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sunlit_music) wrote2009-04-05 03:18 pm
Ask US State Department why they have delivered arms to a human rights violator
Hi all,
New information gained from Amnesty International USA's researchers this week discovered an enormous shipment of U.S. weapons was delivered to Israel on March 22nd.
The US administration allowed the weapons to be delivered to Israel, despite clear evidence of Israeli human rights violations, some amounting to war crimes, including the controversial use of U.S. made white phosphorous munitions over densely populated areas. That's the white phosphorous that sticks to flesh and sears it until completely deprived of oxygen.
Section 502B of the US’s Foreign Assistance Act (or Leahy Law) forbids giving weapons to the security departments of countries who consistently violate human rights. Israel has consistently violated human rights by using white phosphorous on civilians in the Gaza Strip.
The weapons are meant to be sent to a US stockpile. However, they could be transferred for Israeli use. We need to know if the US has begun an investigation into Israel's use of weapons in the Gaza Strip, and whether restrictions have been clamped down on the delivery of weapons to Israel. We must also know whether the US has laid down rules for Israel's use of US weapons.
It's crucial that the US State Department realises that they can't just throw 14,000 tons of weapons into the hands of a known serious human rights violator without landing in serious trouble.
Ask State Department officials why the U.S. would deliver these arms to Israel at: