ACLJ Suing Biden’s State Department, as Biden’s Betrayal of Israel Takes Shape
The ACLJ is taking on the Biden Administration’s betrayal of our ally Israel once again in federal court.
In November, the ACLJ began an investigation into Biden’s upgrading diplomatic relations with the Palestinian Authority (PA) and regarding President Biden’s appointment of Hady Amr as Special Representative for Palestinian Affairs within the State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs. Unfortunately, Hady Amr has a history of anti-Israeli activism and rhetoric.
Specifically, we sent a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the State Department asking for:
records pertaining to the creation of the new position entitled Special Representative for Palestinian Affairs within the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs (NEA), the scope of duties for that new position, at whose orders or request that new position was created, the appointment specifically of Hady Amr to that new position, and any steps taken in this process to ensure this new position does not hurt the interests of the United States’ key ally, Israel.
The State Department responded in December with an acknowledgment, saying that it had received our FOIA request and would soon make a “determination.” A “determination” is a FOIA term of art that an agency will use to tell us if any records exist and when those records will be produced. The determination was due in January, so we waited.
By early February, the date to respond had passed, so we began preparations to file a lawsuit.
Still, we waited to file (a short delay in making a determination or even producing the documents is still faster than a lawsuit), kept waiting, and then waited some more, but no determination was forthcoming.
So on March 6, we filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Washington, D.C., to obtain the records owed to us.
You can read our entire complaint here, but the paragraphs below give the basics:
Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(6)(A), the Defendant DOS was required to determine whether to comply with Plaintiff’s request within twenty (20) days, excepting Saturdays, Sundays, and legal public holidays and “immediately” notify Plaintiff of “such determination and the reasons therefor,” as well as the right to appeal any adverse determination to the head of the agency.
Defendant DOS’s 20-day period commenced December 6, 2022, and expired on January 6, 2023.
As of the date of this Complaint, the Defendant has failed to notify Plaintiff of any determination about whether it will comply with Plaintiff’s FOIA request, including the scope of records the Defendant intends to produce, or the scope of records it intends to withhold, and the reasons for any such determination.
In order to forestall other arguments and further delay, we had given the State Department its extra 10 days, which it had asserted in its acknowledgment, so we also pleaded:
The FOIA permits a federal agency, in unusual circumstances, to extend the 20-day response deadline for a period not to exceed ten (10) additional working days. 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(6)(B)(i).
Defendant DOS in its response cursorily asserted “unusual circumstances,” Def.’s Acknowledgement Letter Ex. B, but failed to identify “the date on which a determination is expected to be dispatched,” as clearly required by 5 U.S.C. § 552(a)(6)(B)(i), and which shall not be “a date that would result in an extension for more than ten working days.” Id.
To the extent such an extension was even arguably applicable here, Defendant DOS’s 10-day extension commenced January 6, 2023, and expired on January 23, 2023.
Blatantly ignoring our FOIA request and the law is simply not an option. So we have once again taken the Biden Deep State to federal court. The State Department will now have 30 days to file an Answer (where it admits facts or asserts a defense) or a Motion to Dismiss. In our other FOIA cases against the State Department, it has done both, so now we wait, again, and see.
We will keep you posted as this develops.
This complaint is the first step in investigating the appointment of Hady Amr. As we’ve previously explained, this appointment sets a dangerous precedent in how the Biden Administration will treat our ally Israel:
Amr will have access and influence at the highest level. It appears from the reporting that the United States consulted with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas concerning the position, though apparently only notified Israel’s outgoing and incoming government. And, it is apparent that the position’s creation is motivated at least in part by the Biden Administration’s attempt to reverse Trump Administration policies, including closing the U.S. diplomatic mission in Jerusalem and not allowing the PLO to open an office in Washington, D.C.
These actions by the Trump Administration were critical steps that paved the way to stunning and historic advances in Middle East peace and normalization with a number of Arab and Muslim countries. They succeeded precisely because they sent the message that the United States stands with allies who are good actors and downgraded the power that has been handed for decades by the so-called “Peace Process” to nations and groups supporting Islamist terror, like Hamas, the PA, and Hezbollah. Team Biden is moving in exactly the opposite direction – challenging Israel’s sovereignty and rewarding and encouraging (and actually subsidizing) rejectionism and terror. Certainly that appears to be Amr’s approach.
It is too early to tell if the State Department will vigorously contest this FOIA or not. No matter, we will not relent in obtaining the records owed to us, and we will persevere until the end.