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US says Amnesty charge of 'genocide' by Israel 'unfounded'
"We disagree with the conclusions of such a report. We have said previously and continue to find that the allegations of genocide are unfounded," State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters.
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A Palestinian inspects the rubble of a building in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip, on November 21, 2024, as the war between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants continues. (AFP/-)
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he United States said Thursday it disagreed with a report by Amnesty International that accused Israel of "genocide" in Gaza and said its arms suppliers risked complicity.
"We disagree with the conclusions of such a report. We have said previously and continue to find that the allegations of genocide are unfounded," State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters.
Patel said that the United States, Israel's main weapons supplier and diplomatic ally, remained concerned about the 14-month war in Gaza and distanced himself from Israel's denunciation of Amnesty International as "deplorable and fanatical."
"There continues to be a vital role that civil society organizations like Amnesty International and human rights groups and NGOs play in providing information and analysis as it relates to Gaza," Patel said.
The US disagreement on the report "does not change the continued concern that we have as it relates to this conflict's impact on civilians and civilian casualties, and we continue to stress at every turn that there is a moral and strategic priority for Israel to comply with international humanitarian law," Patel said.
Amnesty International accused the state of Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza war in a report published on Thursday, an allegation Israel angrily denied.
The London-based human rights group said it reached the conclusion after months of analysing incidents and statements of Israeli officials. Amnesty said the legal threshold for the crime had been met, in its first such determination during an active armed conflict.
The 1948 Genocide Convention, enacted in the wake of the mass murder of Jews in the Nazi Holocaust, defines genocide as "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group".
Israel has repeatedly rejected any accusation of genocide, saying it has respected international law and has a right to defend itself after the cross-border Hamas attack from Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023 that precipitated the war.
"The deplorable and fanatical organisation Amnesty International has once again produced a fabricated report that is entirely false and based on lies," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein wrote on X.
