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<h1 class="gmail-">Leaked US State Department docs unveil first
formal acknowledgment of Israeli units committing
gross rights abuses</h1>
<p class="gmail-">The US has failed to hold Israel accountable
in the past for clear human rights abuses, including against
US citizens</p>
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<p><a href="https://thecradle.co/authors/news-desk-9"
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<p><span style="color:rgb(84,88,94)">OCT 31, 2025 - </span><font
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href="https://thecradle.co/articles/leaked-us-state-department-docs-unveil-first-formal-acknowledgment-of-israeli-units-committing-gross-rights-abuses"
moz-do-not-send="true" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://thecradle.co/articles/leaked-us-state-department-docs-unveil-first-formal-acknowledgment-of-israeli-units-committing-gross-rights-abuses</a></font></p>
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<p><span style="background-color:transparent">A
classified US State Department report found that
Israeli soldiers committed \u201cmany hundreds\u201d of
potential violations of US human rights law in the
Gaza Strip that would require \u201cmultiple years\u201d to
review, the <i>Washington Post</i> </span><a
href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/10/30/state-department-report-israel-gaza-human-rights-violations/"
moz-do-not-send="true"><span
style="background-color:transparent">reported</span></a><span
style="background-color:transparent"> on 31 October.</span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:transparent">Details of
the report prepared by the State Department\u2019s Office
of Inspector General were provided to <i>The Post</i>
by two US officials.</span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:transparent">The report
has, for the first time, \u201cacknowledged the scale of
Israeli actions in Gaza that fall under the purview
of Leahy Laws, the landmark legislation that bars US
security assistance to foreign military units
credibly accused of gross human rights abuses,\u201d the
newspaper wrote.</span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:transparent">However,
the Office of Inspector General report \u201craised
doubts about the prospects for accountability for
Israel\u2019s actions given the large backlog of
incidents and the nature of the review process,
which is deferential to the Israel Defense Forces,\u201d
<i>The Post</i> added.</span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:transparent">\u201cWhat
worries me is that accountability will be forgotten
now that the noise of the conflict is dying down,\u201d
said Charles Blaha, a former State Department
official responsible for overseeing the application
of the Leahy Laws.</span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:transparent">The report
was completed just days before the 11 October
ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas went into
effect. Since that time, Israel has continued to
kill Palestinian civilians and restrict aid entering
the strip as Palestinians suffer from food
shortages, malnutrition, and starvation.</span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:transparent">Several
atrocities committed by Israeli forces since the
start of the genocide two years ago have triggered
reviews under the Leahy Laws.</span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:transparent">In April
2024, seven World Central Kitchen (WCK) aid workers
were killed by three Israeli drone strikes, one
after another, on three separate WCK vehicles. The
drones opened fire, even though the WCK had shared
the convoy\u2019s coordinates and route with the Israeli
military in advance. The victims held Australian,
British, Palestinian, Polish, and dual US-Canadian
citizenships.</span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:transparent">In
February 2024, Israeli forces opened fire, including
with tanks, on Palestinians trying to get
desperately needed aid in Gaza. At least 112
Palestinians were killed and 760 were injured in
what became known as the \u2018</span><a
href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/3/1/flour-massacre-how-gaza-food-killings-unfolded-and-israels-story-changed"
moz-do-not-send="true"><span
style="background-color:transparent">Flour
Massacre</span></a><span
style="background-color:transparent">.\u2019</span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:transparent">However,
the White House </span><a
href="https://www.justsecurity.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Report-to-Congress-under-Section-2-of-the-National-Security-Memorandum-on-Safeguards-and-Accountability-with-Respect-to-Transferred-Defense.pdf"
moz-do-not-send="true"><span
style="background-color:transparent">claimed</span></a><span
style="background-color:transparent"> it was \u201cnot
able to reach definitive conclusions\u201d on whether US
weapons were used in the attacks.</span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:transparent">The US
provides at least $3.8 billion in aid to Israel
yearly, and has provided tens of billions more since
2023 to assist the genocide in Gaza.</span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:transparent">However,
it is unlikely the US will withhold military aid to
Israel and hold units accountable for the many
violations mentioned in the new State Department
report, <i>The Post</i> writes.</span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:transparent">The State
Department working group tasked with making
determinations about Leahy Law violations includes
representatives of the US Embassy in Jerusalem and
the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, \u201ctwo entities
that often advocate for Israel within the US
system,\u201d the daily went on to say.</span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:transparent">If the
working group does conclude that Israeli units are
ineligible for continued funding, the US secretary
of state must approve the finding.</span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:transparent">The
secretary of state under former US president Joe
Biden, Antony Blinken, was a strong advocate for
Israel throughout the genocide.</span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:transparent">US
President Donald Trump\u2019s new Secretary of State,
Marco Rubio, has close ties to Jewish
billionaire Paul Singer, who is a strong supporter
of Israel and has funded Rubio\u2019s election campaigns
over the years.</span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:transparent">\u201cTo date,
the US has not withheld any assistance to any
Israeli unit despite clear evidence,\u201d said Josh
Paul, a former State Department official speaking
with <i>The Post.</i></span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:transparent">Blinken\u2019s
State Department refused to halt aid to Israeli
units even after a 78-year-old US citizen, Omar
Assad, was detained at a checkpoint in the West Bank
in 2022 and murdered by Israeli soldiers.</span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:transparent">Assad
owned a grocery store in the city of Milwaukee in
the US state of Wisconsin before returning to his
place of birth in Palestine after retiring.</span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:transparent">Earlier
this week, the <i>New York Times</i> (NYT) </span><a
href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/world/middleeast/shooting-palestinian-american-journalist.html"
moz-do-not-send="true"><span
style="background-color:transparent">reported</span></a><span
style="background-color:transparent"> that a former
US military policeman who investigated the 2022
killing of US-Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu
Aqla said an Israeli soldier deliberately shot her,
but his superiors at the State Department changed
the conclusions of his report to claim the killing
was unintentional.</span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:transparent">The US
under president Trump has been no better.</span></p>
<p><span style="background-color:transparent">\u201cI don\u2019t
see any difference between the Biden administration
and the Trump administration on this issue,\u201d said
Blaha, the former State Department official in
charge of the office that implements the Leahy Laws.</span></p>
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