WASHINGTON (AP) — A former top U.S. official, who until recently helped monitor human rights compliance by foreign militaries receiving U.S. military assistance, testified Wednesday that he repeatedly observed Israel receiving a ” “special treatment” by US officials when it came to examining allegations of Israeli military abuses against Palestinian civilians.
The accusation comes as the Biden administration faces intense pressure over Israel’s treatment of Palestinian civilians during the war in Gaza.
And it is important because of who said it: Charles O. Blaha. Before leaving office in August, he was director of a State Department security and human rights office closely involved in helping ensure that foreign militaries that receive U.S. military aid comply with U.S. and international human rights and humanitarian laws.
Blaha stated that his departure from the State Department after decades of service was not motivated by security relations between the United States and Israel. He is the second senior agency official involved in such relations to say that, when it comes to Israel, the United States is reluctant to enforce laws required of foreign militaries that receive American aid.
“In my experience, Israel receives special treatment that no other country receives,” Blaha said. “And in many cases undue deference is given” to the version of Israeli officials when the United States asks questions about allegations of wrongdoing by Israel against the Palestinians, he added.
The former official spoke to reporters at an event where he and other members of an unofficial group of former senior US civilian and military officials presented a report noting civilian deaths in specific Israeli bombings in Gaza. They claimed there was “compelling and credible” evidence that Israeli forces had acted illegally.
Blaha’s comments are similar to those of another State Department official and member of the panel: Josh Paul.
Paul resigned in October as director of oversight of arms transfers to other countries’ militaries, in protest at the rapid delivery of weapons by the United States to Israel in the midst of the war in Gaza.
When asked about their accusations, a State Department spokesman, Vedant Patel, asserted that “there is no double standard, no special treatment.”
Israeli officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Israel is historically the largest recipient of U.S. military aid, and Biden signed legislation Wednesday providing another $26 billion in military assistance.
