President Biden and his administration have a complex bag of issues to deal with, and almost daily another ball of wax arrives, most recently a lawsuit charging him and two of his cabinet members with aiding and abetting “genocide” in Gaza.
On Monday, civil liberties group Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), filed a suit on behalf of Palestinian human rights organizations, Palestinians in Gaza, and U.S. citizens with relatives trapped in the region that have faced more than a month of relentless bombardment by Israel. Related to the suit is the assertion that the U.S. provides funds and weapons to Israel.
The other cabinet members charged in the suit are Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. Moreover, the suit cites that some 11,200 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since Israel responded to the Hamas attack in Israel on October 7 that left 1,200 people dead. All of this comes in the wake of another destructive blow to a major hospital in Gaza that according to Israeli Defense Forces has now been invaded to root out Hamas members below the facility.
In the introduction to its complaint, the CCR said that “Numerous Israeli government leaders have expressed clear genocidal intentions and deployed dehumanizing characterizations of Palestinians, including ‘human animals.’” The complaint coincides with several organizations and legal scholars who have voiced their concerns about the genocidal actions taken by Israel. At the same time, massive groups on both sides of the conflict have marched in cities across the globe.
There was no immediate response from the Biden administration that has been unequivocal in its support of Israel. The complaint further notes that the U.S. being the largest supplier of military and financial assistance to Israel “could have a deterrent effect on Israeli officials now pursuing genocidal acts against the Palestinian people.”
Astha Sharma Pokharel, a lawyer at the CCR, told Al Jazeera, “They have a significant responsibility under customary international law [and] under federal law, to prevent this genocide [and] to stop supporting this genocide. At every step of the way, at every opportunity, they have failed. They have continued to provide cover to Israel; they have continued to provide material support to Israel; and currently, they intend to send more money and more weapons to Israel.”