Most criticism, however, has been that the law is too weak and is not enforced robustly enough.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Tate|first=Winifred|date=2011|title=Human Rights Law and Military Aid Delivery: A Case Study of the Leahy Law|journal=PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review|language=en|volume=34|issue=2|pages=337–354|doi=10.1111/j.1555-2934.2011.01169.x|issn=1555-2934|url=https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/faculty_scholarship/71}}</ref> For instance, in 2011 [[Human Rights Watch]] reported that the U.S. "continued to aid and train Cambodia's armed forces including units with records of serious human rights violations such as Brigade 31, battalion 70 and Airborne Brigade 911- in violation of the '''Leahy Law'''."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2011/country-chapters/cambodia|title=World Report 2011: Rights Trends in World Report 2011: Cambodia|date=2011-01-24|website=Human Rights Watch|language=en|access-date=2020-02-27}}</ref>
A number of observers have complained that the Leahy Act has not been enacted in response to what they've claimed are human rights abuses by the Israeli military. In 2011, HaartezHaaretz reported that veteran U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT), a long-time human rights defender, after being approached by constituents in Vermont, was pushing clauses that would bar aid to three elite Israeli military units that have been accused of human rights violations in the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.<ref>{{Cite news | url=http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/u-s-senator-seeks-to-cut-aid-to-elite-idf-units-operating-in-west-bank-and-gaza-1.378800 | title=U.S. Senator Seeks to Cut Aid to Elite IDF Units Operating in West Bank and Gaza| newspaper=Haaretz| date=2011-08-16}}</ref> A spokesman for Senator Leahy denied this.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0811/Leahy_says_legislation_doesnt_aim_at_Israel_but_could_hit_it.html | title=Leahy says legislation doesn't aim at Israel, but could hit it}}</ref> Sen. Leahy's Senate page<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.leahy.senate.gov/issues/policies-by-region | title=Policies by Region | U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont}}</ref> repeats his views that while "he has supported Israel's right to self-defense", "he disagrees with restrictions on imports of goods into Gaza as it amounts to collective punishment, with Israel's use of excessive force in Gaza which has caused the deaths of hundreds of civilians, and with home demolitions and settlement construction in the West Bank." In February 2016, 11 members of Congress, including Senator Leahy, sent a letter to the State Department demanding a review of the Leahy Act be conducted after reports of extrajudicial killings by Israeli and Egyptian military forces.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/patrick-leahy-senate-israel-egypt-state-221366 | title=Leahy asked State Dept. To investigate Israeli human rights 'violations'}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000153-c56c-d662-a75b-cfecc6be0000|title=Congress of the United States House of Representatives Washington, DC 20515-1004|last=|first=|date=|website=|url-status=live|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=2020-02-27}}</ref>
