{"id":229938,"date":"2026-07-31T01:03:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T01:03:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/229938\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T01:03:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T01:03:17","slug":"the-u-s-cant-ignore-its-own-human-rights-law-on-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/229938\/","title":{"rendered":"The U.S. can&#8217;t ignore its own human rights law on Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dear Editor,\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Accountability is a foundational pillar of government that ensures political leaders are fulfilling their duties honorably and legally. As a 14-year-old student from Waterbury observing the world\u2019s political actions today, what frightens me most is the federal government\u2019s lack of accountability. This is especially highlighted in the conflicts in the Middle East.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.govinfo.gov\/content\/pkg\/COMPS-1071\/pdf\/COMPS-1071.pdf\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Foreign Assistance Act of 1961<\/a>, as amended, requires that any security assistance or arms provided by the United States to any country must advance internationally recognized human rights and avoid identification of the United States with any violations of those rights. The act prohibits assistance to any government that engages in a consistent pattern of human rights violations.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The United States\u2019 continued military and financial support of Israel despite actions in Gaza that the United Nations\u2019 own commission of inquiry has concluded <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/en\/press-releases\/2025\/09\/israel-has-committed-genocide-gaza-strip-un-commission-finds\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">constitute genocide<\/a>, and its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/en\/press-releases\/2026\/07\/lebanon-un-experts-alarmed-killings-displacement-and-gender-specific-harm\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">military actions in Lebanon<\/a>, suggests a violation of this policy. To uphold the ideals our country was founded on, we must hold the government to its own laws and policies. That is why <a href=\"https:\/\/www.congress.gov\/bill\/119th-congress\/senate-resolution\/797\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Senate Resolution 797<\/a>, introduced to the U.S. Senate by Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., is so important. This resolution requests a report on Israel\u2019s human rights practices, and questions whether the United States should continue supporting it.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>READ MORE<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/vtdigger.org\/2025\/12\/12\/peter-welch-becca-balint-call-for-greater-scrutiny-into-israeli-militarys-attack-on-vermont-journalist\/\" rel=\"bookmark nofollow noopener\" tabindex=\"-1\" aria-hidden=\"true\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img data-perfmatters-preload=\"\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"900\" src=\"https:\/\/vtdigger.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/peter-welch-dylan-collins-presser-1200x900.png?crop=1\" class=\"attachment-newspack-article-block-landscape-large size-newspack-article-block-landscape-large wp-post-image\" alt=\"Peter Welch, Becca Balint call for greater scrutiny into Israeli military\u2019s attack on Vermont journalist\" data-hero-candidate=\"1\"   data-attachment-id=\"637798\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/vtdigger.org\/2025\/12\/12\/peter-welch-becca-balint-call-for-greater-scrutiny-into-israeli-militarys-attack-on-vermont-journalist\/peter-welch-dylan-collins-presser\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/vtdigger.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/peter-welch-dylan-collins-presser.png\" data-orig-size=\"1920,1080\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"peter welch dylan collins presser\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., holds up a letter he sent to the U.S. State Department on Thursday pressing officials for more information about an Israeli military strike on a group of journalists including Dylan Collins of Weston. He spoke at a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol on Thursday alongside Collins (right) and U.S. Rep. Becca Balint, D-Vt. Screenshot&lt;\/p&gt;&#10;\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/vtdigger.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/peter-welch-dylan-collins-presser-1200x675.png\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\tby <a class=\"url fn n\" href=\"https:\/\/vtdigger.org\/author\/shaun-robinson\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Shaun Robinson<\/a><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\tDecember 12, 2025, 5:27 pmDecember 12, 2025, 5:27 pm\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since this is a privileged resolution, Welch can force it to a floor vote, which he has not done yet. It is extremely important to me that my senator sees this resolution through, because the obscene acts being committed against innocent people of Gaza and Lebanon are unacceptable and should not be supported by the U.S. This is not just a morally driven opinion, but a fact that, under law, the United States cannot assist governments that continually commit human rights violations.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From a young age, children have been given rules to follow and expected to abide by them. It is only right that the federal government is held to these same standards.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Zoya Bianchi<br \/>Waterbury, Vt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dear Editor,\u00a0 Accountability is a foundational pillar of government that ensures political leaders are fulfilling their duties honorably&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229939,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[1722,37,649,12947],"class_list":["post-229938","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-human-rights","tag-israel","tag-opinion","tag-peter-welch"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117011900704949716","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229938","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=229938"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229938\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229939"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229938"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229938"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229938"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}