Resource Author: Dylan Williams

Israel’s Abrogation of the Gaza Ceasefire Should Be Universally Condemned

(WASHINGTON, DC) — In response to Israel’s resumption of the bombardment of Gaza, Center for International Policy Vice President for Government Affairs Dylan Williams issued the following statement:

“Israel’s unilateral abrogation of the Gaza hostage release and ceasefire agreement should be universally and unequivocally condemned. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly refused to move to the second of the three phases in the framework agreed in January. Fearing that the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territory and moving toward a permanent end to the war could bring down his extremist government, Netanyahu has demanded different terms to avoid upholding Israel’s end of the deal.

“In response to Hamas’ insistence that both sides adhere to the agreement, Netanyahu ordered the reimposition of a full siege on Gaza, blocking the entry of all food, medicine and other humanitarian supplies into the territory for weeks. With the resumption of massive bombardment of the territory last night – strikes which have reportedly killed and maimed hundreds of civilians, including many small children – Netanyahu has now fully and unilaterally broken the ceasefire, betraying Israel’s own hostage families and once again condemning millions of Palestinians in Gaza to untold death and suffering.

“President Donald Trump also bears considerable responsibility for the resumption of war in Gaza. While Trump’s team had an early success in assisting the administration of former President Joe Biden in negotiating the hostage release and ceasefire, he has since enabled this massive failure in his own diplomacy through a series of brazen missteps.

“Trump’s obscene proposal for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza, his transfer of billions of dollars in American taxpayer-funded weapons to Israel in violation of US laws like the Humanitarian Aid Corridor Act, and his backing of Netanyahu’s demands to rewrite the agreement that Trump’s own team helped to negotiate make him a full partner in this bloodshed. The resumption of hostilities between the United States and the Houthis in Yemen and the Red Sea also speaks to how completely Trump has botched his own stated goal of ending fighting and advancing diplomacy in the region.

“US lawmakers and one-time partner countries not beholden to Trump should take all due steps to stop the fighting, restore the path to a permanent ceasefire, and hold all officials responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity accountable for their actions. Americans and citizens of other countries that have provided weapons or diplomatic cover should realize the grievous harm that abetting Israel’s assault on Gaza has done not just to Palestinian civilians and Israeli hostage families, but to the rule of law both internationally and – with rapidly advancing restrictions on free speech and due process in response to criticism of Israel – in their own countries.

“It’s time for all who value human security and basic decency to say enough is enough and bring real pressure to bear on Israel and its enablers to stop this carnage.”

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Biden Cements His Legacy as the Great Enabler of Slaughter and Starvation in Gaza

In response to the Biden Administration’s decision today to continue supplying weapons to Israel despite overwhelming evidence that it had not met the requirements of the October 13 letter from Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Center for International Policy (CIP) Vice President for Government Affairs Dylan Williams issued the following statement:

“The Biden Administration’s latest decision to continue arming Israel in defiance of its own red lines and U.S. law will help cement Joe Biden’s legacy as the great enabler of Benjamin Netanyahu’s campaign of starvation and slaughter in Gaza. It also sets a dangerous precedent for failing to uphold U.S. and international law ahead of a Trump administration that is openly dismissive of both.

When Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin sent their October 13 letter giving Israel 30 days to meet specific criteria for addressing the humanitarian catastrophe it created in Gaza, the Biden administration had already long been legally obligated to suspend weapons shipments and other military assistance to Israel.

Over the course of those 30 days, Israel responded by not only declining to reverse course, but intensifying deprivation, displacement and death among civilians, particularly in northern Gaza. A joint report released by a coalition of major global humanitarian relief organizations revealed that since October 13, Israel has not met a single one of the specific criteria set forth in the Blinken-Austin letter, and that the humanitarian crisis in the territory has worsened to its most dire level in the entire 13 month-long war. 

While the Biden administration ordered Israel to allow at least 350 aid trucks into Gaza each day in its October 13 letter, latest available data indicate that Israel has allowed in just 54 aid trucks per day, on average. The most it allowed into Gaza on a single day during this period was 129, while the lowest number was zero. The Israeli government further passed a law functionally banning the operations of UNRWA – the UN agency providing critical direct aid to Palestinian refugees in Gaza and elsewhere in the Middle East – in the Palestinian territories despite an explicit warning in the Blinken-Austin letter that doing so could have implications under U.S. law.

In the face of these facts, it is a morally unjustifiable and legally indefensible abdication of duty for the Biden administration to once again decline to take enforcement action under relevant policies and laws. Some in Congress will rightly seek to advance legislation to withhold new arms shipments to Israel in an attempt to uphold U.S. law and basic decency in the face of the Biden administration’s unwillingness to do so. However, such measures are unlikely to pass, allowing unconditional American arming and taxpayer subsidization of the war to continue as the United States heads toward a second Trump term.

The next U.S. administration is likely to be marked by the erosion of the rule of law and associated norms at home and internationally. There should be no doubt, however, that Joe Biden and his top advisors helped advance the decline of a rules-based order by repeatedly making an exception for Israel from it, with horrific consequences.”

The Center for International Policy (CIP) is a woman-led, progressive, independent nonprofit center for research, education, and advocacy working to advance a more peaceful, just, and sustainable U.S. approach to foreign policy.

Statement on Introduction of Joint Resolutions of Disapproval on Weapons Sales to Israel

In response to the introduction by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) of Joint Resolutions of Disapproval to block new sales of more than $20 billion dollars in offensive US weapons to Israel, Center for International Policy Vice President for Government Affairs Dylan Williams issued the following statement:

“The resolutions introduced by Senator Bernie Sanders and his colleagues are an appropriate, measured, and sadly necessary response to a security partner’s repeated violations of US and international law. These Senators should be applauded for taking concrete action to enforce the requirement that other countries only use American weapons for legitimate defense purposes and in accordance with the law of war.

“Israel has the same right as any other country to defend its people from attacks and war crimes like those perpetrated in the Hamas-led assault on October 7th. It also has the same obligation as every other country and combatant to abide by international humanitarian law – and as a US security assistance recipient, relevant American law – in doing so.

“The evidence is overwhelming that Israel has failed to abide by standards set in US and international law in its Gaza campaign. The obscene civilian casualty figures, the targeting of schools, shelters and hospitals known to house large numbers of the displaced and wounded, and the restriction of the delivery of critical food and medicine speak to a pattern of flagrant disregard for its obligations under the law.

“Tragically, the Biden Administration has failed to enforce the law with regard to Israel, enabling the Netanyahu government to deepen and expand a campaign in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands of civilians, subjected hundreds of thousands more to malnutrition and disease, and left the territory in ruin. Even as Netanyahu’s own negotiators revealed that the Israeli Prime Minister was obstructing a ceasefire and hostage release agreement, President Biden continued to supply weapons to Israel in violation of US law and his own administration’s policies. Now, as hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah escalate and large numbers of Lebanese civilians are being subjected to the horrors already visited on the people of Gaza, the administration is preparing to send more than $20 billion in new weapons to the Netanyahu government.

“We welcome Senator Sanders’ initiative to put a stop to this carnage and US complicity in it. As these resolutions will not be voted on for several weeks due to the pre-election recess, we again call on the Biden administration to do what it should have done months ago, and immediately suspend offensive arms transfers to Israel.”

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CIP Welcomes Introduction of UNRWA Funding Emergency Restoration Act

The Center for International Policy (CIP) welcomes introduction of the UNRWA Funding Emergency Restoration Act (H.R.9649) by Representatives André Carson (IN-7), Pramila Jayapal (WA-7), Jan Schakowsky (IL-9) and more than 60 of their colleagues. The bill seeks to restore statutorily suspended funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the main provider of humanitarian relief in war-torn Gaza. 

In response, CIP Vice President for Government Affairs Dylan Williams issued the following statement:

“It’s great to see such strong support among lawmakers for joining our allies around the world in resuming contributions to this critical agency. Halting funding to UNRWA for a full year was one of the most grievous US foreign policy mistakes since the start of the Gaza war. 

“The Israeli rightwing and other anti-Palestinian forces have long sought to defund UNRWA, mistakenly believing that hobbling the agency would delegitimize Palestinians’ refugee status and national rights. Caving to this malicious campaign while starvation and disease threaten hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians in Gaza is morally unconscionable and undermines the United States’s stated objective of ending the humanitarian crisis in the territory.

“The US suspended its contributions to the agency following accusations by Israel that a small number of low-level UNRWA staff in Gaza had participated in the horrific Hamas-led October 7 attacks. UNRWA immediately fired the individuals and fully cooperated with official inquiries into the accusations. Nearly all funding from other countries that suspended their UNRWA contributions in the wake of this incident has since been resumed — but restoring US contributions remains critical to UNRWA’s operations.

“UNRWA is rigorously regulated and audited, and the sole organization with the ability to provide essential assistance to the majority of Gaza’s population in the foreseeable future – if Israel allows adequate aid to enter and be distributed in the territory. The Biden Administration should work with these lawmakers to ensure US funding to UNRWA is restored as soon as possible, and take the steps necessary to secure a ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza that would also allow for the desperately needed surge of humanitarian relief to begin.”

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It’s in America’s Interest for Biden to Pursue Diplomacy with Iran – Yes, Right Now

With reform-oriented Masoud Pezeshkian coming to power in Iran, a region on hair-trigger as the Israel/Hamas conflict rages on, and a shifting balance of power in US domestic politics and security needs, now is the time to return to diplomacy with Iran, argues CIP Vice President for Government Affairs Dylan Williams in a new commentary in The Hill. He writes:

Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal remains one of the worst foreign policy blunders in American history, but it’s one we now have a new opportunity to fix.

President Joe Biden should not miss this chance to conclude his presidency with a major security win while assisting Vice President Kamala Harris in setting a popularly supported course for a more peaceful and stable Middle East.

The 2015 multilateral Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) blocked each of Iran’s paths to a nuclear weapon, and its slow collapse in the wake of Trump’s unilateral abandonment has resulted in across-the-board losses for both U.S. and regional security. It not only triggered an entirely predictable (and predicted) expansion of Iran’s uranium enrichment activities but it also bolstered the political fortunes of Iranian hardliners who had warned the United States would not stick to the deal.

While there are clear hurdles to finding a worthwhile agreement in Biden’s remaining time in office, including the nuclear program’s advances following the U.S. withdrawal from the deal, progress is possible, Williams argues:

There remain key elements of the original deal — particularly those relating to unprecedented and permanent inspection and monitoring to prevent weaponization — that would be a major security win to restore.

Perhaps the biggest obstacle, however, would be Iran’s and the rest of the world’s certainty that a deal reached — or progress in negotiations made — under President Biden would be again repudiated by Trump were he to return to office.

While the U.S. presidential election will not be decided based on whether a deal is achieved with Iran, the pursuit and near-finalization of one in the coming months would help motivate and sharpen the choice facing American voters, particularly among independents and Democrats who favored the JCPOA by strong majorities or supermajorities.

Read the full commentary  here.

CIP Condemns Deadly Airstrike on Rafah Tent Camp, Renews Call for US to Halt Arms

In response to an Israeli airstrike on a tent camp in Rafah that caused the deaths of at least 45 civilians, part of an ongoing offensive in southern Gaza, Center for International Policy’s Vice President for Government Affairs Dylan Williams issued the following statement:

“The mass killing of civilians seeking refuge, whether by mistake or otherwise, is exactly what President Biden said would be unacceptable about an Israeli offensive in Rafah. Biden shouldn’t wait for a pro forma Israeli investigation — he should stand by his word and halt arms right now.”

CIP has been warning for weeks that the Israeli offensive in Rafah is a violation of President Biden’s “red line.”