Palestinians testify in federal court against Biden’s ‘complicity’ in genocide

Dr Omar Al-Najjar called into a federal courtroom in Oakland, California from an administrative building at a hospital in Rafah, the only room where he could get an internet connection.

Sitting on the floor in his scrubs, the doctor testified by video, explaining how his family in Gaza was repeatedly violently displaced under Israeli bombardments, enduring random bursts of gunfire and rockets.

At the hospital in Rafah, thousands of patients arriving daily lack adequate care, he said on Friday. There is severe dehydration and hunger. Patients with chronic diseases don’t have the medication they need.

His dreams and plans “are lost,” he said. “I have nothing left but my grief … They weakened us for years and continued to unleash bullets and missiles on our lifeless bodies.”

Dr Al-Najjar was the first among several Palestinians testifying in an unprecedented case against President Joe Biden, who is being sued by a group of American Palestinians and aid groups accusing him of failing to prevent genocide in Gaza under obligations to international and federal law.

They are asking a judge for an injunction that would halt any additional military aid or diplomatic support to Israel in its ongoing siege of Gaza, where more than 25,000 Palestinians, including more than 10,000 children, have been killed within the last 126 days, according to Gaza’s health ministry.

The judge is expected to issue a decision in the coming days.

The case is “monumental” in that it marks the first time Palestinians have testified in federal court to the impact of US support for Israel’s campaign, according to Defence for Children International — Palestine advocacy officer Miranda Cleland, whose organisation is the lead plaintiff in the case.

“So many