Crimes in Gaza will ‘haunt’ Antony Blinken, says former US diplomat | News about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Washington, DC – Israel’s devastating Gaza offensive – and the United States’ support for it – will “haunt” outgoing Secretary of State Antony Blinken for the rest of his life, says the former diplomat, who resigned in protest at the war last year.

Hall Rharrit told Al Jazeera in a phone interview that President Joe Biden’s administration is circumventing its own US regulations by continuing to arm Israel despite well-documented abuses in Gaza.

“They willfully — and I don’t say that word lightly, willfully — violate and evade U.S. law,” said Rharrit, who resigned from the U.S. State Department in April.

“When I became a diplomat, I took an oath to defend the Constitution. They bypass the process to keep the weapons flowing, knowing how disastrous it is. To me, that’s really unforgivable and criminal.”

There are several US laws that prohibit the transfer of arms to human rights abusers, including a ban on security assistance to countries that block Washington-backed humanitarian aid.

The Leahy’s Law it also limits US aid to military units credibly accused of serious human rights violations, such as extrajudicial killings, torture and rape.

Moreover, the Biden administration adopted a policy, called Memorandum on National Security 20requiring allies who receive US weapons to provide credible assurances that they will not use the weapons in violation of international humanitarian law.

Despite these safeguards, the US has continued to supply Israel — a country that leading human rights groups say is carrying out genocide in Gaza — with billions of dollars worth of arms.

Israel has killed at least 46,876 people in Gaza. It also imposed a suffocating siege on the territory, triggering a deadly man-made famine crisis.

Last year, International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, on charges of war crimes, including the use of “starvation as a method of warfare.”

Still, Blinken has certified Congress that Israel not block humanitarian aid to Gaza – an assessment rejected by humanitarian groups.

Blinken’s State Department was also accused of failing to act on allegations of abuse by Israeli soldiers under the Leahy Act, leading to recent lawsuit against the Biden administration, which is led by Palestinians and Palestinian Americans.

And so, critics say, Blinken was instrumental in ensuring that Israel continued to receive the American weapons it is using to decimate Gaza.

Blinken also oversaw the US delegation to the United Nations, which vetoed four Security Council resolutions that would have called for a ceasefire in Gaza.

America’s top diplomat — who has a long history of staunch pro-Israel advocacy — has confronted Palestinian rights protesters at congressional hearings, on the streets and even in front of his own home.

Just this week, several activists interrupted Blinken’s speech at the Atlantic Council in Washington, DC, calling him the “Secretary of Genocide.”

And on Thursday, in Blinken’s last appearance in the State Department press briefing room, he was a journalist forcibly removed due to repeated questions about Blinken’s complicity in Israel’s alleged war crimes.

Rharrit said it was natural to oppose “massacres and the slaughter of human beings,” predicting that Blinken would continue to face protesters after he leaves office on Monday.

“This will haunt him for the rest of his life,” the former diplomat told Al Jazeera.

“History will surely judge him, and it still does today. The question is: Will there really be accountability in future administrations for the crimes committed under this administration?

The war in Gaza appears to be coming to an end after a ceasefire agreement was reached this week, following reports of an intervention by the incoming president-elect Donald Trump.

For months, Israeli officials have vowed to continue the war, and Israel’s national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir he openly boasted of thwarting attempts to reach an agreement that would end the conflict and lead to the release of Israeli prisoners in Gaza.

However, Blinken still insists that Hamas “played spoiler” in the talks over the deal.

“I’ll tell you very bluntly, Blinken is lying,” Rharrit said.

The former diplomat worked at the State Department for 18 years and served as a spokesman for the Arabic language before resigning last year. She is one of several American officials who resigned from the Biden administration because of the uncompromising US support for Israel.

Rharrit said she was grateful to leave her post because she felt like she was “silenced” when she raised concerns about American politics.

“I think as diplomats we should not implement or implement illegal or inhumane policies, and also those that are fundamentally contradictory to US national security interests,” she told Al Jazeera.

“So there was no way I was going to stay under those conditions.”