The first of its kind, Palestinian victims of Israeli forces' atrocities in the US have filed a lawsuit against the US State Department for its continued violation of the Leahy Law, which prohibits financial and military assistance to foreign security forces involved in gross human rights abuses, specifically in the occupied Palestinian territories, The Guardian reported.
The Leahy Law, established in the 1990s, prohibits US military support to foreign security forces implicated in gross human rights violations. While the law has been applied in cases involving military units in countries such as Colombia, Nepal, and Central America, the lawsuit contends that the State Department has consistently exempted Israel from these restrictions despite credible evidence of violations.
The plaintiffs in the case include individuals directly impacted by alleged abuses. Among them is a mathematics teacher from Gaza, who reportedly lost 20 family members; the director of the Palestinian rights organisation Al-Haq, who was subjected to six years of detention in the West Bank; and a Palestinian American whose family members have faced repeated displacements in Gaza. Another plaintiff, a Palestinian American, claims six of his relatives were killed during recent airstrikes.
The complaint highlights a series of alleged violations committed by Israeli military units, including torture, forced disappearances, prolonged detention without charge, and actions described as amounting to genocide in Gaza. The plaintiffs argue that these actions, which have been documented in various human rights and journalistic reports, should have prompted sanctions under the Leahy Law.
The legal filing also references international judicial findings, including those from the International Criminal Court, which have accused senior Israeli leaders of crimes. The US, however, has dismissed these findings, and the State Department has refrained from imposing penalties on Israeli units implicated in pre-October 2023 cases, including the death of a 78-year-old Palestinian American in the West Bank.
Reports suggest that since 2020, US officials have reviewed over a dozen alleged human rights violations by Israeli forces but have employed special bureaucratic measures to avoid disrupting military aid. Unlike other allies, such as Ukraine, which have faced consequences for similar violations, Israel has reportedly been shielded from such actions.
Advocacy groups, including Dawn, a human rights organisation founded by slain journalist Jamal Khashoggi, are supporting the lawsuit. They argue that the State Department’s longstanding failure to act contradicts both its own human rights reports and mounting evidence from independent investigations.
While the Biden administration maintains strong support for Israel, including continued military aid, internal dissent within the US government has surfaced. Reports from April indicated that senior officials questioned Israel’s compliance with international humanitarian law and the legality of its use of US-supplied weapons. However, calls from Congress and White House staffers to curtail military aid have been consistently rejected.