Why is the US flouting its own laws to continue arming Israel?

In the latest chapter of the ongoing genocide in Gaza, the United States State Department has confirmed what we know all along - that Israel has been deliberately blocking humanitarian aid meant for Gaza.

The news was confirmed by USAID and the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration in late April. However, in a disturbing twist, Secretary of State Antony Blinken testified before Congress in May, claiming the opposite—that Israel had not obstructed US-backed aid.

This glaring contradiction seems aimed at sidestepping a critical US law that mandates the cessation of military aid to countries that block humanitarian assistance.

At the heart of this issue lies Section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act, which prohibits military support to nations that impede the delivery of US-funded humanitarian aid. This law has rarely been invoked, but should have been activated months ago when USAID and State Department experts documented Israel's obstruction.

According to USAID's internal memos, Israel has not only turned away convoys of essential goods, such as food, medicine, and sanitation supplies, but has also attacked aid workers, bombed hospitals, and destroyed critical infrastructure in Gaza.

Doubling down

Rather than enforce the law, US President Joe Biden's administration has doubled down on its military support for Israel, sending between one to two shipments of weapons daily since the start of the war on Gaza.

This includes an arms package worth $20 billion that was just approved last month, in August 2024. Israel, the largest recipient of US military aid, has used these weapons in an offensive that has killed over 41,000 Palestinians, many of them civilians.

The State Department's own experts, as well as officials from USAID, have repeatedly warned that Israel's actions could be construed as illegal under international law and should trigger the US' own provision to halt military support. Yet, Blinken's testimony before Congress downplayed these findings, claiming that Israel was complying with humanitarian standards.

This stark denial of reality not only protects Israel from accountability but also enables the continued bombardment of Gaza and the worsening humanitarian disaster there. As of March 2024, over 930 aid trucks remained stuck in Egypt, unable to enter Gaza and provide life-saving food due to Israel's deliberate delays.

Blinken's statement wasn't simply a matter of oversight. It was a strategic move to keep the weapons flowing, while turning a blind eye to the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza.

Despite repeated calls from Democratic lawmakers and human rights groups to suspend arms shipments, the Biden administration has ignored the clear violations of both US and international law.

Justifying complicity

This ongoing complicity raises a crucial question: Why has the US allowed this to happen? One reason is the deep-seated political and military alliance between the two countries, which has historically prioritised Israeli security over Palestinian lives.

Officials like the US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew have consistently trusted Tel Aviv's assurances, despite overwhelming evidence of their failure to uphold humanitarian standards.

Lew even pushed back against internal State Department concerns about aid blockages, framing Israel as an unparalleled humanitarian actor—a grotesque mischaracterisation in light of the destruction of aid workers and resources in Gaza.

Furthermore, Israel's argument that items such as hygiene kits, solar lamps, and desalination equipment could be repurposed by Hamas as "dual-use" materials has been used to justify these restrictions. But these delays are arbitrary and serve only to exacerbate the suffering of Gaza's civilian population.

The US government's unwillingness to act on these findings reflects its broader complicity in a system that prioritises military dominance over human rights.

More than their unwillingness to conform to international humanitarian law, there is an active aiding and abetting in pushing Israeli lies to create public support for this genocide.

For example, Biden said he saw headless babies after October 7 (he didn't), while other US politicians have been circulating (unsubstantiated and debunked) claims of mass rapes.

These narratives came from the Israeli government to justify its genocide, but in the end they were all proved to be false. Yet the US continues to back such claims with no proof in an attempt to create public support for Israel.

As the situation in Gaza worsens, the US must reckon with its role in this atrocity. The law is clear: when a country blocks humanitarian aid, US military support must stop. But instead of enforcing these legal protections, the US continues to fuel the violence.

The administration's manipulation of facts to avoid legal consequences demonstrates a blatant disregard for Palestinian lives and further undermines US credibility as a global humanitarian leader.

On Tuesday, Biden spoke at the UN General Assembly, his first address there since the war on Gaza began.

In his speech, Biden again reiterated Israeli lies about mass sexual violence on October 7 and continued to justify the ongoing genocide because of the missing Israeli hostages - as if Israel has not killed many of these hostages, and refused multiple ceasefire deals.

Biden also alarmingly called out Russian president Vladmir Putin as an obstacle to peace, even though the US president is the one who continues to fund and support the mass extermination of Palestinians.

If Biden wants peace, as he proclaims, he must wash his blood-stained hands and call for a complete arms embargo and international law to be enforced upon Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanahyu.

We will never forget the Biden administration's support for genocide, and Biden will never be able to absolve his legacy of the thousands of innocent civilians murdered in the name of occupation.

The US can no longer hide behind diplomatic doublespeak. A legal framework exists to halt this kind of complicity, but remains unused. Until the US government acknowledges and addresses its role in Israel's genocide on Gaza, it will continue to be a co-conspirator in the destruction of an entire population.

The world is watching, and history will remember where the US stood in this time of crisis.