Accountability Demanded for U.S. Role in Supplying Munitions and Support for Israel’s Bloody War in Gaza

Accountability Demanded for U.S. Role in Supplying Munitions and Support for Israel’s Bloody War in Gaza

Posted Aug. 6, 2014

Interview with Josh Ruebner, national advocacy director with the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, conducted by Scott Harris

After a bloody month-long conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas government in Gaza, a tenuous 72-hour unconditional cease-fire appeared to be holding after both sides agreed to suspend hostilities on Aug. 5. Thus far, the conflict has claimed the lives of at least 1,865 Palestinians, mostly civilians, including hundreds of women and children, with over 9,500 injured. Israel reports that 64 of their soldiers have been killed, along with two Israeli civilians and a Thai guest worker. The Israeli government claims its military operation has destroyed 3,000 Hamas rockets and blown up 32 tunnels leading from Gaza to Israel.

If the lull in the fighting continues, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will lead a delegation in Cairo that will include representatives of Hamas and Islamic Jihad to meet with Israeli officials for talks to negotiate the terms for a more permanent truce.

Before the cease-fire took hold, an Aug. 3 Israeli attack on a United Nations-run school where 3,000 Palestinian civilians were taking shelter, killed 10 people. The U.N. says that Israel has attacked seven of its shelters since the start of the four-week conflict. In response, the U.S. State Department issued a statement saying that the U.S. was “appalled” by the “disgraceful” strike. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon characterized the attack as both “a moral outrage and a criminal act,” and called for those responsible to be held accountable. The U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation sponsored a congressional briefing on the violence in Gaza on Aug. 1, asking the question, “Is Israel complying with U.S. and international laws?” Between The Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with Josh Ruebner, national advocacy director with the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, who discusses his group’s effort to hold the U.S. government accountable for its supply of weapons to Israel in the military assault on Gaza amid widely reported human rights violations and possible war crimes.

Josh Ruebner is author of the book titled, “Shattered Hopes: The Failure of Obama’s Middle East Peace Process.” Find more analysis and commentary on the Gaza War and prospects for Middle East peace by visiting endtheoccupation.org.