons to any nation that fails to meet these basic standards,” the members wrote.
The letter is authored by U.S. Representative Greg Casar (TX-35), co-led by U.S. RepresentativeSummer Lee (PA-12), and signed by U.S. Representatives Jamaal Bowman (NY-16), Cori Bush (MO-01), Joaquin Castro (TX-20), Lloyd Doggett (TX-37), Veronica Escobar (TX-16), Jesús “Chuy” García (IL-04), Al Green (TX-09), Sara Jacobs (CA-51), Pramila Jayapal (WA-07), Hank Johnson (GA-04), Jim McGovern (MA-02), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), Ilhan Omar (MN-05), Mark Pocan (WI-02), Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Delia C. Ramirez (IL-03), Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12).
The full letter can be viewed here.
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Congressman Greg Casar represents Texas’s 35th Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, which runs down I-35 from East Austin to Hays County to the West Side of San Antonio. A labor organizer and son of Mexican immigrants, Casar serves as the Whip of the Congressional Progressive Caucus for the 118th Congress. He also serves on the Committee on Oversight and Accountability and the Committee on Agriculture.