UNITED NATIONS, July 3 (IPS) – The US gun lobby justifies rampant gun ownership in the US on a misguided premise: guns don’t kill people, bullets kill people.
The accusations of genocide and war crimes in Gaza are primarily aimed at Israel, which has killed more than 37,700 people, mostly civilians, and wounded more than 86,000 in retaliation for the 1,200 deaths Hamas caused last October, according to estimates by Gaza health officials cited by Cable News Network (CNN) last week.
And second, the blame lies squarely with the United States, the unbridled supplier of weapons, including the devastating 2,000-pound unguided bombs, to the Netanyahu government.
But a group of UN human rights experts is now pointing to a third force: American arms manufacturers accused of implicitly killing people, and the financial institutions that fund most of these arms suppliers.
“The transfer of arms and ammunition to Israel could constitute serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian law and risk complicity in international crimes, including possible genocide, the UN experts said last week, reiterating their demand for an immediate halt to the transfers.”
In line with recent calls from the Human Rights Council, the UN experts are calling for a halt to the sale, transfer and diversion of weapons, ammunition and other military equipment to Israel by US arms manufacturers – including BAE Systems, Boeing, Caterpillar, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Oshkosh, Rheinmetall AG, Rolls-Royce Power Systems, RTX and ThyssenKrupp.
The experts say these defense contractors must also stop the transfers, even if they occur under existing export licenses.
“By sending weapons, parts, components and ammunition to the Israeli armed forces, these companies risk being complicit in serious violations of international human rights and international humanitarian law,” the experts said.
This risk is further exacerbated by the recent ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordering Israel to immediately halt its military offensive in Rafah, recognizing genocide as a credible risk. There has also been a request by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue arrest warrants for Israeli leaders on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“In this context, the continued supply of arms to Israel may be seen as knowingly providing assistance to operations that violate international human rights and international humanitarian law, and there may be profit from such assistance.”
Dr Ramzy Baroud, journalist and editor of The Palestine Chronicle, told IPS that the UN experts’ statement is important because it highlights the complex role of the US in supporting, perpetuating and profiting from the Israeli genocide in Gaza. “Very often, we call on the US, we demand and we beg the US to end its support for Israel so that the genocide can end. However, the experts remind us that US involvement is not limited to that of the White House and direct or indirect US military and logistical support to Israel,” he stressed. He said that US support is indeed channelled through multiple players, those who manufacture, transport, assemble and maintain the weapons and ammunition – a multi-billion dollar military machine that has reaped the lives of tens of thousands of Palestinians. These companies must be named, shamed, boycotted and held accountable in every way possible. They must understand that their actions have legal consequences because they are complicit in Israeli crimes against Palestinians, Dr. Baroud said. Baroud, a non-resident Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Islam and Global Affairs (CIGA). These companies, as the experts said, are “consciously” providing direct assistance to Israel in its genocidal war. They are fully aware of the magnitude of these crimes, as expressed in the South African case against Israel at the ICJ, and the call for arrest warrants by the ICC’s Chief Prosecutor. The next rational step is for these companies to be held accountable. They appear to have no moral hurdle. Their quest for profit far outweighs their concern that their weapons are killing thousands of children, women and civilians in Gaza and throughout occupied Palestine. They must be brought to justice as participants in Israel’s genocide in Gaza, Dr. Baroud said.
Norman Solomon, director of the Institute for Public Accuracy, told IPS it is difficult to draw a clear distinction between the US government and the weapons manufacturers that supply it.
“The two are so intertwined that the distinction between them is often a distinction without a difference. The revolving door of individuals in both directions places arms managers in critical government positions and vice versa.” The scale of military profits, he pointed out, is overwhelming in the country’s political economy and culture. The multibillion-dollar corporations that depend on selling weapons to the government are directly participating in a routine process of literally committing murder for the sake of massive profit.
Calling these companies “defense contractors” is a misnomer, since what they sell has little to do with defense in any meaningful sense, he argued. “The increased arms sales and gifts to Israel are continuations of a partnership between the U.S. government and arms suppliers aimed at helping an ally and reaping even more enormous profits. At the same time, the U.S. government and corporations are providing Israel with the means to continue the mass murder of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. The root of the problem is the lack of democracy and the excessive power of corporations.” In a moral sense, the blame is far-reaching. But in a sinister way, he said, the military contractors are doing what capitalism offers them to do: trying to maximize profits, regardless of the consequences for people and the natural environment.
In contrast, in a democratic system, government is expected to respond to the informed consent of the governed — conditions that certainly do not exist in the United States. Meanwhile, the U.S. government and its arms suppliers are guilty of horrific crimes, under international law and human decency, that support and exacerbate those of Israel, said Solomon, who is also national director of RootsAction.org and author of “War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine.”
A mid-June report by the Human Rights Council describes six symbolic attacks involving suspected GBU-31 (2,000 lbs), GBU-32 (1,000 lbs) and GBU-39 (250 lbs) bombs between 9 October and 2 December 2023 on residential buildings, a school, refugee camps and a market.
The UN Human Rights Office has verified 218 deaths in the six strikes and said that information received indicated that the death toll could be much higher. “The requirement to select means and methods of warfare that avoid or at least minimize civilian casualties appears to have been consistently violated in the Israeli bombing campaign,” said High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk. The report said that the series of Israeli strikes, exemplified by the six incidents, indicates that the IDF may have repeatedly violated fundamental principles of the rules of war. In this regard, it notes that unlawful targeting, when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population, in accordance with a state or organization policy, may also constitute the commission of crimes against humanity.
Financial institutions that invest in these arms companies are also being held accountable. Investors such as Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach-Stiftung, Amundi Asset Management, Bank of America, BlackRock, Capital Group, Causeway Capital Management, Citigroup, Fidelity Management & Research, INVESCO Ltd, JP Morgan Chase, Harris Associates, Morgan Stanley, Norges Bank Investment Management, Newport Group, Raven’swing Asset Management, State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance, State Street Corporation, Union Investment Privatfonds, The Vanguard Group, Wellington and Wells Fargo & Company are being urged to take action.
Failure to prevent or limit their business relationships with these arms manufacturers that supply weapons to Israel could result in the trade no longer being directly linked to human rights violations, but instead contributing to human rights violations. This could have implications for complicity in potential atrocities, the experts said.
“Weapons initiate, sustain, exacerbate and prolong armed conflicts, as well as other forms of repression. Therefore, the availability of weapons is an essential condition for the commission of war crimes and human rights violations, including by private arms companies,” the experts said.
The experts praised the continued work of journalists who document and report on the devastating impact of these weapons systems on civilians in Gaza, and of human rights defenders and lawyers, among other stakeholders, who work to hold states and companies accountable for transferring arms to Israel.
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© Inter Press Service (2024) — All rights reservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service
