Lebanese Americans sue US over Israel’s rights abuses in Lebanon war

Dozens of Lebanese Americans have filed a class action civil lawsuit against the US government and several defence contractors, saying their role in Israel’s war in Lebanon is a violation of a US law that bars assistance to foreign governments known to be committing human rights abuses.

The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday in the US District Court in Michigan, names Secretary of State Marco Rubio, as well as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Caterpillar as defendants.

The plaintiffs are the Michigan-based Arab American Civil Rights League group and 16 individuals, all US citizens with property in Lebanon that has been impacted by what they claim is indiscriminate use of force by Israel during the war.

Plaintiffs include Nasser Beydoun, a prominent Michigan businessman and politician who alleges in the lawsuit that Israeli forces destroyed his family home in Bint Jbeil, southern Lebanon, “without any military necessity or justification”.

The lawsuit argues that by supplying Israel with funds and weapons used in this manner, the US government is in violation of the Leahy Law, which bars military assistance, training, or equipment to foreign militaries that are credibly linked to gross human rights violations.

Defence contractors selling equipment to Israel, the plaintiffs claim, similarly should be halted as the companies are knowingly helping the country commit illegal actions in the conflict.

“The law is very clear and has been enforced around the world, but when it comes to Israel, there is zero enforcement,” Nabih Ayad, a lawyer and the head of the Arab American Civil Rights League, said on Wednesday.

In the Lebanon conflict, Ayad said, “You have credible information about gross human rights violations that have happened…yet you are doing nothing about it.”

This June, US President Donald Trump acknowledged Israel’s indiscriminate use of force in Lebanon, saying, “You don’t have to knock down an apartment house every time you’re looking for somebody”.

The lawsuit is seeking to become a class action, representing what the plaintiffs say are tens of thousands of Lebanese Americans with property in Lebanon that has been damaged, or could later be damaged, by Israeli air strikes and other military activity.

The Arab American Civil Rights League has been involved in several major civil rights lawsuits in recent years, including a challenge against the previous Trump administration’s so-called “Muslim ban”, a lawsuit that sued major banks for discriminating against Muslim and Arab Americans, and a 2023 suit seeking to compel the US to help evacuate US citizens trapped in Gaza.