DayofPal– US President Donald Trump has revoked a directive issued by his predecessor, Joe Biden, that aimed to ensure American allies do not use U.S. weapons in violation of international humanitarian law.
According to The Washington Post, National Security Advisor Michael Waltz issued the order overturning Biden’s directive, known as NSM-20 immediately.
The decision, confirmed by multiple current and former U.S. officials who spoke anonymously, was not officially announced by the administration.
Biden’s memo, issued in February 2024, was designed to reinforce existing arms transfer laws requiring recipient countries to provide written assurances that U.S.-supplied weapons would not be used unlawfully and that they would facilitate the delivery of American humanitarian aid.
The directive was widely seen as an attempt to pressure Israel into easing restrictions on aid deliveries to Gaza, amid growing concerns over civilian casualties in the war that erupted on October 7, 2023.
Christopher Le Mon, a former senior State Department official for human rights under Biden, warned that revoking NSM-20 could lead to more civilian deaths and damage America’s global standing.
“The only message the Trump administration is sending by scrapping NSM-20 is that it simply does not care how foreign governments use U.S. weapons, no matter how immoral or illegal their actions may be,” he said.
Biden’s directive was an attempt to balance competing pressures: growing discontent within his Democratic Party over his support for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and mounting opposition from Arab and Muslim Americans, a crucial voting bloc.
However, the memo ultimately satisfied neither side—Republicans opposed it, while some Democrats criticized it as a symbolic gesture that did little to hold Israel accountable.
In practice, the Biden administration enforced NSM-20 only once, pausing a single shipment of 2,000-pound bombs. However, U.S. military support for Israel continued at historic levels, as America remained the largest supplier of military aid to Israel.
After returning to office, Trump swiftly released the halted bomb shipment on January 25, 2025. With this latest move, the Trump administration has sent a clear signal that it will take a hands-off approach to how allies use U.S. weapons—regardless of the humanitarian consequences.
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