The case summarized Former US top bureaucrat Josh Paul is asking Norway for help in slowing US arms deliveries to Israel. Paul was in charge of arms deliveries at the US State Department, but quit in protest on 18 October. The United States is Israel’s most important ally and supplies a large part of the weapons that are now being used in Gaza. Paul says the US is breaking its own guidelines, which state that the US should not send weapons to countries where there is a high probability that they will violate international law. The summary is made by an AI service from OpenAI. The content is quality assured by news’s journalists before publication. In the past eleven weeks, Israel has dropped around 30,000 bombs on Gaza. – The vast majority of them are American. Josh Paul says so. Until October 18 this year, he worked high up in the US State Department. There he was responsible for precisely the US’s arms deliveries. No questions were asked about the large number of American weapons sent to Israel after the war started, according to Paul. – There was no room to check or discuss what Israel’s weapons were to be used for. Neither for me nor for others, he says to news. On 18 October, Josh Paul quit his job in protest. Now he is trying to pressure the US government to slow down arms deliveries to Israel. – We shall not deliver weapons that are used to kill civilians. I think everyone agrees on that, says Paul. Josh Paul has gone from bureaucrat to activist to end US weapons contributing to the bombing of Gaza. Photo: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP Asking Norway to raise its voice Paul says that there is a lot of frustration both in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Defense in the USA. The United States itself has introduced guidelines to prevent it from sending weapons to countries that violate international law. But when it comes to Israel, US politicians disregard their own rules, Paul believes. Now he is asking Norway for help in raising his voice against his close ally, the United States. In an effort to get American politicians to listen, Josh Paul is now talking to media outlets in countries he believes can influence. His hope is that America’s allies can and will speak out that the United States must do more to stop the war. – Does that include Norway? – To the very highest degree. American politicians listen to what Norway says, says Paul. Norway’s Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide writes in an e-mail to news that Norway “has a good dialogue with the USA”. And that “the American authorities are well aware of our view, that we believe it is urgent to have a ceasefire and to end the enormous suffering in Gaza”. Read the full response from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the bottom of the case. That’s not enough, says Josh Paul. US Foreign Minister Antony Blinken and Norway’s Espen Barth Eide met last November this year. Photo: SAUL LOEB/Pool / Reuters He praises Norway for its clear criticism of Israel’s warfare. But he believes that the United States’ policy in the Middle East also needs to face international criticism. Loud and clear. – I believe that the USA has lost its moral compass when it comes to the conflict between Israel and Palestine. And so we need allies to speak up, to remind us of our values. We need to hear it, both in the back room and unfortunately also in public, says Paul. – Closes your eyes According to the health authorities in Gaza, which are ruled by Hamas, over 20,000 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since 7 October. Among them are over 8,000 children. The war started in response to Hamas’ terrorist attacks against Israel, in which 1,139 Israelis were killed, among them 695 civilians. 36 of them were children, according to Israeli authorities. Over 100 Israelis are still being held hostage in Gaza. Killed Palestinians are to be identified outside the hospital in Khan Younis on 19 November. Over 20,000 people have been killed in Gaza since 7 October. Photo: AFP As Israel’s closest ally, the US can do far more to stop the war, says Josh Paul. – The US is Israel’s closest partner. We are their most important partner when it comes to weapons and the military. And we defend and protect Israel diplomatically, in the UN, in Europe and in the Middle East. The US supports Israel with around 3.8 billion dollars a year. Virtually all of this is weapon support. You don’t know how much influence the US has over its close ally until you’ve tried, says Paul. – The problem is that the US does not try. It’s no use asking them nicely to do more to protect civilians as long as the weapons keep coming. Josh Paul believes that what he calls “blind support for Israel” goes beyond both America’s own security, Israel’s security – and an entire people in Gaza. – Why is the USA’s support for Israel in this war so strong? – There are several reasons. After the horrific attack on Israel on October 7, the US response has been emotional. But a state should not be emotional, it should be rational, says Paul. – Then Biden and the government hope that this will pass, and that when the war just ends, we will start again. I think that is wrong. We must change policy now. US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during Biden’s visit to Israel after the terrorist attack on 7 October. Photo: EVELYN HOCKSTEIN / Reuters Paul also highlights what he calls a “one-sided pro-Israel coverage of the war” in the American media. But there is a change in the view of support for Israel in the United States as well. Even before the brutal war began, a narrow majority of Democrats said they sympathized more with the Palestinians than with Israel. And younger Americans are more skeptical of the apparently unreserved support for Israel, Paul emphasizes. Norway: The United States in motion – Younger Americans in particular, who get news from social media with reports directly from the ground, want a ceasefire. The question is whether it is enough to change the political course. Josh Paul doesn’t think so. – I think we can see a change in America’s Israel policy in the longer term. But not in the short term. And not soon enough for the civilians suffering in Gaza now. Unfortunately. Demonstrators in several cities in Norway demanded a ceasefire last Saturday. Photo: Silje Haugen Myrseth / news The Ministry of Foreign Affairs says that Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide does not have the opportunity to be interviewed, but has sent this comment by e-mail: “We have a good and close dialogue with the United States about the war in Gaza. The American authorities are well aware of our view, that we believe there is an urgent need for a ceasefire and an end to the enormous suffering in Gaza. As soon as possible we have to get this on another track, a political process is needed where the goal is a two-state solution. We will continue this dialogue until a ceasefire is agreed upon. I feel that there has been a movement internationally in recent weeks, where several countries have moved closer to our position. This also applies to the United States.”
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Josh Paul asks Norway for help to stop US arms deliveries to Israel – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
