BLINKEN “TROUBLED” BY ISRAELI HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES IN GAZA
April 24, 2024The US State Secretary, Antony Blinken, addressed the human rights concerns stating, “And the devastating loss of human life in Gaza as Israel exercises its right to ensure that those attacks don’t happen again, have ALSO RAISED DEEPLY TROUBLING HUMAN RIGHTS CONCERNS.”
The section on Israel, which runs 103 pages, documents “credible reports” of more than a dozen types of human rights abuses, including extrajudicial killings, torture, arbitrary detention, conflict-related sexual violence or punishment, and the punishment of family members for alleged offences by a relative.
It further cited credible reports of “unlawful killings” by BOTH Hamas and the ISRAELI government.
The resulting conflict between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip has had a “significant negative impact” on the human rights status in Israel, the report said.
Blinken rejected the idea that Washington might have a ‘double standard’ when applying US law to allegations of abuses by the Israeli military in Gaza while suggesting that examinations of such charges are ongoing. The State Department investigation into allegations of Israeli human rights abuses and the role of American weapons in potential violations is being carried out to the same standard as that for any other country, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
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English Script:
Antony Blinken: Do we have a double standard? The answer is no. As this report makes clear, in general, as we’re looking at human rights and the condition of human rights around the world, we apply the same standard to everyone. And that doesn’t change whether the country in question is an adversary, a competitor, a friend, or an ally. Hamas’s horrific attacks on Israel on October 7th last year and the devastating loss of civilian life in Gaza as Israel exercises its right to ensure that those attacks never happen again have also raised deeply troubling human rights concerns.
Humeyra Pamuk: In this report, you have a sentence saying Israelis operating in Gaza took no publicly visible steps to identify and punish officials accused of committing rights abuses. The accusations about IDF military conduct in Gaza have piled up. They include using food as a weapon, targeting civilian infrastructure, indiscriminate arming, something even the president has said is taking place. So, I’m wondering, we know you’ve got ongoing processes about this, but could you tell us why it is taking so long to make a definitive assessment about these and the fact that it’s taking so long triggers, like leads a lot of people suggesting that U.S. has a double standard when it comes to applying law with Israel. Does the U.S. have a double standard? Thank you.
Antony Blinken: Great. Thanks, Humeyra. Let me start with the last part of the question. Do we have a double standard? The answer is no. As this report makes clear, in general, as we’re looking at human rights and the condition of human rights around the world, we apply the same standard to everyone. And that doesn’t change whether the country in question is an adversary, a competitor, a friend or an ally. And that’s hugely important. With regard to the Leahy Law report that I think you were referring to at the outset, this is a I think a good example of a process that is very deliberate, that seeks to get the facts, to get all the information that has to be done carefully. And that’s exactly how we proceeded as we proceed with any country that is the recipient of military assistance from the United States. And again, the same standard applies. I don’t have more to say about it today, but I think you’ll see in the days ahead that we will have more to say. So please stay tuned on that. On Gaza itself, when it comes to allegations of incidents, of whether it’s violations of international humanitarian law, rights abuses, you name it, we have processes within the department that are looking at incidents that have been raised.
