Palestinians can't sue over Biden's support of Israel in Gaza war: Court

A federal appeals court on Monday rejected a lawsuit by Palestinian rights activists accusing the Biden administration of being complicit in genocide in Gaza by continuing to provide Israel military, diplomatic, and financial support.

A three-judge panel of the San Francisco-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a judge's dismissal of the lawsuit, saying the activists' case raised political questions about foreign affairs that could not be decided by a court.

"Plaintiffs' lawsuit and extraordinary requests for relief present political questions grounded in matters committed to those branches of our government that exercise military and diplomatic prerogatives," the panel wrote.

A lawyer for the plaintiffs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Palestinian rights groups Defense for Children International-Palestine and Al-Haq, along with several residents of Gaza and Palestinian-Americans had argued the United States was violating its obligations to prevent genocide.

The plaintiffs in November sued President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, alleging that the United States' continued support of Israel violates international law and the 1948 Genocide Convention.

US District Judge Jeffrey White, an appointee of Republican former President George W. Bush in Oakland, in January, dismissed the lawsuit reluctantly, saying "the preferred outcome is inaccessible to the Court."

White cited evidence that he said showed Israel's "ongoing military siege in Gaza is intended to eradicate a whole people and therefore plausibly falls within the international prohibition against genocide."

But White said he was bound under the so-called political-question doctrine to conclude their claims could not be heard in court, as they raised a dispute about foreign policy that is up to the legislative and executive branches to address.

The 9th Circuit agreed in an unsigned order by a panel that included US Circuit Judges Consuelo Callahan and Daniel Bress, both appointees of Republican presidents, and Jacqueline Nguyen, an appointee of Democratic former President Barack Obama.

Regarding White's statements about whether Israel's treatment of Palestinians plausibly constitute genocide, the panel said "any claimed factual findings and related commentary are of no legal force."

Reuters