Lebanese Americans Sue US Over Israel Arms in Lebanon
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- Arab American Civil Rights League and 16 individuals filed the class action civil lawsuit in US District Court in Michigan on Tuesday, naming Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Caterpillar as defendants.
- The lawsuit alleges the US is violating the Leahy Law — which bars military assistance to foreign militaries credibly linked to gross human rights violations — by supplying Israel with funds and weapons used against Lebanese civilians.
- Plaintiff Nasser Beydoun, a Michigan businessman and politician, alleges Israeli forces destroyed his family home in Bint Jbeil, southern Lebanon, "without any military necessity or justification."
- The plaintiffs seek to represent tens of thousands of Lebanese Americans whose property in Lebanon has been damaged or could later be damaged by Israeli air strikes and other military activity.
- Trump himself acknowledged in June that Israel was using indiscriminate force in Lebanon, saying, "You don't have to knock down an apartment house every time you're looking for somebody."
- Nabih Ayad, the group's lawyer, argued that "the law is very clear and has been enforced around the world, but when it comes to Israel, there is zero enforcement."
Why it matters: The suit puts the administration and three major US defense contractors in a legal bind by citing Trump's own June admission of Israeli indiscriminate force while invoking the Leahy Law to demand an end to arms transfers. If granted class action status, it would formalize tens of thousands of Lebanese American property owners as plaintiffs and force a judicial reckoning with a statute the plaintiffs say has been selectively ignored when Israel is the recipient.
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