Another Rift between Biden and Netanyahu

A series of airstrikes by the IDF forces of Israel that resulted in the death of seven aid workers of the World Central Kitchen is the latest tragedy threatening to widen a rift between Biden and Netanyahu.

Palestinians inspect a vehicle with the logo of the World Central Kitchen, wrecked by an Israeli airstrike in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, April 2. A series of airstrikes killed seven aid workers from the international charity, leading it to suspend delivery Tuesday of vital food aid to Gaza.Ismael Abu Dayyah/AP

Jacob Magid Follow writing in the Times of Israel reports that US President Joe Biden indicated to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a Thursday, April 4, 2024 phone call that Washington’s policy regarding the war in Gaza will fundamentally change if Israel doesn’t implement a series of concrete steps to address the humanitarian crisis and protect aid workers, adding that an immediate ceasefire was essential for meeting those aims.

Biden “made clear the need for Israel to announce and implement a series of specific, concrete and measurable steps to address civilian harm, humanitarian suffering and the safety of aid workers,” according to a White House readout after the leaders held their first call since an accidental IDF strike on a World Central Kitchen convoy on Monday killed seven aid workers.

“He made clear that US policy with respect to Gaza will be determined by our assessment of Israel’s immediate action on these steps,” the White House warned, adding that both recent Israeli strikes on aid workers along with the overall humanitarian situation in the Strip are “unacceptable.” (Follow, n.d.)

The article cites an interview with Sen. Chris Coons who told CNN:

“I think we’re at the point where President Biden has said and I have said… [that] if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were to order the IDF into Rafah at scale — [if] they were to drop 1,000-pound bombs and send in a battalion to go after Hamas and make no provision for civilians or for humanitarian aid that I would vote to condition aid to Israel,” (Follow, n.d.)

Haroon Siddique, Legal affairs correspondent for the Guardian, reports that the number of signatories warning UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak over a possible breach of international law in arming Israel rises to more than 750. The 17-page letter and legal opinion, also signed by four former court of appeal judges, more than 70 KCs, more than 100 partners and directors of law firms, and dozens of law professors, has added to already mounting pressure on the government to suspend arms sales in the wake of the Israeli airstrike that killed seven international aid workers, three of them British, on Monday, April 1, 2024.

Citing both the international court of justice’s conclusion that a plausible risk of genocide exists in Gaza, and the UK’s obligations under the 1948 genocide convention, the letter states that halting weapons sales is a “‘means likely to deter’ and/or ‘a measure to prevent’ genocide”.

It also calls for the government to work towards a permanent ceasefire, impose sanctions against those inciting genocide against Palestinians, restore funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. (Siddique, n.d.)

Fatima Al-Kassab and Lauren Frayer, in an article for NPR, report that a majority of Britons want the U.K. to halt arms exports to Israel.

British jurists wrote in a letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak:

"The provision of military assistance and material to Israel may render the U.K. complicit in genocide as well as serious breaches of [International Humanitarian Law]." (Al-Kassab & Frayer, n.d.)

Last month, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza. In an NPR interview, the U.N.'s special rapporteur on human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor, said one way to enforce that is to halt weapons sales to Israel.

"The only way to stop the weapons from killing people, while a cease-fire is being negotiated, is to stop the supply of weapons," Lawlor said. "This has done long-term credibility damage to the West." (Al-Kassab & Frayer, n.d.)

If Sunak were to halt U.K. arms exports to Israel, it wouldn't be the first time – nor would Britain be the first Israeli ally to do so. The British government briefly restricted all such sales in 1982, after Israel's invasion of Lebanon. In 2009, it also revoked some licenses.

In recent months, Canada, Belgium, Italy, Spain and the Netherlands have all announced they're suspending arms exports to Israel. Israel's biggest weapons suppliers, the United States and Germany, have not done so. (Al-Kassab & Frayer, n.d.)

On Friday, March 29, 2024, the United Nations' Human Rights Council is scheduled to consider a draft resolution calling for a global arms embargo on Israel, citing the "plausible risk of genocide in Gaza."

Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber, in a Reuters article, reports that the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a resolution on March 29, 2024 calling for Israel to be held accountable for possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip.

The resolution stressed "the need to ensure accountability for all violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in order to end impunity".

It also expressed "grave concern at reports of serious human rights violations and grave breaches of international humanitarian law, including of possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory".

Twenty-eight countries voted in favour of the resolution, 13 abstained and six opposed the resolution, including the United States and Germany. (Tetrault-Farber, n.d.)

The actions of the IDF and the inaction on increasing aid to civilians in Gaza has increased tension between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Biden that is also reflected in dissatisfaction in allied countries and fear of complicity in genocide in connection with a possible future judgement against Israel by the international Court of Justice.

References

Al-Kassab, F., & Frayer, L. (n.d.). Why a majority of Britons want the U.K. to halt arms exports to Israel. NPR. Retrieved April 5, 2024, from https://www.npr.org/2024/04/04/1242745977/uk-israel-arms-sales 

Follow, J. M. (n.d.). Biden warns Netanyahu US policy on Gaza war will shift unless major changes made. Times of Israel. Retrieved April 4, 2024, from https://www.timesofisrael.com/as-netanyahu-holds-call-with-us-president-american-officials-say-biden-is-pissed/ 

Siddique, H. (n.d.). Fourth former UK supreme court judge signs letter over Israeli actions in Gaza. the Guardian. Retrieved April 5, 2024, from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/04/another-former-supreme-court-judge-signs-letter-genocide-law-breach-sunak-gaza-catastrophe 

Tetrault-Farber, G. (n.d.). UN rights body demands Israel be held accountable for possible war crimes. Reuters. Retrieved April 5, 2024, from https://www.reuters.com/world/un-rights-body-adopts-resolution-israel-accountability-possible-war-crimes-2024-04-05/