In response to the US State Department releasing its Country Reports on Human Rights Practices (“Human Rights Report”) for Israel today, DAWN issues the following statements:
“The State Department’s own human rights report includes damning documentation of gross violations of human rights by Israel, such as extrajudicial killings, torture, arbitrary detention, serious restrictions on free expression, and crimes involving violence targeting minority groups. Such crimes should trigger U.S. laws that prohibit transferring more weapons to Israel,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, DAWN’s executive director. “As described by the State Department’s own report, extrajudicial killings and torture should trigger mass blacklisting of all Israeli units involved in such violations in accordance to the Foreign Assistance Act and its Leahy amendment.”
“While we welcome reports indicating the State Department’s intention to blacklist some Israeli units in accordance with Leahy laws, today’s human rights report shows that designating only a few units amounts to little more than a slap on the wrist,” said Raed Jarrar, DAWN’s advocacy director. “The widespread nature of the abuses described in the human rights report is overshadowed by the State Department’s inaction on these same findings. The State Department needs to read its own report and take immediate action against all abusive Israeli units.”
