An Arab rights group in Michigan are filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration over US aid in destruction of southern Lebanon. [Getty]
A group of Lebanese Americans have announced that they will sue the US administration over the destruction of their homes due to Israel’s war on southern Lebanon.
At a press conference on Monday at the Bint Jbail Cultural Centre in Dearborn, the Michigan-based Arab American Civil Rights League said it would sue US President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and possibly weapons manufacturers, for using American tax money to fund Israel’s war on Lebanon, according to local reports.
The ACRL, which has not yet filed the lawsuit as of Monday, said they are still gathering documentation on the plaintiffs and the destruction of their homes, property, and investments.
“This is not abstract. This is not political rhetoric. This is real. This is loss,” ACRL chairman Nasser Beydoun said, according to a report by MLive.com.
In attendance at the press conference was Representative Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, herself a daughter of Palestinian immigrants, who regularly voices her opposition to US military aid to Israel.
“Right now, the United States is contributing to this destruction through arms sales, the intelligence and logistics it provides, as well as diplomatic support … Congress has the power and the duty to end this illegal invasion,” Tlaib reportedly said.
The US sends a base aid sum of around $3.8 billion, though it sends far more in additional aid packages. Israel’s war on Gaza is estimated to have cost the US at least $30 billion. The severity of Israel’s war on Lebanon has been compared with its actions in Gaza due to the widespread displacement of residents.
At the press conference, the ACRL invoked the Leahy Act, which prohibits US military assistance in countries implicated in gross human rights violations.
A month and a half into Israel’s war on Lebanon, more than 2,100 Lebanese have been killed, and a million and a half have been displaced.