Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen criticizes Biden admin report on Israel war conduct

Maryland Democrat Sen. Chris Van Hollen criticized a review by the Biden administration of Israel’s conduct during its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip as “woefully inadequate.”

The report, delivered Friday to Congress by the State Department, said that Israel likely violated international humanitarian law (IHL) using U.S. weapons.

“If this conduct complies with international standards, God help us all,” Van Hollen told reporters Friday, according to The Hill.

“Because that would set a very low bar for what is allowed, it would set a very low bar for the rules of war, it would set a very low bar for what’s required to facilitate the delivery of humanitarian assistance,” he said.

The report was called for in a National Security Memorandum President Joe Biden issued in February that required foreign governments engaged in combat and receiving U.S. military assistance to provide the U.S. with written assurances that the weapons are being used in accordance with IHL, and that they were not hindering delivery of humanitarian assistance.

While not calling for a ban on future arms transfers to Israel, Van Hollen was harshly critical of the report, saying “While the administration has made some important general findings in this report, including the finding that it’s reasonable to conclude that Israel has violated international law in the use of American weapons, they all fall short of making difficult determinations in specific cases,” he said.

“The administration ducked all the hard questions about making the actual determination,” Van Hollen continued, according to The Hill. “As I read this report, the Biden administration is taking at face value many of the representations made by the Netanyahu government,” he said, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.