J Street – the pro-Israel, pro-peace, pro-democracy group – today called on the Biden Administration to enforce American laws which require the United States to stop supplying arms and assistance to governments found to be obstructing humanitarian assistance, and to follow through on the 30-day deadline for action the administration set last month for the Israeli government.

In an October 13 letter, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Secretary of State Antony Blinken outlined serious concerns over the “increasingly dire” situation in Gaza and failures to meet “essential survival needs” for civilians. The letter stated this was in large part due to the Israeli government obstructing aid deliveries, halting commercial imports and blocking nearly all aid to North Gaza.

“The time for action and enforcement of American law is long past,” said J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami. “The law is clear: American arms should not be provided to countries that block humanitarian assistance. The White House should not give any country – even its closest friends – a pass. This can’t be delayed anymore.”

“The law must be fairly and equally applied to all recipients of US aid. We are not calling for new legislation or special conditions specific to Israel. The President has the necessary flexibility to – and should – continue resupplying Iron Dome and other purely defensive weapons systems,” Ben-Ami added.

Since the October 2024 letter, Israeli authorities have continued to reduce truck entries to historic lows and block nearly all aid access to North Gaza. The Netanyahu government has also passed legislation to ban UNRWA – the most significant and irreplaceable distributor of humanitarian aid in Gaza – from operating in Israeli territory.

According to data published by the UN and scorecards compiled by humanitarian aid agencies – which is corroborated by Israel’s own reporting – the Israeli government has not met any of the main benchmarks outlined in the October letter. Indeed, a number of actions have made the situation even worse. Just last week, State Department Spokesman Matthew Miller gave the Netanyahu government a “fail” grade on addressing the administration’s concerns.

J Street has for months called on the Biden Administration to withhold certain offensive arms transfers if the Netanyahu government continues to violate US law and has strongly supported National Security Memorandum 20, in which President Biden provided a framework for action. We have also supported the calls by a majority of congressional Democrats to uphold these requirements. As a pro-Israel group, J Street supports a safe and secure Israel, a strong US-Israel relationship and American security assistance to Israel that adheres to the requirements of US law.