WASHINGTON — A soon-to-be-released Biden administration review of Israel’s use of American-supplied weapons in its war in Gaza does not conclude that Israel has violated the terms for their use, according to three people who have been briefed on the matter.
The report is expected to be sharply critical of Israel, even though it didn’t conclude that Israel violated terms of weapons agreements between America and Israel, according to an American official.
The Biden administration’s first-of-its-kind assessment of its close ally’s conduct of the war comes after seven months of airstrikes and ground fighting in Gaza as Israel seeks to eradicate Hamas, which launched a terrorist attack against Israeli civilians on October 7.
A presidential directive agreed to by the White House under pressure from congressional Democrats and others mandated the review of whether Israel had complied with international law in its use of American-provided weapons and other security support during the course of the war.
Two American officials and a third person briefed on the findings of the national security memorandum to be submitted by Secretary Blinken to Congress discussed the matter before the report’s release. They spoke on condition of anonymity because the information was not yet public.
A senior Biden administration official said the memorandum is expected to be released later Friday, but declined to comment on the findings. Axios first reported on the memorandum’s finding.
Lawmakers and others who advocated for the review said President Biden and previous American leaders have followed a double standard when enforcing American laws governing how foreign militaries use American support, an accusation the Biden administration denies.
They had urged the administration to make a straightforward legal determination of whether there was credible evidence that specific Israeli airstrikes on schools, crowded neighborhoods, medical workers, aid convoys and other targets, and restrictions on aid shipments into Gaza, violated the laws of war and human rights.
Their opponents argued that an American finding against Israel would weaken it at a time it is battling Hamas and other Iran-backed groups. Any sharply critical findings on Israel are sure to add to pressure on Mr. Biden to curb the flow of weapons and money to Israel’s military and further heighten tensions with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s rightist government over its conduct of the war against Hamas.
Any finding against Israel also could endanger Mr. Biden’s support in this year’s presidential elections from some voters who keenly support Israel.
The Democratic administration took one of the first steps toward conditioning military aid to Israel in recent days when it paused a shipment of 3,500 bombs out of concern over Israel’s threatened offensive on Rafah, a southern city crowded with more than a million Palestinian Arabs, a senior administration official said.
The presidential directive, agreed to in February, obligated the Defense and State departments to conduct “an assessment of any credible reports or allegations that such defense articles and, as appropriate, defense services, have been used in a manner not consistent with international law, including international humanitarian law.”
The agreement also obligated them to tell Congress whether they deemed that Israel has acted to “arbitrarily to deny, restrict, or otherwise impede, directly or indirectly,” delivery of any American-supported food and medical aid into Gaza for civilians.
At the time the White House agreed to the review, it was working to head off moves from Democratic lawmakers and Senator Sanders of Vermont to start restricting shipments of weapons to Israel.
