Must watch exchange with @humeyra_pamuk and StateSpox.
Q: State Department officials identified 500 incidents of civilian harm in Gaza involving US weapons, but they have not taken action
Miller: We’re reviewing a number of incidents
Q: Isn’t it inconceivable that more than a… pic.twitter.com/jm64Rr2zyW
— Assal Rad (@AssalRad) October 30, 2024
What does this even mean?
Effectively, all of the weapons in Israel are American. Even the small fraction Israel makes are paid for by US tax dollars.
There are over 40,000 dead in Gaza, according to low-ball numbers. There have been thousands of bombs dropped.
On its face, this statistic makes no sense whatsoever.
US state department officials have identified nearly 500 potential incidents of civilian harm during Israel’s military operations in Gaza involving US-furnished weapons, but have not taken further action on any of them, according to three sources, including a US official familiar with the matter.
The incidents – some of which may have violated international humanitarian law, according to the sources – have been recorded since 7 October 2023, when the Gaza war started. They are being collected by the state department’s Civilian Harm Incident Response Guidance (CHIRG), a formal mechanism for tracking and assessing any reported misuse of US-origin weapons.
State department officials gathered the incidents from public and non-public sources, including media reporting, civil society groups and foreign government contacts.
The mechanism, which was established in August 2023 to be applied to all countries that receive US arms, has three stages: incident analysis, policy impact assessment and coordinated department action.
None of the Gaza cases had yet reached the third stage of action, said a former US official familiar with the matter. Options, the former official said, could range from working with Israel’s government to help mitigate harm, to suspending existing arms export licenses or withholding future approvals.
There’s not going to be any action. This has been going on a year, the whole world is aware that it is an intentional genocide, and the US government has made it clear they simply do not care. They are either unwilling or unable to act to restrain Israel.
🚨In her address to the 🇺🇳 UN General Assembly’s Third Committee, Special Rapporteur @FranceskAlbs told those delegates who had ignored the crisis in #Gaza “Is it possible that after 42,000 people killed, you cannot empathize with the Palestinians?” pic.twitter.com/7p9mYDUHBd
— UN Palestinian Rights Committee (@UNISPAL) October 30, 2024
You would think 500 incidents of attacks on civilians would be enough to say something should change, particularly given that none of the alleged military targets threaten the United States.
But this just keeps going.
The whole world sees it, and people are enraged. There will never be another time when the world is okay with Creepy Uncle Sam being Big Daddy.
The only thing the US government has left is threats and bribery, and they’ve been slacking on the latter.