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The State Department’s annual Country Reports on Human Rights Practices highlighted Israel prominently, featuring concerns over the country’s precautions to minimize the civilian toll of Palestinians on the first page, which is normally reserved for the most egregious of human rights abusers.
In the report’s preface, President Biden’s Secretary of State AntonyBlinken addressed the human rights concerns with the war between Israel and terrorist group Hamas prior to either Iran or the Taliban in Afghanistan.
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Blinken spoke about the latest report on Monday. (AP Photo)
“The conflict between Israel and Hamas in Gaza continues to raise deeply troubling concerns for human rights,” Blinken wrote.
He explained that the U.S. has “made clear” that Israel needs to follow international law “and take every feasible precaution to protect civilians.” Blinken emphasized that the department is still “urgently” raising concerns about civilian deaths in Gaza during the war.
Israel has been engaged in a war with Hamas in Gaza since the terrorist group’s attack in October.
The U.S. also “repeatedly” brought up concerns about humanitarian aid access in Gaza, civilian displacement and “unprecedented” journalist deaths, the report noted.
Israel was mentioned before the Biden administration’s State Department addressed “ongoing and brutal human rights abuses in Iran” or “the Taliban’s systemic mistreatment of and discrimination against Afghanistan’s women and girls.”
Putin’s government was mentioned in the report for civilian violence in Ukraine. (Sergei Savostyanov/Pool/AFP )
The Jewish state was featured after only Russia’s civilian violence in Ukraine and “mass killings” and “rape” perpetrated by the Sudanese Armed Forces and Rapid Support Forces.
Hamas terrorists are mentioned in the same paragraph, with the U.S. condemning Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which, it noted, “included appalling abuses, including gender-based violence and sexual violence.”
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Hamas launched an unprompted attack on Israeli civilians on Oct. 7. (Yousef Masoud/Majority World/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
After noting the urgent concern over Israel’s civilian precautions, Blinken added, “We have repeatedly condemned Hamas’ abhorrent misuse of civilians and civilian infrastructure as human shields.”
“Hamas’ horrific attacks on Israel on Oct. 7 last year, and the devastating loss of civilian life in Gaza as Israel exercises a right to ensure that those attacks never happen again, have also raised deeply troubling human rights concerns,” Blinken reiterated at a press conference following the report’s unveiling.
A State Department official told Fox News Digital that the report’s discussion of issues globally is not a ranking of countries that compares them to one another.
Representatives for the Israeli government did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment for purposes of this story.
Julia Johnson is a politics writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business, leading coverage of the U.S. Senate. She was previously a politics reporter at the Washington Examiner.
Follow Julia’s reporting on X at @JuliaaJohnson_ and send tips to Julia.Johnson@fox.com.
