Veterans for Peace, a national veterans’ organization, called on Oct. 1 for a grand jury to indict U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the U.S. Ambassador to Israel Jacob Lew, for lying to Congress, violating the Export Control Act, the Genocide Prevention Act, and the U.S. War Crimes Act, reported Pressenza New York today.
In a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice, Veterans For Peace (VFP) cited published reports showing that internal State Department emails and the statements of two senior State Department officials showed that Blinken lied when he issued his “Report to Congress” stating, “we do not currently assess that the Israeli government is prohibiting or otherwise restricting the transport or delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance.” (p. 32)
The investigative journalism newsroom ProPublica revealed via State Department emails, internal memos, and meeting notes in which State officials agreed Israel was blocking humanitarian aid, which should trigger the Act that prohibits weapons shipments to any country the President has been told is blocking humanitarian aid.
In addition to the internal documents, ProPublica included, from previous reports, that Samantha Power, Director of the State Department’s USAID, and Stacy Gilbert, a former USAID bureau head, had both voiced objections to Blinken’s findings as the report was being prepared, reports Pressenza.
Power stated that the looming famine in Gaza was the result of Israel’s “arbitrary denial, restriction, and impediments of U.S. humanitarian assistance” and called it “one of the worst humanitarian catastrophes in the world.”
Gilbert, former senior civil military advisor in USAID’s refugees bureau, resigned in May after the State Department “Report to Congress” was released. She said then, “There is abundant evidence showing Israel is responsible for blocking aid. To deny this is absurd and shameful. That report and its flagrant untruths will haunt us.”
VFP human rights counsel Terry Lodge said: “The Israeli military continues detonating massive bombs in southern Beirut—bombs they would not possess but for Antony Blinken’s repeated violations of federal laws aimed at halting human rights and war crimes violations. Members of the Biden administration unwilling to rein in Israel and furthering its genocide in Gaza need to go to jail.”
