The Biden administration's highly anticipated report on Israel's compliance with U.S. and international humanitarian law during the ongoing war in Gaza has been delayed, according to Senate and House aides. The report, which was initially set to be released on Wednesday, has now been pushed back without a clear timeline, raising concerns among lawmakers and human rights organizations about the U.S. government's transparency and commitment to holding allies accountable.
The State Department has been working on the report for months, following President Joe Biden's issuance of a memo known as NSM-20 in February. The memo requires federal U.S. agencies to submit a report to Congress on whether countries receiving U.S. military aid are adhering to international and U.S. law, which prohibits violence against civilians and efforts to block humanitarian assistance.
In an email to Capitol Hill, the Biden administration notified lawmakers that the report would be "briefly delayed," without providing a specific reason for the setback. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters on Tuesday that the report wasn't yet finished but added, "We are trying very hard to meet that deadline ... It's possible it slips just a little bit, but we are trying to get it done by tomorrow."
The delay comes as Israel launches an offensive against the southern city of Rafah in Gaza, where an estimated 1.4 million Palestinians are seeking shelter. Aid groups have warned that any invasion would put civilians at risk and devastate humanitarian operations, prompting President Biden to caution Israel against conducting a major operation in the city without a plan to protect civilians.
The administration's handling of the report has drawn criticism from former State Department officials and human rights organizations. Hala Rharrit, a former career foreign service officer who resigned last month after more than 18 years at the State Department, said, "We have no ground to stand on anymore. The U.S. efforts to bring the war in Gaza to an end are a failed policy."
On Monday night, 185 lawyers, including 27 currently serving in the administration, sent a letter to top U.S. officials arguing that sending weapons to Israel is illegal. The letter, obtained by POLITICO, adds to the growing pressure on the Biden administration to reconsider its unwavering support for Israel's military actions in Gaza.
A coalition of press freedom, civil liberties, and human rights organizations, including Amnesty International USA, Defending Rights & Dissent, and Reporters Without Borders, also sent a letter to the White House on Tuesday, calling on the administration to make the NSM-20 report public. The signatories argued that the "process established in NSM-20 suggests" that the report to Congress should be unclassified and that the public and the press have a strong interest in understanding how the U.S. has assessed the assurances provided by countries receiving U.S. defense articles, particularly those in areas of armed conflict.
The Biden administration's response to the upcoming report could signal a shift in its approach to Israel's actions in Gaza or further paint the administration as incapable of restraining its Middle Eastern ally after more than seven months of bloodshed. If the report is made public, it will allow the public to compare the administration's findings with the claims made by human rights organizations like Amnesty International, which accused Israel of breaking the law in a brief published on April 29.
Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), a lawmaker who pushed for the NSM-20 report, told HuffPost in an interview, "The Biden administration and the United States loses credibility when we point to reports by Amnesty or Human Rights Watch where [they] serv[e] our political interests, and sometimes ignores them when they don't. In order to be credible, you need to be consistent."
