US President Joe Biden has said that countries receiving American weapons must adhere to international law in a memorandum issued on Thursday night.
The executive order requires foreign governments receiving military aid to provide written assurances that they are abiding by the laws of war.
The move comes after the president admitted Israel had gone “over the top” in its response in Gaza.
Israel is the largest recipient of US military financing.
In the memorandum, President Biden said that “credible and reliable written assurances” must be provided to the US by foreign governments that receive American weapons to ensure they are used in accordance with international law.
As part of this, foreign governments must also provide assurances that US humanitarian aid is being delivered to civilian populations caught in a conflict.
Does that mean the US will stop providing weapons and aid to Israel? The Senate is poised to approve another package of billions in aid to Israel, I doubt this will impact that and thus largely be a hollow gesture.
Israel has already violated this, though I suppose the country could argue otherwise, as they have been, and still provide these written assurances.
I dunno. I like this, conceptually, but it seems so wildly opposed to the usual actions of the US, who consistently provides military aid, through official capacities and unofficial, to horrendous monsters on the global stage, that I have huge doubts this EO will have any teeth.
Hard to say until it happens but it might be paving the way for that to happen, from the article:
So the executive branch does have a lot of leeway in how it distributes foreign aid allocated by congress, but not unlimited. For instance when Trump unilaterally blocked allocated aid to Ukraine during his presidency, he likely violated the law and eventually did have to release the aid allocated by congress anyways.
Setting up regulations like this beforehand could be an attempt to create a legal basis to stand on later if aid is withheld to Israel or other countries.
Yeah, it has the structure to be useful, but the timelines and protocols make me think it could be fairly limp wristed in enforcement. Israel has 45 days to provide a written assurance and should the US decide it violates that (which it hasn’t in an official capacity yet) Israel has to provide a plan to remedy that, then failing that plan, these remediation actions can come into effect. I’d also imagine this would start with a modest reduction in aid before a total cut.
It doesn’t seem very toothsome with how quickly war and atrocities can be committed.
I hope I’m wrong and this is the start of a way for the US to stop providing aid to monsters, but Israel is but the loudest issue relating to this right now. I doubt this will affect how the US arms right wing groups across the globe to further its hegemony.