An attempt by a Palestinian NGO and Palestinian Americans to stop the United States from providing financial and other support to Israel for its activities in the Gaza Strip has been denied by a federal appeals court.
Rejecting the attempt to halt “military, diplomatic, and financial support,” a unanimous panel of the court decided on Monday that the lawsuit is “not justiciable under the political question doctrine.” According to the idea, courts cannot accept cases that encroach on a political branch’s exclusive territory.
The plaintiffs’ attempt to “place our country’s strategic approach to a major world conflict under the auspices of a single federal district court” was denied by the Ninth Circuit, which oversees the western part of the United States.
Rather, the court decided that the Executive Branch had the authority to decide on U.S. military and diplomatic strategy.
This ruling was seen as a setback to attempts to stop providing Israel with such support.
The plaintiffs, who included Gazans and a non-governmental organization, contended that US conduct toward Israel contravened both a federal statute that makes genocide illegal and the international Genocide Convention.
They pursued an order preventing the Biden administration “from aiding, abetting, enabling or facilitating Israel’s commission of genocidal acts against the Palestinian people of Gaza.”
