[Congressional Bills 118th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 504 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
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118th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. RES. 504
Requesting information on Israel's human rights practices pursuant to
section 502B(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
December 14, 2023
Mr. Sanders submitted the following resolution; which was referred to
the Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Requesting information on Israel's human rights practices pursuant to
section 502B(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961.
Whereas there have been 5 rounds of fighting between Israel and Hamas in the
last 15 years;
Whereas the current round of conflict began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas, a
terrorist organization, unleashed a brutal attack against Israel,
killing some 1,200 innocent men, women, and children, and taking more
than 200 hostages;
Whereas United States citizens were among those killed and abducted by Hamas;
Whereas the Senate has unanimously reaffirmed Israel's right to defend itself
against Hamas terrorism and respond against the perpetrators of the
October 7, 2023, attack;
Whereas Israel has conducted retaliatory military operations against targets in
Gaza since October 7, 2023, relying heavily on the use of airstrikes and
artillery bombardment;
Whereas, as of December 14, 2023, nearly 19,000 people have been killed and more
than 50,000 wounded in the Israeli counteroffensive in Gaza since
October 7, 2023;
Whereas 70 percent of those killed in Gaza are reported to be women and
children;
Whereas the United Nations, World Health Organization, human rights monitors,
outside academic studies, the Government of Israel, and United States
officials find these figures to be broadly reliable;
Whereas the United Nations, United States officials, and outside experts believe
the current death toll is likely higher, with thousands of bodies
trapped beneath the rubble in Gaza;
Whereas 135 United Nations aid workers have been killed in Gaza since October 7,
2023;
Whereas nearly 1,900,000 people, more than 85 percent of the population, have
been displaced across the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023;
Whereas, on November 24, 2023, the United Nations reported that ``across the
Gaza Strip, over 234,000 housing units have been damaged and more than
46,000 homes have been completely destroyed, amounting to over 60
[percent] of the total housing stock'';
Whereas 43 United Nations facilities have sustained direct hits, 60 United
Nations installations have sustained collateral damage, and 11 bakeries
have been destroyed in the bombardment;
Whereas academic analysis of satellite radar data confirms the United Nations
assessment that some 60 percent of the buildings in northern Gaza have
been severely damaged and, across the Gaza Strip, ``between 82,600 and
105,300 buildings have been left in ruins, according to the estimate,
which counts buildings where at least half the structure was damaged'';
Whereas Robert Pape, Professor of Political Science at the University of
Chicago, said that ``over the space of two years, between 1943 and 1945,
the Allied bombing of 61 major German cities razed an estimated 50
percent of their urban areas,'' and that the Allied bombing of Dresden
severely damaged 56 percent of that city's non-industrial buildings and
half of its homes, a threshold the bombing in Gaza has matched in 2
months;
Whereas the Israeli military has made extensive use of Mark 84 2,000-pound
bombs, Mark 83 1,000-pound bombs, Mark 82 500-pound bombs, and 155mm
artillery in densely populated urban areas with a large civilian
presence;
Whereas these munitions are manufactured in the United States and supplied to
Israel by the United States;
Whereas the Washington Post reports that, in the first 6 weeks after October 7,
2023, the Government of Israel dropped more than 22,000 guided and
unguided bombs on Gaza that were supplied by the United States;
Whereas CNN reports, based on United States intelligence assessments, that 40 to
45 percent of the 29,000 air-to-ground munitions that Israel has used in
Gaza since October 7, 2023, have been unguided ``dumb bombs'';
Whereas the Wall Street Journal reports that the United States has provided at
least 15,000 bombs and 57,000 155mm artillery shells to Israel since
October 7, 2023, including more than 5,000 Mark 82 unguided 500-pound
bombs, more than 5,400 Mark 84 2,000-pound bombs, and thousands of
smaller munitions and targeting kits;
Whereas these munitions were delivered with the knowledge that they would likely
be used in Gaza, a densely populated urban area with a large civilian
presence;
Whereas the entire Gaza Strip is the physical size of Las Vegas but has more
than 3 times the population, and Gaza City is more densely populated
than New York City;
Whereas, on December 1, 2023, United States officials told the Wall Street
Journal that ``Israel used an American-provided bomb with a large
payload in one of the deadliest strikes of the entire war, an attack
that leveled an apartment block in Gaza's Jabalia refugee camp, killing
more than 100 people'' in its effort to eliminate a Hamas leader, also
reported killed in the strike; and
Whereas Amnesty International has found, based on photographic and satellite
evidence, as well as on-the-ground investigation and analysis of bomb
fragments, that United States-made Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM)
were used in 2 deadly Israeli airstrikes on homes in Gaza in which 43
civilians were killed: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved,
SECTION 1. REQUEST FOR INFORMATION ON ISRAEL'S HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES.
(a) Statement Requested.--The Senate requests that the Secretary of
State, not later than 30 days after the date of the adoption of this
resolution, transmit to the Committee on Foreign Relations of the
Senate and the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of
Representatives, pursuant to section 502B(c) of the Foreign Assistance
Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2304(c)), a statement regarding Israel's human
rights practices that has been prepared in collaboration with the
Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor and
the Office of the Legal Adviser.
(b) Elements.--The statement submitted under subsection (a) should
include--
(1) all available credible information concerning alleged
violations of internationally recognized human rights by the
Government of Israel, including--
(A) the denial of the right to life in the context
of the armed conflict in Gaza and the West Bank caused
by indiscriminate or disproportionate operations; and
(B) the denial of the right to life and the
security of the person by the blanket denial of basic
humanitarian needs, including food, water, medical
care, fuel, and shelter;
(2) a description of the steps that the United States
Government has taken to--
(A) promote respect for and observance of human
rights as part of the Government of Israel's
activities, including in the context of the armed
conflict in Gaza and the West Bank;
(B) limit the risk to civilian life and civilian
infrastructure caused by Israeli military action in
Gaza and the West Bank;
(C) discourage any practices that are inimical to
internationally recognized human rights; and
(D) publicly or privately call attention to, and
disassociate the United States and any security
assistance provided for the Government of Israel from
any practices described in subparagraph (C);
(3) an assessment, notwithstanding any practices described
in paragraph (2)(B), of whether extraordinary circumstances
exist that necessitate a continuation of security assistance
for the Government of Israel, and if so, a description of the
circumstances and the extent to which security assistance
should be continued (subject to such conditions as Congress may
impose under section 502B of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961
(22 U.S.C. 2304));
(4) a certification that no unit of the Israeli security
forces receiving United States assistance since January 1,
2018, has--
(A) committed any gross violations of human rights;
or
(B) continued to receive United States assistance
in violation of section 620M of the Foreign Assistance
Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2378d) or section 362 of title
10, United States Code;
(5) a description of the manner and extent to which the
Secretary of State or the Secretary of Defense has determined,
for purposes of compliance with the vetting requirements of
section 620M of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C.
2378d) and section 362 of title 10, United States Code, that
any information relating to the commission of human rights
violations by units of Israeli security forces is credible; and
(6) other information, including--
(A) a summary and list of United States weapons and
munitions provided to Israel since October 7, 2023;
(B) an assessment from the Secretary of State of
the likelihood that United States security assistance
(as defined in section 502B(d) of the Foreign
Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2304(d))) will be
used in support of Israeli activities related to the
armed conflict in Gaza and the West Bank;
(C) a detailed assessment of the compliance of the
Government of Israel with international human rights
and humanitarian law during its operations in Gaza and
the West Bank since October 7, 2023; and
(D) a description and assessment of the actions
that the United States Government is taking to ensure
end use monitoring protocols for all weapons sold or
transferred to the Government of Israel for use in Gaza
and the West Bank.
(c) Gross Violations of Human Rights Defined.--In this section, the
term ``gross violations of human rights'' has the meaning given the
term ``gross violations of internationally recognized human rights'' in
section 502B(d)(1) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C.
2304).
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