On Sunday morning, Israel Hayom revealed that the Biden administration is pressing Israel for answers on a series of incidents in which, it claims, IDF units operating in Judea and Samaria violated the so-called Leahy Law.
Named after its principal sponsor, Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt), The term “Leahy law” refers to two statutory provisions prohibiting the US Government from using funds for assistance to units of foreign security forces where there is credible information implicating that unit in the commission of gross violations of human rights. One statutory provision applies to the State Department and the other applies to the Department of Defense.
If Israel fails to provide satisfactory answers, IDF forces serving and protecting the Jewish communities of Judea and Samaria will not receive US-funded weapons and ammunition.
According to Israel Hayom, the warning was transmitted to Israel more than a month ago and has been acknowledged by Jerusalem.
The Foreign Ministry denied that a specific warning was issued, but confirmed that “over the years, the ministry has cooperated with requests from the American administration in the context of the Leahy Law.”
To address the allegations, the International Law Department within the Military Advocate General’s office, along with other agencies, has engaged with the United States and is expected to provide adequate responses to inquiries concerning the incidents under consideration. They must submit their reply within the next two months.
The Leahy Law requirements have been cited in connection with Israel on multiple occasions. Senator Patrick Leahy himself attempted to use the law during the last days of the Obama administration, seeking to halt security assistance to specific IDF units due to allegations of human rights violations.
On January 18, the Guardian reported that top US officials quietly reviewed more than a dozen incidents of alleged “gross violations of human rights” by Israeli security forces since 2020, but “have gone to great lengths to preserve continued access to US weapons for the units responsible for the alleged violations.”
In a statement to the Guardian, retired Senator Leahy himself said, “The law has not been applied consistently, and what we have seen in the West Bank and Gaza is a stark example of that. Over many years I urged successive US administrations to apply the law there, but it has not happened.”
Since the beginning of the Gaza war, the IDF has also operated intensely against terrorists in Judea and Samaria, killing more than 500 and arresting thousands.
“SETTLER VIOLENCE”
Over the past few months, many on the right in Israel have been puzzled by the Biden administration’s obsession with “settler violence.”
Granted, 2023 was not a peaceful year in Judea and Samaria, and it saw clashes between Jews and Arabs, but anyone who followed the headlines understood that the Jewish response was dwarfed by the incessant violent attacks, many using live fire, of Arab terrorists against civilians. Many wondered aloud what was the reason for the Americans’ myopic view of the situation, barely mentioning the ravages of Arab terrorism while focusing on what has become their mantra, “settler violence.”
Last Wednesday, Barak Ravid reported in Axuios, citing two US officials familiar with the issue, that Secretary of State Tony Blinken asked the State Department to “conduct a review and present policy options on possible US and international recognition of a Palestinian state after the war in Gaza.”
It appears that there is a growing consideration within the Biden administration that the recognition of a Palestinian State could be an initial step in negotiations to address the Israeli-PA Arab conflict, rather than a concluding one.
To that end, the administration must present a view of the situation in Judea and Samaria as complete lawlessness, where Israeli security forces are unable to restrain the settlers and even join them in inflicting unlawful violence on the peaceful Arabs.
Ravid suggested three courses of action that are available for the Biden administration:
Unilaterally acknowledging the state of Palestine.
Abstaining from using its veto to prevent the UN Security Council from admitting Palestine as a full UN member state.
Urging other nations to extend recognition to the State of Palestine.
While it may not be able to push through a Palestinian State without Israel’s approval, doing so because Israel has lost control over the territories would be an extremely effective move, especially while Israel is concurrently engaged in a war in Gaza that’s growing less popular in the West with every passing day.
Note that both moves – imposing the Leahy Law and unilaterally recognizing a Palestinian State are rooted in unconscionable lies. Also, note that it doesn’t matter. No one cares.
WHAT TO DO?
There’s a very end-of-days feeling to the events of the past few months, as the world is becoming less and less hospitable to Jews, and the Talmud teaches us (Sota 49b):
In the times of the approach of the Messiah, impudence will increase and high costs will pile up. Although the vine shall bring forth its fruit, wine will nevertheless be expensive. And the monarchy shall turn to heresy, and there will be no one to give reproof about this. The meeting place of the Sages will become a place of promiscuity, and the Galilee shall be destroyed, and the Gavlan will be desolate, and the men of the border shall go round from city to city to seek charity, but they will find no mercy.
And the wisdom of scribes will putrefy, and people who fear sin will be held in disgust, and the truth will be absent. The youth will shame the face of elders, elders will stand before minors. Normal family relations will be ruined: A son will disgrace a father; a daughter will rise up against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man’s enemies will be the members of his household. The face of the generation will be like the face of a dog; a son will no longer be ashamed before his father. And upon what is there for us to rely? Only upon our Father in heaven.
