Relocations: U.S. arms transfers are now legally conditioned on adherence to international human rights law

An Israeli Air Force F-15 jet fighter, made in America. Israeli Defense Forces photo via Wikimedia Commons
February 16, 2024

The Biden administration just promised to obey the law. We’ll see

By Herbert Rothschild

What is Section 502B of the Foreign Assistance Act, and why would I ask you to think about it now? Because it’s at the core of the only victory that those of us trying to stop the mass slaughter of Palestinians have been able to secure thus far. I’ll explain what happened last week, but first some background.

Ashland.news-Secretary-Herbert-Rothschild
Herbert Rothschild

Those who’ve watched, over the years, as we’ve sold or given weapons to murderous regimes like those of Ferdinand Marcos in the Philippines, Saddam Hussein in Iraq and Roberto d’Aubuisson in El Salvador may be surprised to learn that U.S. law requires, except under special circumstances specified in the Foreign Assistance Act, that “no security assistance may be provided to any country the government of which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights.”

Here is the provision regarding exceptions: “Assistance may not be provided under Chapter 5 of this part to a country the government of which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights unless the president certifies in writing to the speaker of the House of Representatives and the chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate that extraordinary circumstances exist warranting provision of such assistance.”

No administration has ever requested an exception.

As I asserted in two columns I published early last year, foreign policy is controlled by the White House, and it’s heavily influenced by the military-industrial complex. As one tries to understand our foreign policy decisions, in most cases it’s difficult to disentangle the national security considerations from the desire to sell American-made weapons. Year after year we are the world’s largest merchant of death and destruction. In the period 2018 through 2022, U.S. arms accounted for 40% of global arms exports. Russia, perennially second, accounted for only 16%.

Since World War II, Israel has been the largest recipient of U.S. military assistance — close to $300 billion in 2022 dollars. And ever since Israel occupied the West Bank in 1967, international human rights organizations like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have documented a pattern of gross violations. It never made any difference. Nothing Israel does — including its deliberate attack by air and sea on the USS Liberty in 1967, which killed 34 men and wounded 174 others — affects our unflagging support. 

It may be, though, that Israel’s mass destruction in Gaza finally will make a difference. Surprisingly, last week the White House announced National Security Memorandum NSM-20 on “Safeguards and Accountability With Respect to Transferred Defense Articles and Defense Services.” With this memorandum the administration of President Joe Biden committed itself to follow U.S. law regarding arms transfers.

“I am issuing this memorandum, which requires the Secretary of State to obtain certain credible and reliable written assurances from foreign governments receiving defense articles and, as appropriate, defense services, from the departments of State and Defense, and requires the secretaries of State and Defense to provide periodic congressional reports to enable meaningful oversight. In addition to the requirements of this memorandum, the secretaries of State and Defense are responsible for ensuring that all transfers of defense articles and defense services by the departments of State and Defense under any security cooperation or security assistance authorities are conducted in a manner consistent with all applicable international and domestic law and policy, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law.”

The memo then affirms the administration’s obligation to report to Congress, beginning within 90 days after issuance of the memo and annually thereafter, on the status of compliance. Among the specifics to be reported are an assessment of “any credible reports or allegations that such defense articles and, as appropriate, defense services, have been used in a manner not consistent with international law, including international humanitarian law.”

Israel isn’t mentioned by name in NSM-20, but unquestionably its war in Gaza occasioned the memo. It says that the first report shall include available information on the use, since January 2023, of defense articles and services provided by the departments of State or Defense described in subsections 1(a) and 1(e) of the memorandum by recipient countries that engaged in armed conflict during calendar year 2023.

The memo also includes the following language: “For any country to which subsection (a) of this section applies and that is deemed by the Secretary of State to be engaged, as of the date of this memorandum, in an active armed conflict in which defense articles covered by this section are used, the Secretary of State shall obtain the assurances outlined in such assurances. If the Secretary of State does not obtain such assurances within 45 days of the date of this memorandum, the transfer of defense articles and, as applicable, defense services, shall be paused until the required assurances are obtained.”

NSM-20 didn’t appear out of nowhere. It was preceded and prompted by, and essentially codifies the provisions of the Van Holland Amendment. In December, Sen. Chris Van Holland (D-Maryland) announced that he, with the support of 12 other senators, including Oregon’s Jeff Merkley, would be offering an amendment to the supplemental appropriations bill that would send more military aid to Ukraine and Israel. J Street, a moderate Israel lobby, announced that it would support the amendment. By Jan. 19, five more senators had signed on. As of this writing, the amendment hasn’t come up for a vote and, when it does, it probably won’t pass. But it has had the desired effect.

Will the Biden administration cut off aid to Israel? If it’s consistent it will. Compare what’s happening in Gaza with what Secretary of State Antony Blinken said when, on March 23, 2022, he formally accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of war crimes in Ukraine: “We’ve seen numerous credible reports of indiscriminate attacks and attacks deliberately targeting civilians, as well as other atrocities. Russia’s forces have destroyed apartment buildings, schools, hospitals, critical infrastructure, civilian vehicles, shopping centers and ambulances, leaving thousands of innocent civilians killed or wounded.”

I never expect consistency from politicians, however, so I doubt if our military support will end. For the first time, though, our cries for decency haven’t been drowned out in Washington by the electoral threats of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

Herbert Rothschild’s columns appear on Friday in Ashland.news. Opinions expressed in them represent the author’s views. Email Rothschild at herbertrothschild6839@gmail.com.

Picture of Jim

Jim

Related Posts...

Our Sponsors

Literary Arts Portland Book Festival Portland Oregon
Don't Drown Ashland in Debt PAC 23909
Conscious Design Build Ashland Oregon

Latest posts

Crossword: Fun(d)raising #01

Crossword about different ways to support Ashland.news. Solve it directly in the article or download a PDF to print. Next week’s crossword: “Oregon-e Rogue #02.” More crosswords under the Culture menu.

Read More >

Phantasms on parade: Ashland’s got souls — lots of them

Thousands of costumed characters packed downtown Ashland on Thursday afternoon, making their along Main Street from Ashland Public Library to Ashland Plaza for the Ashland Chamber of Commerce’s Children’s Halloween Parade, which annually draws large numbers of children of all ages. According to one officer, it was the most people he’s seen in years.

Read More >

Future uncertain for Ashland’s severe weather shelter at 2200 Ashland St.

As the weather chills, the city of Ashland continues to wrestle with how to best operate its severe weather shelter in and plan the overall future of its building at 2200 Ashland St. While the city’s threshold for calling the severe weather shelter in winter is 32 degrees, there is some room for variation depending on accompanying weather conditions, duration of conditions and available resources, Ashland City Manager Sabrina Cotta said Wednesday.

Read More >

Our Sponsors

Pronto Printing Ashland Medford Oregon
City of Ashland Public Notice Ashland Oregon
Ashland.news House Ad

Explore More...

Crossword about different ways to support Ashland.news. Solve it directly in the article or download a PDF to print. Next week's crossword: "Oregon-e Rogue #02." More crosswords under the Culture menu.
Thousands of costumed characters packed downtown Ashland on Thursday afternoon, making their along Main Street from Ashland Public Library to Ashland Plaza for the Ashland Chamber of Commerce's Children’s Halloween Parade, which annually draws large numbers of children of all ages. According to one officer, it was the most people he’s seen in years.
As the weather chills, the city of Ashland continues to wrestle with how to best operate its severe weather shelter in and plan the overall future of its building at 2200 Ashland St. While the city’s threshold for calling the severe weather shelter in winter is 32 degrees, there is some room for variation depending on accompanying weather conditions, duration of conditions and available resources, Ashland City Manager Sabrina Cotta said Wednesday.
After the AIFF opened the doors to their newly remodeled center, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, leading the festival to go virtual. Now, the AIFF is up and running with their first in person event to be held since 2019.
Herbert Rothschild: The sanctions we impose on other countries have never achieved our stated aims — usually regime change. They have succeeded in inflicting suffering and death on the resident populations.
ashland.news logo

Subscribe to the newsletter and get local news sent directly to your inbox.

(It’s free)

Don't Miss Our Top Stories

Get our newsletter delivered to your inbox three times a week.
It’s FREE and you can cancel anytime.