State Dept. Report on Israel’s Use of U.S. Weapons Gives Ammo to Both Sides

A State Department report on Israel’s use of U.S. weapons tried to please both pro- and anti-Israel voices, creating a slew of contradictory headlines.

“Biden administration says Israel is not violating U.S. weapons terms,” reported NBC. “US says Israel’s use of US arms likely violated international law, but evidence is incomplete,” said the AP. “Biden administration acknowledges possible Israeli weapons misuse in report to Congress,” reported USA Today.

Few linked to the actual document, so that readers could look through it and judge for themselves.

The reason for the confusion is clear: although the State Department did not find any actual evidence that Israel had used American weapons in ways that violate international humanitarian law or international human rights law, it also claimed that it was “reasonable” to assume that Israel had done so, given “given Israel’s significant reliance on U.S.-made” weapons.

Thus, anti-Israel activists can claim that the State Department found it was “reasonable” to accuse Israel of violating international law, while those who defend Israel can note that the State Department found no evidence it had done so.

The report added little to what is already known about Hamas’s use of civilians as human shields, and about Israel’s effort to avoid harm to civilians, as well as its investigative and judicial process for dealing with claims of misconduct.

As such, the report’s contradictions might reflect competing agendas inside and outside of the State Department more than the facts. There is material for critics of Israel to exploit, and also for supporters of Israel to cite in its defense.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.