WASHINGTON – On Monday the
Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed a lawsuit in the Northern District of
California against the U.S. President Joe Biden, U.S. Secretary of State Antony
Blinken, and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin for failure to prevent
genocide and complicity in genocide.
اضافة اعلان
According to writer Michael Arria from
Mondoweiss, the plaintiffs include the human rights groups
Defense for Children International–Palestine (DCIP) and Al-Haq, Great March of Return founder Ahmed
Abu Artema, Nasser Medical Complex physician Dr. Omar Al-Najjar, and DCIP field
researcher Mohammed Ahmed Abu Rokbeh.
“To be honest, it difficult to revisit all the scenes of the
past weeks. They open a door to hell when I recall them,” said Al-Najjar in a
statement. “I’ve lost five relatives, treated too many children who are the sole
survivors of their families, received the bodies of my fellow medical students
and their families, and seen the hospital turn into a shelter for tens of
thousands of people as we all run out of fuel, electricity, food, and water.
The U.S. has to stop this genocide. Everyone in the world has to stop this.”
More than
11,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel since Hamas’s October 7 attack. The United States government gives
the country more than $3.8 billion in military aid annually, and Biden is
currently lobbying Congress for another $14.5 billion. Last week, the president
told reporters that there is “no possibility” of The White House calling for a
ceasefire.
“Genocide, the gravest of crimes under
international law, defined in the Genocide Convention and implemented in U.S.
domestic law at 18 U.S.C. § 1091 upon ratification, constitutes certain acts
‘committed with the intent to destroy in whole or in part a national ethical,
racial or religious group as such’ by, among other things,” reads the
complaint.
(i) killing members of the group, (ii)
deliberating inflicting upon the group conditions of life calculated to bring
about its physical destruction in whole or in part; and (iii) causing serious
bodily or mental harm.”
“For the past 38 days, the world has watched
senior Israeli officials use dehumanizing language in connection with their
expressed intent to destroy and displace Palestinians in Gaza while imposing an
unrelenting siege, and intentionally depriving Palestinians the conditions of
life necessary for human survival. The Israeli military has dropped an
estimated 25,000 tons of explosives on Palestinians in Gaza – the approximate
explosive power of two nuclear bombs.”
“For the last five weeks,
President Biden and
Secretaries Blinken and Austin have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with an Israeli
government that has made clear its intention to destroy the Palestinian
population in Gaza. As neighborhood after neighborhood, hospital after
hospital, and sheltering displaced Palestinians were bombed, while subject to a
total siege and closure that denies 2.2 million people basic necessities for
life, they have continued to provide both military and political support for
Israel’s unfolding genocidal campaign while imposing no red lines,” said CCR
attorney Katherine Gallagher. “The United States has a clear and binding
obligation to prevent, not further, genocide. So far, they have failed in both
their legal, moral duty and considerable power to end this horror. They must do
so.”
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