My Take | The real ‘no limits’ ties versus a really limited ‘no limits’ pact
- Russia and China are driven together by the US, which is breaking laws, undermining its national interests and foreign policy – all for Israel
Imagine if American university students rose up across the country to protest against repression and human rights abuses in Kashmir by the Indian government and its military.
And, in response, Washington immediately passed a law banning hate speech and equating criticism of the Indian government with anti-Indian racism.
Of course, the US political class won’t do that for India or any country, except for Israel. The US House of Representatives has just passed the Antisemitism Awareness Act, with most Democrats joining the Republicans. It has very little to do with racism or antisemitism and everything to do with censorship. The First Amendment? What’s that? Indeed, the act itself is arguably anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab.
The United States, of course, does much, much more for Israel. It has been arming it to the teeth to carry out a war that has put Israel in front of the International Court of Justice on genocide charges. It is reportedly putting intense pressure on the International Criminal Court (ICC) not to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his top general and security chief for war crimes. Neither country recognises ICC jurisdiction, for good reason.
Washington is likely breaching its own law, the Foreign Assistance Act, by continuing military assistance after the State Department, the US Agency for International Development, and the Independent Task Force on the Application of National Security Memorandum-20 to Israel determined Israel has been impeding or blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza that has been facing famine conditions.
CNN reported that some State Department officials don’t believe Israel has been using US weapons “in a manner consistent with all applicable international and domestic law and policy, including international humanitarian law and international human rights law”, as required under the national security memorandum issued by President Joe Biden in February.