Tuesday, April 23, 2024
Year : 2, Issue : 17
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday rejected suggestions that Washington might have a “double standard” when applying US law to allegations of abuses by the Israeli military in Gaza and said that examinations of such charges are ongoing.
“Do we have a double standard? The answer is no,” Blinken told a news conference announcing the Department’s annual human rights country reports.
“In general, as we’re looking at human rights and the condition of human rights around the world, we apply the same standard to everyone. That doesn’t change whether the country is an adversary, a competitor, a friend or an ally,” he said.
“When it comes to allegations of incidents or whether it’s violations of international humanitarian law, rights abuses…we have processes within the department that are looking at that incidents that have been raised. Those processes are ongoing,” Blinken said.
He declined to provide when those processes might produce a definitive assessment.
Israel’s military conduct has come under increasing scrutiny as its forces have killed 34,000 Palestinians in besieged Gaza, according to the enclave’s health authorities, many of them civilians and children. The Gaza Strip has been reduced to a wasteland, and extreme food shortages have prompted fears of famine.
Brian Finucane, Senior Adviser to the US Program at the International Crisis Group pushed back on Blinken’s comments, saying it was “disingenuous” to say partners and adversaries get the same treatment on the issue.
Washington gives $3.8 billion in annual military assistance to its longtime ally. Leftist Democrats and Arab American groups have criticised the Biden administration’s steadfast support for Israel, which they say provides it with a sense of impunity.
But this month, President Joe Biden for the first time threatened to condition support for Israel, and insisted that it take concrete steps to protect humanitarian aid workers and civilians.
Source: Reuters
