Isaac Chotiner interviewed Senator Chris Van Hollen:

Am I correct that there is a law on the books in America which says that “funds appropriated or otherwise made available for United States assistance may not be made available for any country whose government prohibits or otherwise restricts, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of United States humanitarian assistance?”

You cited that exactly right, and the President, just within the last couple of days, said, and I’m quoting, “We’re going to insist that Israel facilitate more trucks and more routes to get more and more people the help they need. No excuses, because the truth is aid flowing to Gaza is nowhere nearly enough now. It’s nowhere nearly enough.” I will say that I’ve been flabbergasted that the Administration has not invoked and implemented the law you just cited, which is called the Humanitarian Aid Corridor Act.

When you quoted the President as saying he would “insist” on this, what do you think that means?

I think the President is saying that he’s going to demand that more routes be open and more desperately needed assistance can get in, but it is important that the Administration use the tools that are at its disposal to do that, and one of those tools is invoking and implementing the Humanitarian Aid Corridor Act.

If that were invoked, what would follow?

So, what would follow from that is that, until the Netanyahu government allowed needed assistance to get to starving people in Gaza, the United States would suspend its military assistance. I should say that that does not cover the provision of defensive systems like Iron Dome, but it would mean a suspension of delivering bombs that could be used in Gaza. [Continue reading…]