US legal advocacy group sues Biden for failing to prevent 'genocide' of Palestinians

WASHINGTON

A New York-based legal advocacy organization said Monday that it is suing US President Joe Biden and members of his administration for failing to prevent the "genocide" of the Palestinian people in Gaza

"This case is brought on behalf of Palestinian human rights organizations and individuals to enforce what is perhaps the most basic and important legal, and moral, obligation in the world – the obligation to prevent genocide, the destruction of a people," the Center for Constitutional Rights’ (CCR) wrote in the introduction of the complaint.

The complaint, which was brought on behalf of several Palestinian groups including Al-Haq and Defense for Children International, argues that the "unfolding genocide" of the Palestinian people in Gaza has so far been made possible because of the "unconditional support given" by the defendants, President Joseph Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

"As Israel’s closest ally and strongest supporter, being its biggest provider of military assistance by a large margin and with Israel being the largest cumulative recipient of US foreign assistance since World War II, the United States has the means available to have a deterrent effect on Israeli officials now pursuing genocidal acts against the Palestinian people in Gaza," it added.

It also accused the defendants of rejecting calls for a cease-fire or limits on the Israeli use of US military assistance despite "staggering civilian casualties.”

“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 shelters for 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,” Katherine Gallagher, a senior attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights and one of the lawyers who brought the case, said in a statement.

“The United States has a clear and binding obligation to prevent, not further, genocide. They have failed in meeting their legal and moral duty to use their considerable power to end this horror. They must do so," Gallagher added.

The lawsuit was filed in California and asked defendants “to take all measures within their power to prevent Israel’s commission of genocidal acts against the Palestinian people of Gaza,” including pressing Israel to end the bombing of Gaza, to lift its siege of the territory and to prevent the forcible expulsion of Palestinians.

At least 11,180 Palestinians have been killed, including over 7,700 women and children, and more than 28,200 others have been injured, according to the latest figures from Palestinian authorities in Gaza.

The Israeli death toll, meanwhile, is nearly 1,200, according to official figures.

The war has exacerbated already poor humanitarian conditions in Gaza, with basic necessities such as food, water and fuel increasingly depleted amid an Israeli siege that has severely restricted deliveries of badly needed international aid to the coastal enclave.