Biden genocide case backed by more than 130 human rights groups worldwide
San Francisco, California - More than 130 groups worldwide have come out in support of the groundbreaking legal case seeking to hold President Joe Biden and other top US officials accountable for backing Israel's genocide in Gaza.
The lawsuit, filed by Palestinian and Palestinian-American plaintiffs in November, accuses Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin of complicity in Israel's assault on Gaza, particularly through the continued provision of diplomatic support and lethal weaponry.
The case has garnered support from 139 organizations, bar associations, and social justice movement lawyers around the world in a new amicus brief. The filing argues that domestic court action is required to ensure the US upholds its international human rights obligations.
"The gravity of what is at stake here cannot be overstated," the groups wrote. "The need to curtail the ongoing horror unfolding in Gaza before the world’s eyes, the moral imperative to prevent genocide, and the importance of respecting fundamental norms of international law all compel this Court to allow this case to move forward."
The US-based advocacy organization Jewish Voice for Peace argues in a separate filing that the federal court system has the responsibility to enforce the provisions of the United Nations' 1948 Genocide Convention, adopted in the wake of the Nazi Holocaust.
"The complicity of the United States in Israel's ongoing genocide not only erases the memory of those Jews and others slaughtered during the Holocaust, but makes a mockery of the Convention itself," the grassroots group wrote.
"If the Convention is not invoked to stop a genocide in front of our eyes on social media and beyond, will it ever be invoked? Or, in the words of one of our Jewish sages, 'If not now, when?'"
Defense for Children International - Palestine v. Biden
The landmark Defense for Children International - Palestine v. Biden lawsuit aims to block the White House from sending more weapons and munitions to aid Israel's assault on Gaza.
A federal judge in Oakland dismissed the case on jurisdictional grounds in late January. Despite the unfavorable result, the ruling upheld that there is a likely case of genocide happening in Gaza with "unflagging support" from the Biden administration.
The decision came after a powerful hearing on January 26 – the same day the International Court of Justice issued provisional measures against Israel as it weighs a genocide case brought by South Africa.
Palestinian and Palestinian-American plaintiffs have since appealed the dismissal, with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals last month granting a motion to expedite as the death toll in Gaza continues to rise.
The court is expected to hear oral arguments in the case in June.
Cover photo: IMAGO / ZUMA Wire