A Nation of Law (Breaking)

Terry Lodge of Ohio, an award-winning environmental and nuclear accountability attorney, spent weeks researching US and International Laws broken by the United States involvement in the Gaza genocide. Lodge had his work reviewed by renowned International attorney, Marjorie Cohn, an American legal scholar working as a professor of law at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law in San Diego. She is also a former president of the National Lawyers Guild. The Lodge document is now a letter being delivered to US Department of State field offices in the US (29) and to every US embassy and consulate worldwide.

The Israeli terror of genocidal revenge has come mostly from sophisticated US-made weapons. Bunker buster bombs and Maverick missiles from Raytheon Corp. of Texas; Lockheed Martin Incorporated’s Hellfire missiles from Florida; Paveway bombs from Pennsylvania; and the most desired projectile of all, 155mm artillery shells from General Dynamics Corp. in Pennsylvania, Iowa, and Texas.

Veterans For Peace wants every working member of the US Department of State (34,000 employees) to understand that the export of weapons of mass destruction to a known human rights abuser is illegal. The VFP letter documents six specific laws being broken by the United States. VFP wants to inform all US Department of State workers to avoid participation in procedures that aid and abet the violation of law to expedite US weapons of destruction to Israel. The most striking evidence of caution was set by the former director of US military arms transfer, Josh Paul, who resigned knowing his US leaders were breaking the law. The NY Times reported In an interview, “Mr. Paul said that Israel’s cutting off of water, food, medical care, and electricity to the Gaza Strip, a region of two million people, should prompt protections in a number of longstanding federal laws intended to keep American weapons out of the hands of human rights violators. But those legal guardrails are failing, he said.”

School history texts inform young readers that the United States is a nation of laws. Yes, it is and we are thankful for many laws that assist justice making.

The crime of murder and child abuse immediately come to mind. Our culture does not tolerate murder or child abuse. Criminal law comes down hard on murderers and child abusers and those who aid in the committing of those brutal criminal acts.

Why then are United States leaders not held accountable for assisting in tens of thousands of murders in Gaza? Well over 30,000 Palestinian women, men, and mostly children have been murdered by Israeli terrorists since the murderous Hamas attack of October 7, 2023, that left 1200 Israelis dead.

Trying to make an appointment with Department of State offices is nearly impossible. Just one example is this response to a phone call seeking an appointment: “We are a secure agency. How did you get our office number?” Told the number is available online, the individual who identified himself as a supervisor, warned the caller to not call the office again. Veterans For Peace refuses to be intimidated by threats from Department of State bureaucrats, the President or the US Congress.

This Veterans For Peace letter has been hand delivered (or attempted) to 16 US Department of State offices in the United States and electronically delivered to all US State Department Field offices internationally. Workers are warned of US and international laws being violated. Will all 34,000 Department of State workers be offered to read the Veterans For Peace letter? Not likely but Veterans For Peace is not intimidated by the US Department of State’s suppression of the truth.

The most common response from US State Department offices in the U.S. has been their refusal to accept the Veterans For Peace letter. In two instances, the letter was first received at a US Department of State office and then minutes later returned noting the office does not accept letters.

Veterans For Peace refuses to be intimidated by threats from Department of State bureaucrats, the President or the US Congress.

If we are truly a nation of laws, as is claimed, then laws must be obeyed. The United States Government is aiding and abetting the genocidal acts of the Government of Israel.

Veterans For Peace will not be silent and asks all US citizens to hold their law-breaking government accountable. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and cooperating members of the Department of State must be held accountable for their criminal role in breaking US and international law by expediting weapons of mass destruction to the gross human rights violator, Israel.

Here is the information for contacting the State Department Field Offices:

https://www.state.gov/directory-dss-field-offices/

When calling one or more of the 29 US Department of State Field offices, ask to speak to a supervisor. Question to Supervisor: Have you given the Veterans For Peace Six Broken Laws letter to your staff? You need to read it and allow staff to understand they are acting illegally. That is why Josh Paul, your former Director in the Bureau of Political Military resigned. He knew he would someday be responsible for the criminal shipment of weapons to a known human rights abuser, Israel. Refuse to be part of criminal actions. Do not process weapons to human rights violator Israel.

Mike Ferner & Jack Gilroy

Mike Ferner is National Director of Veterans For Peace and a former member of Toledo City Council. He can be reached at [email protected]

Jack Gilroy has been organizing justice actions since the 1960s. He was honorably discharged from the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army Infantry, and converted to nonviolence during the Viet Nam War. Nonviolently standing for justice has led to him spending time in Southern jails, federal prisons, and more recently Jamesville Penitentiary.