In ruling, US federal judge says Israel plausibly committing genocide, Biden must reexamine approach

A federal court in the United States has said that Israel’s war against the Hamas terror group in Gaza “is intended to eradicate a whole people and therefore plausibly falls within the international prohibition against genocide.”

The petition was filed by Defense for Children International – Palestine and charged the US government, on behalf of Palestinian rights groups and Palestinians in Gaza and in the US, with “failure to prevent and complicity in the Israeli government’s unfolding genocide against them, their families, and the 2.2 million Palestinians in Gaza.” It urges the government to block aid to Israel.

While dismissing the petition on jurisdictional grounds, Wednesday’s ruling by the United States District Court for the Northern District of California urges US President Joe Biden’s administration “to examine the results of their unflagging support of the military siege against the Palestinians in Gaza.”

Judge Jeffrey White bases the decision on “uncontroverted” testimonies by seven Palestinian relatives of people killed during the war, as well as “expert opinion proffered at the hearing on these motions as well as statements made by various officers of the Israeli government.”

It also leans on the recent decision by the International Court of Justice to not reject outright South Africa’s case accusing Israel of “genocide.”

“It is every individual’s obligation to confront the current siege in Gaza,” the judge writes.