A report by investigative outlet ProPublica revealed that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has for months refused to act on staff recommendations to withhold US aid from Israeli security units accused of rape and extrajudicial killings.
Under a 1997 law sponsored by US Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), the United States is required to cut off funding to foreign police and military units credibly accused of major human rights violations. The law was amended and strengthened in 2020 and has reportedly been applied hundreds of times in countries such as Mexico, Colombia and Cambodia.
But the US State Department treats accusations against Israel less seriously than those lodged against security forces in other countries, according to several employees.
“If we had been applying Leahy effectively in Israel like we do in other countries, maybe you wouldn’t have the IDF filming TikToks of their war crimes now because we have contributed to a culture of impunity,” said former State Department director Josh Paul, who resigned in protest last year over the Biden administration’s defense of Israeli abuses.
Briefings on the alleged Israeli abuses were reportedly sent to Blinken four months ago, according to a source familiar with the situation. “They’ve been sitting in his briefcase since then,” said another official.
The majority of the accusations under investigation took place before Hamas’ October 7 uprising, and many involve teenagers.
One allegation involved the arrest of a 15-year old Palestinian boy by Israeli border police. The teenager was reportedly held in a detention center for five days after being accused of throwing stones and Molotov cocktails. A Palestinian child human rights group shared credible evidence the boy had been tortured into confessing to the act, enduring violent assault and sodomization by an object.
After the State Department inquired about the incident the Israeli government raided the child welfare nonprofit that brought light to the allegation and designated it as a terrorist organization.