Palestinians Charge Genocide in U.S. Court; Biden & Blinken Sued for Backing Israel's War on Gaza

Summary

Palestinian writer Lea Alhadad and the Center for Constitutional Rights are suing the Biden administration for complicity in Israel's ongoing genocide in Gaza. In federal court testimony, Alhadad described how U.S. weapons and support enabled Israel to kill her family members and displace Palestinians. Despite recent ICJ orders for Israel to prevent genocide in Gaza, the U.S. cut aid to UNRWA. The judge acknowledged this may be the most difficult case ever. Palestinians aim to stop the genocide, as the U.S. refuses to prevent attacks on civilians in Gaza.

Takeaways

• 😞 The Biden administration is being sued for failing to prevent an 'unfolding genocide' against Palestinians in Gaza
• 😢 Palestinians testified in a US federal court about losing family members and suffering horrific conditions in Gaza
• 😠 Israel's policies and actions in Gaza, enabled by the US, are causing widespread death, injury and displacement of Palestinians
• 😤 The International Court of Justice has ordered Israel to prevent genocide in Gaza, lending support to the lawsuit arguments
• 😫 Palestinian writer Lea Alhadad gave heartbreaking testimony about her cousins in Gaza being killed and her family becoming refugees
• 😟 Alhadad said Palestinians feel an obligation to pursue legal action against the US government for enabling attacks on Gaza with money and weapons
• 😨 Many of Alhadad's family members in Gaza have been displaced multiple times and are now living in squalid, dangerous conditions without adequate shelter or aid
• 😢 The US abruptly cut aid funding to Gaza amid an ongoing humanitarian crisis impacting hundreds of thousands of Palestinians
• 😤 The federal judge acknowledged this is likely the most difficult case he has ever presided over, due to the complex issues involved
• 😓 The lawsuit seeks an emergency injunction against the Biden administration for its role in contributing to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza

Q & A

What is the Warren Peace Report?

The Warren Peace Report is a segment on the Democracy Now news program hosted by Amy Goodman.

What did the International Court of Justice order regarding Israel and Gaza?

The ICJ ordered Israel to take all measures to prevent genocide in Gaza, but stopped short of calling for a ceasefire.

Who filed the genocide case against the Biden administration?

The Center for Constitutional Rights filed the case in November against President Biden, Secretary of State Blinken, and Defense Secretary Austin.

Where did the federal court hearing on the genocide case take place?

The hearing took place in a federal courtroom in Oakland, California.

How did the plaintiffs in the case testify?

The Palestinian and American plaintiffs testified in person and by phone from Gaza about the Biden administration's failure to prevent genocide in Gaza.

What did Lea Alhadad testify about?

Lea Alhadad testified about how Israel killed her family members in Gaza and displaced others, depriving them of basic needs, with US support.

What happened to Lea's cousin Rafaat Alareer?

Rafaat Alareer, a Palestinian academic and activist, was killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza in December 2021 along with his brother and other family members.

How did the US respond to the recent violence in Gaza?

Secretary of State Blinken quickly cut off US aid to Gaza after the recent violence, though the US continued to provide support to Israel.

What is the goal of the Center for Constitutional Rights' lawsuit?

The lawsuit aims to get a court order requiring the US government to stop aiding Israel's actions in Gaza that the plaintiffs allege amount to genocide.

What makes this federal case unique?

This appears to be the first time so many Palestinians have directly testified in a US court about their experiences under Israeli occupation.

Outlines

00:00

😞 Torture and loss described by Palestinians in Gaza.

Paragraph 1 describes the testimony of multiple Palestinian plaintiffs in a U.S. federal court case. They provide firsthand accounts of suffering, death, and displacement of their families in Gaza due to Israeli attacks. Details are given of family members killed, homes destroyed, and the inability to give proper burials.

05:04

😞 The history of Palestinian displacement framed as critical context.

Paragraph 2 highlights that to convey the urgency and harm being experienced currently, the Palestinian plaintiffs had to explain the historical context of their families being refugees after the Nakba. This framing shows how displacement and fragmentation of Palestinians is fundamental to understanding the present crisis.

10:06

😞 Displacement and horrific conditions continue for Gaza families.

Paragraph 3 provides further torturous details from the testimony of the witness Lea alhadad. She recounts how her family members in Gaza have been killed, displaced repeatedly to unsafe areas, and are living in abject conditions without basic necessities or humanitarian aid.

Keywords

💡International Court of Justice (ICJ)

The International Court of Justice, located in The Hague, Netherlands, is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. It adjudicates disputes between states and gives advisory opinions on international legal questions referred to it by authorized UN organs and agencies. In the video, the ICJ ordered Israel to take all measures to prevent genocide in Gaza, highlighting the court's role in international conflict resolution and the global concern over the situation in Gaza.

💡Genocide

Genocide refers to acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. This includes killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm, and deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction. The script discusses allegations of an 'unfolding genocide' in Gaza, indicating serious accusations against the actions or policies of the involved parties and the international community's response to such crises.

💡Center for Constitutional Rights

The Center for Constitutional Rights is a progressive, non-profit legal advocacy organization based in the United States, dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In the script, they filed a case against the Biden administration, alleging failure to prevent genocide in Gaza, showcasing their role in challenging government policies and advocating for human rights.

💡Preliminary injunction

A preliminary injunction is a court order issued early in a lawsuit which prohibits the parties from taking certain actions that could harm the parties' interests before the case is resolved. In the context of the video, it refers to an emergency order sought by plaintiffs to compel the Biden administration to take immediate action to prevent further harm in Gaza, illustrating the legal strategies employed in human rights litigation.

💡Jurisdiction

Jurisdiction refers to the official power to make legal decisions and judgments. The script mentions that lawyers for the Biden administration argue the court lacks proper jurisdiction, suggesting a legal debate over whether the federal court is the appropriate venue to decide on matters of foreign policy, which are central to the case regarding actions in Gaza.

💡Foreign policy

Foreign policy is a government's strategy in dealing with other nations. The defense by the Biden administration's lawyers that the case is a matter of foreign policy underlines the complex intersection between legal proceedings and the executive branch's discretion in conducting international relations, especially concerning military support and diplomatic positions.

💡Plaintiffs

Plaintiffs are individuals or groups who bring a lawsuit against another party (the defendant) in a court of law, alleging harm and seeking relief or damages. The script references Palestinians and human rights organizations as plaintiffs, emphasizing their role in seeking judicial intervention to address grievances related to the situation in Gaza.

💡Complicity

Complicity refers to the act of being involved with others in an illegal activity or wrongdoing. The video script uses this term to describe allegations against the Biden administration for being complicit in the genocide in Gaza, pointing to the serious accusations of moral and legal responsibility for the actions or outcomes in the conflict zone.

💡Human rights organizations

Human rights organizations are groups dedicated to protecting and promoting human rights around the world. In the script, these organizations are mentioned as plaintiffs in the lawsuit, highlighting their active role in advocating for justice and accountability in situations where human rights are at risk, such as in Gaza.

💡Testimony

Testimony refers to a formal written or spoken statement, especially one given in a court of law. The script describes Palestinians and Americans testifying about the Biden administration's actions regarding Gaza, providing personal accounts and evidence to support the case's allegations. This underscores the importance of individual experiences and narratives in legal proceedings and human rights advocacy.

💡Displacement

Displacement refers to the forced movement of people from their homes or countries, often due to conflict, persecution, or environmental disasters. The script mentions the displacement of families in Gaza, illustrating the human cost of the conflict and the challenges faced by those who lose their homes and livelihoods as a result.

Highlights

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Transcripts

this is democracy Now democracynow.org

the Warren peace report I'm Amy Goodman

just hours after the international court

of justice in the ha ordered Israel to

take all measures to prevent genocide in

Gaza but stopped short of calling for a

ceasefire a hearing in another genocide

case began here in the United States the

center for constitutional rights first

filed the case in November against

President Joe Biden Secretary of State

Anthony blinkin and defense secretary

Lloyd Austin Four 3 hours on Friday in a

federal courtroom in Oakland California

Palestinians and Americans testified in

person and by phone from glaza about the

Biden administration's failure to

prevent what they call the quote

unfolding genocide in Gaza lawyers for

the Biden Administration say the court

lacks proper jurisdiction to decide the

case which they argue is a matter of

foreign policy the judge said quote this

probably is the most

difficult case factually that this court

has ever

had for more we're joined by two guests

Lea alhadad is a Palestinian writer and

journalist from Gaza who testified in

court Friday author of Gaza mom

Palestine politics parenting and

everything in between and co-editor of

the book Gaza unsilenced with rafat aler

the Palestinian academic and activist

killed in December by an Israeli air

strike Gaza along with his brother his

sister and her four children also

joining us is di shamas senior state

attorney staff attorney for the center

for constitutional rights we welcome you

both to democracy Now Gala why don't you

start off by laying out the

case thank you for having me Amy yes so

we filed this case in November um laying

out all of the ways in which the US

government this Biden Administration in

particular President Biden secretaries

Lincoln and Austin um have failed in

their duty to prevent an unfolding

genocide in Gaza but also um are

complicit in a genocide in Gaza and um

we a couple of days after filing our

complaint sought a preliminary

injunction which is essentially an

emergency order um L saying to the court

you know the the stakes here are so high

the arms to our plaintiffs the

Palestinians um who are plaintiffs in

this case and we have um two human

rights organizations with staff in Gaza

that are plaintiffs along with a number

of individuals some of whom are

Palestinian Americans with families in

Gaza many of whom have been killed and

displaced and are you know suffering all

of the conditions that we have all come

to know all too well um and we also have

plaintiffs in Gaza um Palestinians who

are you know currently displaced um and

who've also um suffered injuries and uh

loss of relatives um and and in our

motion for preliminary

injunction we essentially tell the court

um unless the court intervenes now and

issues an urgent some urgent relief um

the the harm to these people these

Palestinians will be so irreparable and

so we need some urgent action pending

the sort of resolution um of the

litigation which always of course takes

um much longer time and so the hearing

and the government filed a motion to

dismiss as well as an opposition to you

know our motion seeking that uh urgent

relief and we had that hearing on Friday

which you were just describing a really

remarkable Hearing in many ways um I

think in large part you know one of the

most remarkable aspects was as far as I

can tell as far as I'm aware of um we've

been you know litigating Palestine

related cases and just been a student of

them for decades and um I can't think of

another time where in a US federal court

Palestinians have been on the witness

stand one after the other after the

other describing you know their

experiences under um Israeli occupation

uh uninterrupted um in a way that offers

a holistic complete and complicated

account of what has been happening to

Palestinians and in this case not just

uh over the course of the last 16 weeks

since the latest assault and this

unfolding genocide started but um really

kind of placing it in a broader context

uh every single one of our um plaintiffs

got up there and in order to explain the

impact to the court to the judge um of

the current moment and Israeli calls for

not now had to explain um the history of

the NBA I've never heard the word NBA be

said in federal court so many times and

it was an important part of their

telling because uh to because they were

there to they were tasked with you know

describing the urgency and the harm and

the injury that they are

experiencing and it is of course a

multi-layered harm and in order to

explain how they even got to Gaza in the

first place they have to explain their

fam's history as Refugee as a refugee

population the fragmentation of

Palestinians um so there was so much

that was really remarkable about the

hearing um but that really stands out to

me as one of the the major aspects and

if you can quickly say how did the um

preliminary Judgment of the uh

International court of justice in the he

uh weigh in uh and

inform uh the case that you brought cuz

it happened right after on Friday as

they said Israel has to prevent a

genocide in Gaza and also the

significance of the judge saying this is

the most difficult case he'll ever have

to

decide yeah so as you as you said me

hours after the icj the international

court of justice issued its order we uh

you know it was 4:00 a.m. California

time our hearing started at 9:00 a.m. we

reviewed it as fast as we could

submitted it to the court because it was

of course relevant um and hadn't really

had the time to fully process it but

walking

into that hearing with the sort of

validation in many ways although we all

I think knew exactly some ways we didn't

need the validation but that that the

international court that the world Court

had found that there was you know a

plausible case of of genocide um that

required the the order that it issued um

with the provisional measures was

significant that the judge took note of

it um and in many ways we're in similar

postures in our in our in our federal

court proceeding as that International

court of justice proceeding which is the

provisional measures um at the

international court level also just

sought to to get these urgent

provisional measures um at a showing of

plausibility so we don't have time to

have the

full uh litigation on the merits because

it by the time we come around the damage

will be done and there will be nobody

left to save and so uh that's why we we

got that order from the

icj um and we're making the similar

arguments to to the court here we just

need these these this preliminary

injunction now um and then we can

litigate this uh I want to bring I want

to bring in Lea alhadad you're a

Palestinian writer and journalist from

Gaza um you are the co-editor of a book

with rafat alar who was killed in Gaza

only recently well-known acclaimed

writer and academic in Gaza um you are

the author of Gaza mom Palestine

politics parenting and everything in

between speaking to us though from near

Baltimore today what did you testify in

court on Friday

Leila good morning thank you so much for

having me Amy I and other um plaintiffs

who were spoke in a personal capacity

not the organization of plantiffs about

how this ongoing genocide and

particularly us complicity in it has

impacted our our families in Gaza and of

course our families here as well so I

started off by introducing myself excuse

me as you can see it's been a long

weekend my voice is completely gone um I

spoke about my family both in Gaza City

and in the south of Gaza in hunis and um

I started off by talking about how

Israel had uh killed multitudes of them

on my mother's side I believe the number

is now 86 and um five of my immediate

family members in in Gaza City and had

uh displaced the rest of them to

multiple location and how Israel was

responsible

for starving them and depriving them of

uh basic human needs and and so on all

with active us support with us weapons

and with us financial support and with

us diplomatic support I spoke about my

aunt and my adult cousins and my cousins

wife in Gaza City I had had finally had

a chance after 3 months to uh get the

full details from the surviving brother

uh who is now I mean even his

whereabouts now are unknown after a

heavy night of Israeli bombardment on

Gaza City but he was telling me how he

um he had to on his own um retrieve um

his sister's body parts half of his

mother because he couldn't retrieve the

other half how he had to bury them

himself with his own hands in a mass

grave how his sister's body my cousin

was still unaccounted for under the

rubble and how he himself was severely

injured and how his brother um my my

other cousin bled to death because he

couldn't even access uh Medical Care

they couldn't get paramedics to the area

um so it was very heavy very heavy and

very painful but also very urgent and

that was part of the point is to speak

about how we have not had the luxury as

Palestinians and particularly

Palestinians from Gaza to grieve we have

not had that luxury and we

recognize uh how being Palestinians in

America um

necessitates um this our involvement in

this case how it obligates us to do

everything we can to take every possible

recourse including including legal

recourse to try and and put an end to

this since it's our tax dollars who who

are um being put to work and and

American Weaponry as I said um and so on

and this latest attack on Kan yunes as

you have many family members there so

many of the people now who are being

told to leave hunas they have moved

repeatedly um thinking that each next

place was a safe zone now being forced

to Rafa to the border to the

Sea where are your family members and

what do you hope will come out of this

they are without exaggeration everywhere

like like everyone else and I and I hate

to keep saying that I but I sometimes

not to trivialize but I feel like you

look at someone else and then you say

well at least their Situation's a little

better but truth to be told um the

entire situation is just um Beyond

description horrific and um every

morning when I you know look at my feed

and my WhatsApp and communicate with my

family members I try not to ask even you

know how they're doing but I know that

they they derive Hope from knowing that

we are all doing something here to speak

out about what's happening and and that

again was one of the main motivate

motivating factors behind being involved

in this lawsuit but my family several of

them are actually still in Gaza City

they haven't left since the very

beginning I have um two direct cousins

there and their husbands and all of

their children are um one one of them is

in in front of the nas Hospital in Gaza

City the others are in remal my one

cousin was in the shifa compound and

then um decided to go to another

neighborhood in Dead with his family I

don't even know where on the streets

somewhere because his home was destroyed

um my eldest Uncle who's blind and deaf

um with his son and family are in

Central Gaza in zaa near the magazi

refugee camp and my mother's family were

in kenun as you mentioned and then um um

are now in Moi uh and so I haven't been

able to communicate them with them for a

while but one of the cousins I was in

her home in gado was destroyed and she's

now with her four children um literally

under a nylon tarp because they couldn't

even find a tent and her husband um who

has cancer and um yeah as it's it's a

little for those who aren't familiar

moas is literally a Sandy Enclave almost

like sand dunes directly adjacent to the

beach so there's I mean there's nothing

there um

beyond the seawater and and whatever

tents you might have access to and now

of course with uh Aid being cut by by

several countries including the United

States which as it's been said uh

blinkin did not hesitate within a matter

of seconds to shut that Aid off and yet

for more than three months uh

Palestinians have been enduring an

ongoing genocide uh which the United

States not only has refused to stop but

is actively aiding at a betting uh and

despite over whelming evidence including

you know President Biden himself

acknowledging the attacks have been

discriminated or some of the bombings

have been discriminated um despite

overwhelming evidence about despite the

intent and by stated intent by Israeli

leaders um that there are no Innocents

in Gaza that this was intended to make

Gaza un livable still has noted that

we're going to talk about that cutting

off of Aid to unra in our next segment I

want to thank you so much for being with

us lead Palestinian writer jour from

Gaza and Yus senior staff attorney at

the center for constitutional

rights