Lawsuit claims State Department skirting US human rights law with Israel military aid

WASHINGTON — The State Department has carved out exceptions for close ally Israel that block a US law restricting foreign military support over human rights abuses, a lawsuit from a group of Palestinians in Gaza and American relatives assert.

Former State Department officials and crafters of the 1997 Leahy law are among those advising and backing the lawsuit.

The lawsuit details the barriers that it accuses the State Department of creating on Israel’s behalf to skirt enforcement and asks courts to intervene. That is after campus protests and moves by some lawmakers failed in their goal of limiting US military support to Israel over civilian deaths in Gaza during the war with Hamas.

The law bars US military assistance to foreign military units when there is credible evidence of gross human rights abuses.

The State and Justice departments decline to comment. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has previously denied that the department has given Israel a pass. “Do we have a double standard? The answer is no,” he said in April.