US state department report absolving Israel on Gaza aid is false, says ex-official - eviltoast
  • homura1650@lemm.ee
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    5 months ago

    Maybe I’m too used to deciphering GovSpeak, but the report does not obsolve Israel of anything.

    The article quotes the report in saying:

    [The department does not] currently assess that the Israeli government is prohibiting or otherwise restricting the transport or delivery of US humanitarian assistance [in Gaza]

    However, that is a very selective quote, that is not at all what the report says.

    The actual quote reads:

    While the USG has had deep concerns during the period since October 7 about action and inaction by Israel that contributed significantly to a lack of sustained and predictable delivery of needed assistance at scale, and the overall level reaching Palestinian civilians – while improved – remains insufficient, we do not currently assess that the Israeli government is prohibiting or otherwise restricting the transport or delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance within the meaning of section 620I of the Foreign Assistance Act.

    Which translates into: “Israel is definitely obstructing the delivery of humanitarian aid. However, since US law says that puts restrictions on us, we talked to our lawyers who found a way for us to say that they are not”

    They are not even being subtle about it. The only way the state department could have been any clearer would be to say “current policy is a clear violation of the Foreign Assistance Act”. And a US agency is never going to say that.