United States: Palestinian Families Sue State Department To Suspend U.S. Military Assistance To Abusive Israeli Security Forces

In Historic First, Lawsuit Supported by DAWN Charges State Department under Administrative Procedure Act for Harming Plaintiffs by Arbitrary and Capricious Failure to Enforce the Leahy Law

WASHINGTON, Dec. 17, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Palestinian families devastated by Israeli human rights violations in Gaza and the West Bank filed a federal lawsuit today under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) challenging the State Department's arbitrary and capricious failure to implement the Leahy Law prohibiting U.S. assistance to abusive Israeli security forces. The lawsuit, supported by DAWN, documents how the State Department has created unique, insurmountable processes to evade the Leahy Law requirement to sanction abusive Israeli units, despite overwhelming evidence of their human rights violations. These violations include torture, prolonged detention without charge, forced disappearance, and flagrant denials of the right to life, liberty, and security, such as genocide, indiscriminate and deliberate killings, and deprivation of items essential to survival, including food, water, fuel, and medicine.

"This lawsuit demands one thing and one thing only: for the State Department to obey the law requiring a ban on assistance to abusive Israeli security forces," said Sarah Leah Whitson, DAWN's Executive Director. "For too long, the State Department has acted as if there's an 'Israel exemption' from the Leahy Law, despite the fact that Congress required it to apply the law to every country in the world. As a result, millions of Palestinians have suffered unimaginable, horrific abuses by Israeli forces using U.S. weapons."

Stephen Rickard, a former State Department official and former Senior Staff Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who helped pass the Leahy Law and worked on and monitored its implementation for more than a quarter of a century, stated:

"There is only one country where the Department of State has a 'see no evil, hear no evil' policy: Israel. Longstanding concerns that the State Department was not cutting off aid to specific Israel units as required by the Leahy Law… have been given dramatic urgency by the tragic ongoing crisis in Gaza. If the State Department will not comply with the law, then it is time for the courts to vindicate the rule of law and order it to do so."

Read the rest of DAWN's Press Release at

https://dawnmena.org/united-states-palestinian-families-sue-state-department-to-suspend-u-s-military-assistance-to-abusive-israeli-security-forces/

Contact: Omid Memarian
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +1 (510) 637-9590

SOURCE DAWN