American Jews serving in the Israeli army are in clear violation of the US’s Neutrality Act, which makes it illegal for American citizens to be engaged in acts of war against nations which are at peace with the United States, a legal expert in Washington DC has pointed out in an article published in the New Observer.
The lawyer, who does not wish to be named, pointed out that the Neutrality Act, in force as 18 U.S.C. 960, last amended in 1976, specifically states that:
“Whoever, within the United States, knowingly begins or sets on foot or provides or prepares a means for or furnishes the money for, or takes part in, any military or naval expedition or enterprise to be carried on from thence against the territory or dominion of any foreign prince or state, or of any colony, district, or people with whom the United States is at peace, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.”
At least two American citizens serving with the Israeli Defence Force have been killed in the fighting in the Gaza strip so far. US citizens Max Steinberg, originally from the Los Angeles suburb of Woodland Hills, and US citizen, Sean Carmeli, 21, who was born and raised in Texas, were what in Israel are known as “lone soldiers”—Jews serving in the IDF who have no family in Israel.
Their funerals were attended by over 50,000 Israelis, and memorial services were held for them in the US as well.
Steinberg was also what is known as a “Birthright graduate.” This is a special program set up by Zionists which gives Jews—and Jews only—free holidays to Israel with the intention of encouraging them to move to that country.
Around 800 to 1,000 “lone soldiers” join the Israeli military every year, according to the IDF, and there are currently some 4,600 foreign “lone soldiers” serving in that army.
More American citizens join the Israeli army than citizens of any other country. Some 35 percent of lone soldiers serving in the military are from the United States, according to official figures.
The Neutrality Act was first promulgated in 1794, and made it illegal for an American to wage war against any country at peace with the United States. It has been amended several times.
According to the lawyer, the reason for the act was to “create a liability for violation of Section 8 of Article One of the United States Constitution—which reserves to the United States Congress the power to declare war and to specifically prevent individuals from engaging in aggressive acts towards other countries which might then endanger America’s neutrality.”
At the time, the French government had been actively recruiting Americans to attack Spanish and British ships and settlements in Canada, Florida, and South America, as part of the ongoing wars in Europe, the lawyer continued.
These activities led to American President George Washington’s famous Proclamation of Neutrality in 1793, which declared the US neutral in the conflict between France and Great Britain. It also threatened legal proceedings against any American providing assistance to any country at war.
This proclamation was given force by the Neutrality Act passed the following year by Congress.
The last successful prosecutions under the Neutrality Act took place in 1981, the lawyer continued. This was when a group of Americans and Canadians, were arrested as they were about to embark upon an attempt to carry out a coup d’état on the island of Dominica, where they planned to restore former Prime Minister Patrick John to power.
“There is therefore no reason not to prosecute American citizens serving in the Israeli army. They are clearly violating the Neutrality Act, by engaging in an act of war against the Palestinians while still holding US nationality,” the lawyer said, pointing out that both the US and Israel allow dual nationality and that emigration to and adoption of Israeli citizenship does not automatically end US citizenship.
“The failure to prosecute American citizens who are in violation of the Neutrality Act can only be attributed to the influence of the Jewish lobby in Washington DC, and this failure to act is made even more obscene by the fact that, by any objective measure, the Israeli Defense Force has committed gross human rights violations in Gaza.
“In fact, those American citizens serving in the IDF should be prosecuted on two accounts: breaking the Neutrality Act in the US, and by an international court for War Crimes—along with the rest of the Israeli military,” he concluded.
