jfid – U.S. President Joe Biden may have ensnared himself in international legal trouble, after he acknowledged that Israel conducted “indiscriminate bombing” in Gaza, viewed as a human rights violation by many.
Biden’s statement was made at a fundraising event on Tuesday, December 12, 2023, in front of a number of Jewish donors, most of whom also attended a Hanukkah reception at the White House the night before.
“Israel’s security can lean on the United States, but now they have more than the United States. They have the European Union, they have Europe, they have most of the world supporting them,” said Biden.
“They’re starting to lose that support with the indiscriminate bombing that’s going on,” he added.
Biden said he thought Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu understood, but he wasn’t so sure about Israel’s war cabinet.
The Israeli military carried out devastating attacks across Gaza, killing Palestinian civilians in their homes, as the military continued operations that officials said could last for weeks or months.
Biden offered a harsher assessment than usual of Israel’s decisions since the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, and the steps of Netanyahu’s conservative administration.
Biden also repeated his warning that Israel should not make the same mistake as the U.S. did after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
He recounted a story he often tells about how he wrote on a photo with Netanyahu decades ago, “Bibi, I don’t agree with a single thing you’re saying.”
This time, the president added to his story: “That remains the case.”
Biden’s admission quickly drew criticism from various parties, including international law experts who said he potentially endangered himself from legal action for aiding in war crimes.
One international law expert who expressed this opinion is Kenneth Roth, former head of Human Rights Watch and a human rights lawyer.
In an interview with i News published on Wednesday, December 13, 2023, Roth said that Biden essentially admitted that the Israeli military committed war crimes and that his statement could be used as evidence that he was guilty in the violation.
“Biden is actually admitting that the Israeli military is committing war crimes in Gaza,” Roth told i.
“It is a war crime to carry out indiscriminate bombing. It raises the question of why the U.S. government continues to provide weapons to Israel when they are committing war crimes.”
Roth went on to say that U.S. officials, including Biden himself, could be sued for “knowingly aiding and abetting war crimes,” and that Biden’s comments could be used as evidence in the case.
He gave an example of one famous case where this happened in the past.
“Former Liberian President Charles Taylor was convicted by an internationally backed court for aiding and abetting war crimes in Sierra Leone by providing weapons to rebel groups committing those crimes,” Roth said.
“He is currently serving a 50-year prison sentence in a British prison.”
Indiscriminate bombing refers to a bombing campaign that is not specifically targeted at military objects and causes civilian casualties. This practice is prohibited under the Geneva Convention – and Biden admitted that Israel was doing it in front of a room full of donors on Tuesday.
“Israel’s security can lean on the United States, but now they have more than the United States. They have the European Union, they have Europe, they have most of the world supporting them,” said Biden.
“They’re starting to lose that support with the indiscriminate bombing that’s going on.”
There is ample evidence that Israel is killing civilians in Gaza indiscriminately. Israeli officials have blurred the number of Hamas militants they have killed in their current genocidal attack.
A spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said last week that they had achieved a civilian-militant death ratio of 2 to 1. But human rights groups estimate that the ratio is more like 9 to 1 civilians to militants killed – a rate never seen in any other modern military conflict, according to data from a 2021 study by public health researchers.
U.S. officials are aware of Israel’s negligence regarding civilian deaths. A U.S. intelligence assessment reported by CNN this week found that 40 to 45 percent of the 29,000 air-to-ground munitions that Israel dropped on Gaza since October 7, 2023, were unguided bombs, also known as “dumb bombs,” which lack precision technology and thus cause more civilian casualties than their GPS-powered counterparts.
The use of thousands of such bombs could be further evidence of Israel’s war crimes, experts say.
Nevertheless, U.S. officials are still sending weapons and other military aid to Israel – and are actually aiming to do so as quickly and quietly as possible.
According to a report by The Intercept this week, the Pentagon has formed a “Tiger Team” focused on facilitating fast weapons transfers to Israel. Claims of “indiscriminate bombing” and civilian casualties are not a concern in this mission, according to the report.
“The Tiger Team is looking at civilian casualty issues, and raising those issues, but faced with a lack of interest and direction from above to keep the process going,” one source familiar with the team told The Intercept.
