The ICC Prosecutor applied for arrest warrants for the leaders of Hamas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Prosecutor Khan released a video statement to announce the move.
The warrants stilll need to be approved by the judges, but we’re already seeing Republicans attack the idea of Netanyahu being held accountable for war crimes committed in Gaza that “continue to this day” according to Khan.
It seems that it’s okay to hold people accountable for war crimes if they are our adversary, like Vladimir Putin, but an ally, accused of similar war crimes, should never face any consequences. That same opinion warped view of accountability seems to apply to former President Donald Trump, who is facing indictments for crimes he committed before, during, and after his first term. This is a serious threat to democracy. Government officials are attacking a separate but equal branch of government in an effort to undermine the rule of law.
Rule of Law — it’s Kind of Important
Without the rule of law, democracy doesn’t exist.
The war crimes the ICC says Netanyahu committed include:
- The use of starvation as a weapon of war
- The intentional targeting of civilians
- Blocking humanitarian aid from entering the Gaza Strip
Anyone who has been paying attention to this conflict, anyone on social media—has witnessed the crimes the ICC says Israel has committed with their own eyes.
People who are against the slaughter of Palestinians have questioned why the U.S. has resorted to dropping aid packages from planes and building a pier just to deliver aid to the Palestinias (after Israel completes their mandatory inspections, of course) if Israel is our ally. If they were a true ally, why would they fight against us every step of the way?
Why does Israel have to inspect aid coming directly from the United? Do they think we are going to aid Hamas and sneak weapons into Gaza along with the aid? The remarks of a State Department official when asked about getting the American doctors trapped in Gaza out of Palestine:
Again, if Israel is a true ally, why wouldn’t they allow American medical personnel to exit the Gaza Strip? Why aren’t they actively working to provide Americans with a safe passage out of the area?
None of this makes sense. It only proves to anyone who has been paying attention that Israel does what it wants, regardless of what the President of the United States says, making him look ineffective and weak. Why do we continue to send them money on a regular basis? Especially when they have more money than we do.
The ball is now in the court of the U.S. government. Unfortunately, they appear to be avoiding the ball instead of catching it. Secretary Blinken denounced the idea of arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Galant. President Biden also denounced the move by the ICC.
Did we really think the government would respond differently to the ICC’s arrest warrant announcement? Luckily the answer is “no” (luckily in the sense that we weren’t let down by our government—Again.)
If you heard this news and felt hopeful that Israel’s far-right government would be held accountable for killing Palestinian civilians and the famine that can’t be described as anything other than purposeful, you must be feeling very let down by the Biden administration.
We saw how the U.S. reacted to the charge that Israel is committing genocide that was brought by South Africa against Israel: the U.S. was the only country to veto charges against Israel for their actions in Palestine. It’s difficult to call this a war because a war implies 2 parties fighting each other.
In this case Israel is attacking the Palestinians. Netanyahu claims they are at war with Hamas, but they aren’t attacking only members of Hamas. IDF soldiers have said that ‘any male in Gaza is considered a terrorist.’ An investigation by +972 Magazine on the IDF’s use of AI in determining who to target proves that is the sentiment of the Israeli military.
There is also a video that shows a group of IDF soldiers chanting “kill all Palestinians” They’ve been “kidnapping Palestinian men, women, and teens for no reason other than their presence in Gaza.
Parents have been taken away in front of their children. There are images of men stripped down to their underwear and zip tied, on their knees in the cold, surrounded by IDF soldiers who are taunting them.
Source: Khaama Press
The UN has released reports of soldiers using sexual assault as a weapon of war against Palestinian women and girls. While officials on the Right lost their minds about reports of Hamas assaulting and raping Israeli women—demanding that anyone and everyone condemn them for it—they’ve stayed silent about the IDF committing the same atrocities. Women have been locked in cages, naked, out in the rain and cold, yet not a peep.
Update May 2026: A New York Times columnist revealed how Israel uses sexual violence and torture against Palestinians in Israeli prisons. Not just women, but men and children are victims to the this inhumane punishment as well.
The fact that our government still believes they can gaslight us in the age of social media is both infuriating and ridiculous. We see everything that is happening in Gaza as they are telling us not to believe our lying eyes.
In the past they could control the narrative with the help of corporate mediam but that is no longer the case. In fact, Mitt Romney and Anthony Blinken said as much during a live event. They discussed how TkTok doesn’t have enough pro-Israel content and it’s destroying their “narrative.” They said the quiet parts out loud, Both the reason for banning TikTok and their attempt to control a narrative.
That could explain their reaction to campus protests against the killing of innocent Palestinians. They appeared to be a little caught off guard while attempting to silence the students and crush dissent. They attempted to do so by using mainstream media to demonize the protesters by labeling the protests as “Pro-Hamas” and “Anti-Israel” instead of accurately describing them as Pro-Palestinian, Peace Protests, or protests against the intentional killing of innocent civilians. They’ve used the police to attack and arrest protesters, destroy the peaceful encampments, and stand idly by as Pro-Israel counter protesters attack students in the encampments. Luckily the attack on the UCLA campus was caught on video and CNN did an investigation to identify the counter protesters and confirm that they, along with outsiders, were the perpetrators of chaos and violence, not the peace protesters in the encampment.
Overall we’ve seen some media outlets cover the war much differently than in the past. Instead of automatically reporting Israel as the good guy and Palestinians as “terrorists” they’ve told us what’s really happening in Gaza. CNN has done some incredible investigative reporting to reveal the lies told by the IDF. It’s refreshing to see, but it doesn’t change the fact that our government continues to support Israel unconditionally. They continue to send them our tax dollars and use our hard-earned money to enrich weapons manufacturers and send those weapons to Israel. Israel has policies that we’ve fought for unsuccessfully for decades: universal healthcare and paid family leave. They manufacture weapons of their own. They had a government surplus while we’ve been in debt since 2001 , the last time we had a surplus. That begs the question: If Netanyahu is going to blatantly defy our requests and “red lines,” making a complete fool of President Biden, why do we continue to supply Israel with money and weapons? He should have been told to take care of his citizens himself and “carry out this “war” using Israel’s own funding and weapons” a long time ago.
The announcement by the ICC on arrest warrants for the leaders of Hamas and Benjamin Netanyahu should bring a sense of justice, of relief, that perpetrators of horrific war crimes are being held accountable. Instead, it elicits a sense of futility and defeat knowing that the Biden administration is going to fight against it every step of the way.
Excellent work, AIPAC. We see you.
For information on AIPAC contributions to members of Congress, visit Open Secrets for up to date accounting of who took the money and how much. Take note of how the largest recipient of contributions has voted and how they’ve spoken about the Israel-Hamas war.
So see how AIPAC has spent $2 million on attack ads against Jamal Bowman as retribution for his commentary on the conflict.
