CNN –
The Biden administration currently has no plans to condition the military aid it provides to Israel, officials told CNN, even as Democratic lawmakers and human rights organizations increasingly call for the U.S. to stop arms sales unless Israel does more. to protect civilians in Gaza.
In a call with Democratic donors in Washington this week, President Joe Biden acknowledged having difficult conversations with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about Israel's military campaign, Israel's loss of international support and the need for a two-state solution led by the Palestinians led authority. But he said even during these discussions: “We will do nothing but protect Israel in this.” Not a single thing.”
US officials confirmed this opinion, telling CNN that the US had no plans to change its position and draw red lines on the supply of arms and ammunition to Israel. They noted that the administration already expects allies and partners to use U.S.-made equipment in accordance with international humanitarian law, citing Israel's practice of incorporating military lawyers into Israeli Defense Force units who decide in advance whether a attack was proportionate and lawful.
But rather than independently assessing every Israeli attack that the U.S. deems worrisome or disproportionate, the U.S. relies on Israel to justify the attacks after the fact, a U.S. official said. And while Biden said last month that conditioning aid was a “worthwhile thought,” the president ultimately believes a strategy of quietly pressuring Israel to change its tactics would be more effective than threatening to withhold weapons, the official said.
Underscoring the U.S.'s continued commitment to arming Israel, the State Department late Friday night sent an emergency declaration to lawmakers for the sale of thousands of tank munitions to Israel, bypassing the usual 20-day deadline typically given to congressional committees Check out such a sale.
The State Department has given lawmakers no assurances that the administration will monitor the use of the munitions, a congressional source told CNN, and some Democratic lawmakers are unhappy with the move.
“It is a mistake for the Biden administration to bypass Congress to authorize the sale of tank munitions to Israel while the civilian harm is unacceptable,” Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said Monday on X. “Arms transfers require a public scrutiny and thorough review.” U.S. military assistance should be conditioned on upholding our values and international law.”
The US imposes conditions on the military equipment it supplies to Ukraine and has made it clear to Kiev that it cannot use US-provided weapons to carry out attacks inside Russia. However, there are no such red lines when it comes to aid to Israel. The U.S. discouraged Israel from opening another front in the war by launching a large-scale attack on Hezbollah, officials said, but did not threaten to cut off aid if it did.
In its supplemental funding request to Congress, the Biden administration included provisions that would lift several existing restrictions on U.S. arms transfers to Israel. The provisions would lift the current cash cap on replenishing Israel's internal stockpile of U.S.-provided weapons, known as War Reserve Stockpile Allies-Israel, and allow the Pentagon to transfer weapons to Israel even if they are not obsolete or in comparison on US weapons are surplus to requirements, reduce stockpiles and shorten the time given to Congress to review arms sales to Israel.
Asked Monday about reports that Israel used U.S.-supplied white phosphorus munitions in an attack that injured civilians in southern Lebanon earlier this year, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that “every time, When we supply items such as white phosphorus to another military, it is with the full expectation that it will be used in accordance with those legitimate purposes and in accordance with the law of armed conflict.”
One of the US officials explained that the US does not consider the death of civilians as a result of a military operation itself to be a violation of the law of armed conflict, since this is not the standard of international humanitarian law – which only says that civilians are not directly targeted from attacks. Rather, the United States judges the legality of Israeli operations based on whether its attacks are proportionate and pursue a legitimate military goal. But officials admit they do not assess every Israeli attack in real time, what weapon was used and how many civilians were killed as a result.
That's at least partly because it's “almost impossible” in such an intense war zone, two officials said. Israel also buys weapons from various countries and does not tell the US every time it uses a US-provided bomb or munitions.
However, human rights organizations have shown that such an accounting, even if limited to individual case studies, is possible. An Amnesty International investigation released last week found that a U.S.-made Joint Direct Attack munitions guidance system was used in two Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip in October that were reported to have killed 43 civilians. The US has provided Israel with around 3,000 JDAMS since October 7, a source familiar with US arms sales to Israel told CNN.
A senior defense official told CNN on Monday that while the Pentagon is not conducting a formal review of the Amnesty report, officials from the Pentagon's Civilian Mitigation and Response team “will review the report along with other publicly available information related to civilian harm, while “carrying out their responsibility to advise senior DoD leaders.”
Some lawmakers and human rights activists argue that the U.S. appears to be shirking its obligation under international law to track how Israel uses U.S.-supplied weapons, particularly the larger “bunker buster” bombs that the U.S. has been able to assess leaving behind traces and fragments. The U.S. has supplied Israel with at least 140 such bombs, the source familiar with the arms sales said.
“The US may be partly responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law committed by Israel using US-supplied weapons, as all states have a duty not to knowingly contribute to internationally unlawful acts by other states,” Amnesty warned in a statement.
The Hamas-run Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip says over 17,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel declared war on Hamas on October 7, when the organization killed over 1,200 Israelis in the worst terror attack in Israel's history.
The Biden administration is tracking, to some extent, how many U.S.-supplied bombs Israel used in the war. In closed briefings to lawmakers, officials said intelligence estimated that Israel dropped 22,000 U.S.-provided guided and unguided bombs on Gaza in the first six weeks of the war, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter.
Democratic lawmakers have stepped up their calls for the U.S. to do more. Last week, more than a dozen Senate Democrats announced they would support an amendment to the Biden administration's request for additional funding that would require the president to certify to Congress within 30 days that countries eligible under the Those who receive U.S. military assistance with this additional funding will use it in accordance with international humanitarian law and the law of armed conflict.
“It is imperative that any assistance to Israel adheres to U.S. and international law, prioritizes the protection of civilians, ensures the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza, and aligns with a long-term vision for peace, “Security and more oriented-state diplomatic solution,” Democratic Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts said in a statement last week.
Language in the 2024 annual intelligence authorization bill, if passed, would also require the intelligence community to notify Congress if U.S.-provided intelligence used by a third country results in civilian casualties. The law was written before Oct. 7 but has gained significance as scrutiny of Israel's use of American aid in Gaza has increased.
This story has been updated with additional comments.