Widening crisis in the Middle East: UN officials warn of catastrophe if agency helping Palestinians collapse
A federal judge on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit from Palestinian Americans who sought to force the White House to withdraw support for Israel's bombardment of Gaza, as was widely expected based on constitutional precedent that only the political arms of the US government can control foreign countries. could determine policy.
But unexpectedly, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White indicated that he would have preferred to issue the order if it were not limited by the Constitution, and he implored the Biden administration to investigate “the results of their continued support” of Israel.
The determination came five days after a hearing in Oakland, California, in which Judge White allowed the head of a humanitarian group, a medical intern and three Palestinian Americans with relatives in Gaza to tell the court that their loved ones were being slaughtered. They alleged that the US government endorsed a genocide by supporting Israel's military response to the October 7 Hamas attacks.
“President Biden could end this with one phone call,” Laila el-Haddad said, a Palestinian activist and author living in Maryland, told the judge. She said Israeli strikes had killed at least 88 members of her extended family in Gaza. “My family is being murdered on my dime.”
Judge White, who had called the testimony “heartbreaking” last week, wrote that the evidence and testimony “indicate that the ongoing military siege in Gaza is intended to exterminate an entire people.”
But, he added, “there are rare cases where the desired outcome is not accessible in court.”
This, he wrote, was such a case: “It is the duty of every individual to confront the current siege in Gaza, but it is also the duty of this Court to remain within the limits of its jurisdiction .”
Legal precedent limits judicial power over U.S. presidents over foreign policy decisions, and administration lawyers had argued that regardless of testimony on Gaza, the White House and Congress have the constitutional prerogative to determine policy on determine Israel.
However, in a notable aside, Judge White, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, urged President Biden to reconsider U.S. policy on the military siege, writing that “it is plausible that the conduct of Israel amounts to genocide.”
Attorneys for the plaintiffs said they would challenge the decision but were encouraged by the judge's comments.
“Although we are disappointed with the outcome, we are very pleased that the court has recognized that it is likely that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza,” said Marc Van Der Hout, attorney for the plaintiffs, “and that the United States is responsible for that genocide.” .”
Katherine Gallagher of the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, noted that the court “used extremely strong language.”
“We hope that the executive branch heeds the court's call,” she said, “as the situation on the ground in Gaza remains dire.”
According to Israeli authorities, Hamas launched a terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking 240 others hostage. In the months since, Israel has bombed the Palestinian enclave of Gaza in an attempt to crush Hamas, which controls the area. Local health officials in Gaza say more than 25,000 people have been killed there, including thousands of children, and most of the 2.2 million people living there have been displaced and facing famine.
The unusual legal action in California was filed on November 13 by Palestinian humanitarian groups and eight individual supporters. It accused President Biden, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III of violating common federal law by defying customary international laws that bind the U.S. to the 1948 Genocide Convention.
The lawsuit asked Judge White to order the president and his administration to “take all measures within their power” to stop “the commission of genocidal acts by Israel against the Palestinian people of Gaza.” It also sought court orders to halt aid to Israel and to prevent the White House from “obstructing efforts by the international community, including the United Nations, to implement a ceasefire.”
The hearing earlier this month came hours after the United Nations' highest judicial body Israel ordered to prevent genocidal acts by its forces, but did not call for an end to the war in Gaza.
The International Court of Justice responded to South Africa's allegations that Israel's military response was intended to deny Palestinians their right to exist.