Ramallah, November 13, 2023—DCIP alongside Palestinians in Gaza sued the Biden administration today for failure to prevent the genocide of the Palestinian people.
The lawsuit, filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights in a federal court in California, asks the courts to stop President Biden, Secretary of State Blinken, and Secretary of Defense Austin from continuing to provide weapons, military funding, and diplomatic support to Israel as U.S. government officials have a legal duty to prevent genocide.
“Palestinian children in Gaza are undoubtedly targets as repeated Israeli military offensives destroy their homes, schools, and neighborhoods, as Israeli forces use U.S.-made and funded weapons to kill them and their families with impunity,” said Khaled Quzmar, general director at Defense for Children International – Palestine. “While people protest in the streets, world leaders show, day after day, that they lack the temerity to end the catastrophic and unprecedented destruction of Palestinian life in Gaza. We need the American people to join us to force an end to this genocide.”
The lawsuit argues that the Biden administration is in violation of customary international law, codified in the 1948 Genocide Convention and the Genocide Convention Implementation Act passed by Congress in 1988.
The plaintiffs in the case are Palestinian human rights organizations Defense for Children International - Palestine and Al-Haq; Palestinians in Gaza Ahmed Abu Artema, Dr. Omar Al-Najjar, and Mohammad Abu Rukbeh; and Palestinian-Americans Mohammad Monadel Herzallah, Laila Elhaddad, Waeil Elbhassi, Basim Elkarra, and A.N. More than 100 members of the plaintiffs’ family members had been killed by the Israeli bombardment and ground invasion into the Gaza Strip as of November 13.
