When Is a Human Rights Abuse Not a Human Rights Abuse? For the U.S., It Depends Who's Doing It

On July 7, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dined with Trump at the White House after nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize. Four days later, the Trump administration effectively banned Cuba’s president Miguel Díaz-Canel from the U.S. by imposing visa restrictions on him and his family. The penalty was justified by alleged human rights abuses related to protests in Cuba on July 11, 2021.

Cuban police killed one person at those protests four years ago. Meanwhile, Israel has killed more than 58,000 people in Gaza, including 17,000 children, since October 2023.

The U.S. has a long history of pointing to human rights abuses in Cuba to justify its economic war on the island. But U.S. concern for human rights can hardly be taken seriously when it is actively supporting genocide in Gaza. Meanwhile, U.S. sanctions on Cuba, which deprive civilians of essential food and medicine, amount to collective punishment, which is illegal under international law and widely condemned as a human rights violation.