According to the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. State Department has opened a formal investigation into Israel’s use of American munitions to target civilians in Gaza. The State Department is also investigating the possible use of white phosphorous by Israel in Lebanon.
The investigations are part of a new State Department process set up last fall before the Israeli-Hamas war began. It’s meant to give policymakers more options to constrict aid in the event that the investigation found a misuse of weapons. The process is not designed as instantaneous action according to the State Department.
“That process is not intended to function as a rapid response mechanism,” State Department spokesman Matt Miller said. “Rather, it is designed to systematically assess civilian harm incidents and develop appropriate policy responses to reduce the risk of such incidents occurring in the future.”
One incident being investigated was from last October when an airstrike on the densely populated Jabalia refugee camp near Gaza City killed 125 people, including a Hamas commander. The terrorist was hiding in a tunnel under a high-rise building. Investigators believe Israel used a 2,000 lb bomb and, according to the UN, committed a war crime.
Israel said it used a delayed fuse that allowed the bomb to detonate beneath the surface. This is standard practice when attacking a target several yards underground. The unpredictability of the blast could not be foreseen.
But it’s Israel’s use of white phosphorous that’s the most problematic.
In addition to the strike on the Jabalia camp, U.S. officials are investigating the possible use of white phosphorus, a highly flammable compound that is banned in certain circumstances, during Israeli attacks in Lebanon in mid-October, according to a U.S. official.
The incendiary weapon that creates plumes of smoke can be used legally in war, for example to create a smoke screen, but its use is restricted and can constitute a war crime if it is fired at civilians. The chemicals contained in the weapons can burn at temperatures of up to 815 degrees Celsius and can burn bodies to the bone if they come into contact with humans.
White phosphorous is most often used to generate massive amounts of smoke on the battlefield. But the munition also burns at 815 degrees, making it an effective weapon.
Lebanon’s government reported the use of white phosphorous by Israel to the UN after Lebanon’s Environment Minister Nasser Yassin claimed that the levels of white phosphorous found in Labanon’s soil far exceeded the norms outlined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
“We have lodged formal complaints and are currently preparing to furnish the results of our laboratory analysis, along with comprehensive documentation, to supplement the ongoing complaint initiated by the Lebanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the United Nations,” he told the WSJ.
It’s nearly impossible to prove misuse of white phosphorous. As far as targeting civilians, the fact that civilians die during war is not evidence that Israel is violating the rules of war. There’s more evidence that Hamas deliberately places civilians in harm’s way in order to raise the body count and turn international sentiment against Israel.
What’s really happening with this policy is that Biden looking to cover his left flank and staunch the political bleeding the brutality of the war has caused. He won’t go as far as cutting off funding for Israel. But he’s trying to give his left-wing allies cover in order to keep them in the fold.
If Biden uses the investigation to cut aid to Israel, the Jewish backlash will sink his campaign. That’s why there’s not much chance of that happening.