As reported by the Huffington Post, the Biden administration is currently undertaking an investigation into potential war crimes committed by Israel. This comes as a surprise, considering that just a month ago, White House spokesperson John Kirby expressed complete support for Israel’s actions in the ongoing conflict, going so far as to state that there was no need for the US to scrutinize Israel’s actions.
In a statement to the press on the 4th of January, Kirby said, “I am not aware of any official assessment being made by the United States government to analyze our ally Israel’s compliance with international law,”. This was in response to the Biden administration’s efforts to defend Israel against an International Court of Justice case that accused Israel of violating the International Defenses Against Genocide. Kirby further added, “We haven’t seen anything that would convince us that we need to take a different approach in trying to help Israel defend itself.”
Statements such as these have been echoed by numerous senior officials in the Biden administration. These public declarations not only reinforce the U.S.’s stance that Israel is abiding by international standards in its conflict in Gaza but also challenges the genocide case at the Hague Tribunal and other attempts to scrutinize Israel’s conduct.
The Huffington Post, however, has learned from three sources involved in private discussions about the assessments, that high-ranking American officials have been privately examining potential infringements of international law by Israel for several months. This investigation is ongoing.
Within the State Department, officials are scrutinizing Israeli actions in Gaza that are suspected of violating international law. A senior State Department official, privy to the hearings that have been taking place in recent weeks, revealed that state attorneys have been tracking such instances for months now.
The investigations are being conducted through multiple avenues. One of these involves the State Department probing whether Israel, a significant recipient of American aid, has committed human rights violations that contravene American law, the official disclosed. Such transgressions could simultaneously be breaches of international law.
Simultaneously, the State Department is also assessing Israeli conduct through the “Civilian Harm Incident Response Guidelines” process. This is a new policy introduced by President Joe Biden last autumn. Another senior State Department official stated that this process is designed to monitor whether foreign governments are using U.S.-supplied weapons to inflict harm on civilians. It can also uncover evidence of violations of international law, the officials said.
