Josh Paul:
So, let's back up and recognize what we're talking about.
We're talking about the transfer of arms that can last for decades whose purpose is to kill. That's an obvious point. But it underlines the gravity of the decisions that we make every single day in the U.S. government and the State Department.
Recognizing that, the Biden administration earlier this year issued a conventional arms transfer policy which raised the standard for the transfer of weapons to what they call a more likely than not. If it is more likely than not that weapons the U.S. provides to another country will be used for violations of human rights, they will not be transferred.
What we have seen with Israel repeatedly in operations in government is that the U.S. Gaza in 2009, in 2014, in 2021 is massive civilian casualties, thousands of Palestinians killed through a relatively indiscriminate use of bombs to destroy buildings.
And yet, in this context of this conflict today, where we have already seen, again, thousands of Palestinian casualties, there has been no policy debate. Indeed, there's been a rush to provide arms, where, normally, there is discussion, consideration and thought.
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