President Joe Biden, along with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, is facing a federal lawsuit for alleged “failure to prevent and complicity” in Israel’s actions in Gaza.
The lawsuit was filed on Monday by the Center for Constitutional Rights, a New York civil liberties group, on behalf of Palestinian human rights organizations, Palestinians in Gaza, and US citizens with relatives in the region.
The complaint accuses Biden and his cabinet members of aiding and abetting “genocide” in Gaza, where more than 11,200 Palestinians have been killed in the past month due to relentless bombardment by Israel.
The CCR contends that the US government’s financial and military support to Israel makes it complicit in the alleged genocide.
The CCR stated, “Numerous Israeli government leaders have expressed clear genocidal intentions and deployed dehumanizing characterizations of Palestinians, including ‘human animals’,” adding that these statements, combined with mass killings, indicate evidence of an unfolding crime of genocide.
The complaint emphasizes the US’s role as Israel’s closest ally and largest provider of military assistance.
It argues that the US could have a “deterrent effect on Israeli officials” but, instead, President Biden and his cabinet have provided unconditional support to Israel, undermining international efforts to stop the bombardment.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Astha Sharma Pokharel, a lawyer at the CCR, stated, “They have a significant responsibility under customary international law, under federal law, to prevent this genocide, to stop supporting this genocide. At every step of the way, at every opportunity, they have failed.”
One of the plaintiffs, Laila al-Haddad, a US citizen who lost five relatives in Gaza, expressed her frustration, “I paid for Israel to kill my cousins and my aunt, there’s no two ways around it. It was my tax dollars that did that, that sent those bombs to Israel to kill my family.”
The lawsuit also calls for an end to the $3.8 billion in annual military support the US provides to Israel.
The White House was yet to respond to these accusations as at the time of filing this report.
