Here's What Happens When a U.S. Senator Calls for Israel to Be Held Accountable for Atrocities

Sen. Patrick Leahy wants Israel and Egypt investigated for brutal killings committed with American military aid.

U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy has piqued the temper of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and faces a rebuke from within his own party after demanding for an investigation into “gross violations of human rights” by Israel and Egypt, the top recipients of American military aid.

Released just days after an Israeli soldier was recorded extra-judicially assassinating a wounded Palestinian man in the occupied West Bank city of Hebron, Leahy's demand for a probe is the latest sign that American military backing for Israel’s right-wing government is becoming a source of political tension.

On February 17, Leahy (D-Vt.) and ten Democratic members of Congress sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry. “There have been a disturbing number of reports of possible gross violations of human rights by security forces in Israel and Egypt—incidents that may have involved recipients, or potential recipients, of U.S. military assistance,” states the document, which was released to the public in late March. “We urge you to determine if these reports are credible and to inform us of your findings.”

The letter concludes that the U.S. could stand in violation of the Leahy law (named after the Vermont Senator), a legal framework aimed at preventing American military aid to “any unit of the security forces of a foreign country if the Secretary of State has credible information that such unit has committed a gross violation of human rights.”
“Amnesty International and other human rights organizations have reported what may be extrajudicial killings by the Israeli military and police of Fadi Alloun, Saad Al-Atrash, Hadeel Hashlamoun, and Mutaz Ewisa,” the letter states. “There are also reports of the use of torture in the cases of Wasim Marouf and Ahmed Manasra.”

Writing for Mondoweiss, Philip Weiss noted that “many of the signatories, including Hank Johnson, Andre Carson, Eddie Bernice Johnson, Eleanor Holmes Norton and Raul Grijalva, are people of color; this is relevant because as Tamara Cofman Wittes said at Columbia Monday night, Israel support is slowly becoming politicized in the U.S. as the Democratic base becomes more heavily black and Latino, groups that have sympathy for the Palestinian cause.”
Leahy's letter is notable for placing Israeli violations alongside Egyptian atrocities—including the 2013 Rab'aa Square massacre—a rare move in a U.S. political climate where Israel is often deemed above reproach. The United States hands $3.1 billion in military aid to Israel every year, compared to roughly 1.5 billion to Egypt, which funds the country's brutally repressive military junta according to the guidelines of the Camp David Accords. Together, these two countries accounted for more than 75 percent of global U.S. military assistance in 2014.

The joint condemnation was met with sharp criticism from Ben Cardin, the ranking Democratic member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a top recipient of contributions from the pro-Israel lobby. “There’s no comparison here,” Cardin told the publication Forward, according to an article published Sunday. “Israel has rule of law,” Cardin continued. “They have a system that will hold those individuals accountable… There’s no equivalency here.”
Netanyahu lashed out last Wednesday, declaring: “The IDF and Israeli police do not engage in executions. Israel’s soldiers and police officers defend themselves and innocent civilians with the highest moral standards against bloodthirsty terrorists who come to murder them.”

At 972 Magazine, Dahlia Scheindlin called Netanyahu’s response a “strange string of lies.” A report released by Amnesty International in February 2014 found that Israel is killing and wounding Palestinians with impunity, including children. Those findings were soon followed by Israel’s 51-day military assault on the Gaza strip, in which it killed at least 2,145 Palestinians, the vast majority civilians and at least 578 of them children.

According to Defense for Children International – Palestine, [url=http://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/At least 28 Palestinian children were fatally shot by Israeli forces in 2015. In several cases, DCIP found that children did not pose a direct, mortal threat at the time they were killed.]at least[/url] 28 Palestinian children were “fatally shot by Israeli forces in 2015,” due in part to Israel’s implementation of a shoot-to-kill policy in response to rising tensions and resistance.

Leahy also hit back against Netanyahu's claims, arguing on Wednesday that “The Leahy Law, which has existed for nearly 20 years, applies uniformly, worldwide—no country is exempt—and it applies to specific military personnel and units, not to general security forces, when U.S. aid is involved.” He continued, “This is only fair to U.S. taxpayers, and it is necessary in upholding the rule of law that our country stands for.”

Escalating the global dispute, the Israeli prime minister reportedly called Kerry on the phone Friday and demanded that the Secretary of State declare that Israel is not guilty of extrajudicial assassinations.

The ongoing tangle comes as Netanyahu demands a military aid hike of $4.5 billion a year.

But Raed Jarrar, government relations manager for the American Friends Service Committee, told AlterNet, “The Netanyahu administration is being so extreme in its policies and practices that their actions are making it impossible to maintain the U.S. policies of a blank check.”

According to Suzanne Adely, co-chair of the international committee of the National Lawyers Guild, “The 2014 Israeli assault on Gaza and the 2013 Rab'aa Massacre have represented turning points, as more voices among mainstream media, government officials and ordinary U.S. citizens say enough."

http://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/heres-what-happens-when-us-senator-calls-israel-be-held-accountable-atrocities

Sassy wrote:A few years ago there would not have been a Senator in the US who questioned the money given to Israel, or questioned Israel's behaviour, but more and more are doing so and Bernie Sanders is doing so as well.

nicko wrote:How about a report on the atrocities committed by Hamas?  You close your mind completely to these.
If you reported the wrongs done by both sides I might take you seriously, how it is however you come across as a cheerleader for terrorists!

Original Quill wrote:

nicko wrote:How about a report on the atrocities committed by Hamas?  You close your mind completely to these.
If you reported the wrongs done by both sides I might take you seriously, how it is however you come across as a cheerleader for terrorists!

Of course, the US opposes wrongs by both sides.  But the US doesn't contribute foreign aid directly to Hamas.  Thus the Leahy Act doesn't cover it.

What specifically are you speaking to?

Original Quill wrote:

Sassy wrote:A few years ago there would not have been a Senator in the US who questioned the money given to Israel, or questioned Israel's behaviour, but more and more are doing so and Bernie Sanders is doing so as well.

A few years ago?  There is no doubt that the reputation of Israel for integrity has taken a nose dive under Netanyahu.  The man has engaged in cheap tricks--and of course, the conservative penchant for lies, lies, lies,--resulting in sullying the once moral reputation of Israel.

Another icon fallen.

In 1951, Congress voted to help Israel cope with the economic burdens imposed by the influx of Jewish refugees from the displaced persons camps in Europe and from the ghettos of the Arab countries. Arabs then complained the U.S. was neglecting them, though they had no interest in or use for American aid then. In 1951, Syria rejected offers of U.S. aid. Oil-rich Iraq and Saudi Arabia did not need U.S. economic assistance, and Jordan was, until the late 1950s, the ward of Great Britain. After 1957, when the United States assumed responsibility for supporting Jordan and resumed economic aid to Egypt, assistance to the Arab states soared. Also, the United States was by far the biggest contributor of aid to the Palestinians through UNRWA, a status that continues to the present.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/US-Israel/foreign_aid.html

U.S. economic grants to Israel ended in 1959. U.S. aid to Israel from then until 1985 consisted largely of loans, which Israel repaid, and surplus commodities, which Israel bought.

Israel has received more direct aid from the United States since World War II than any other country, but the amounts for the first half of this period were relatively small. Between 1949 and 1973, the U.S. provided Israel with an average of about $122 million a year, a total of $3.1 billion (and actually more than $1 billion of that was loans for military equipment in 1971-73) . Prior to 1971, Israel received a total of only $277 million in military aid, all in the form of loans as credit sales. The bulk of the economic aid was also lent to Israel. By comparison, the Arab states received nearly three times as much aid before 1971, $4.4 billion, or $170 million per year. Moreover, unlike Israel, which receives nearly all its aid from the United States, Arab nations have gotten assistance from Asia, Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union and the European Community. Congress first designated a specific amount of aid for Israel (an  "earmark") in 1971.

A 10-Year Military Aid Agreement

In August 2007, the Bush Administration agreed to increase U.S. military assistance to Israel by $6 billion over the following decade. Israel is to receive incremental annual increases of $150 mllion, starting at $2.55 billion in FY2009 and reaching $3.15 billion per year for FY2013-2018.

2009	$2.55 billion
2010	$2.70 billion
2011	$2.85 billion
2012	$3.00 billion
2013-2018	$3.15 billion per year

Israel receives the FMF aid in a lump sum in the first month of the fiscal year. The funds are placed in an interest bearing account and that interest is used to pay down Israel’s debt to the United States, which was $1 billion as of December 2006.

In addition to FMF, Israel also receives money for the joint development of missile defense systems. These amounts have been growing over the years, with the bulk of the funding going to the Arrow program.

4EVER2 wrote:Didgy-Dooo; as with your USUAL immature rants and childish foot stamping demands that the adults respond to 'MY POINTS' when you have zero POINT and just keep regurgitating that mantra---you have zero ability to communicate effectively!


ERGO = just best to ignore your diatribes that do not equal an adult discussion --- PERIOD.  But your insertions into my posts were quite telling! 
Your own image throwing a tantrum...very well done!