In a promising move, International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan decided to file for an application to serve arrest warrants to Israeli and Hamas leaders. As published in Al Jazeera, Khan was quoted as saying that there are “reasonable grounds” to serve warrants to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for committing “war crimes and crimes against humanity.” But, three Hamas leaders were also singled out, Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh and Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri for the same charges.

In a typical response, Netanyahu said, “I reject with disgust the comparison of the prosecutor in the Hague between democratic Israel and the mass murderers of Hamas.” Netanyahu’s hypocrisy is so evident, with Israel bombing and shooting anything and anyone in sight.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said that “any attempt to draw parallels between the atrocious terrorists is outrageous and cannot be accepted by anyone.” Despite Herzog’s flight from reality, it has been accepted, where Israel is looked at as a rogue nation worldwide.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich had the nerve to say that the ICC’s seeking the arrest of Israeli leaders is comparable to Nazi propaganda. But Smotrich, a fascist, has it backwards where Israel, with its mass murder of over 35,000 Palestinians, about half being children, looks Nazi-like.

Hamas itself was outraged by the ICC’s accusations, where there’s an attempt to “equate the victim with the executioner.” While Israel frantically claims to be defending itself, it has gone way beyond that. Given the Palestinians being oppressed over 70 years, there is also the right for Palestinians to defend themselves.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Joe Biden called the warrants against Israel’s leaders “outrageous,” adding, “Whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence –none–between Israel and Hamas.” Biden is thus siding with war criminals, although Hamas is not totally innocent.

What about the accusations of genocide committed by Israel? That has been ignored by pro-Israel/Zionists supporters.

In January 2024, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said at a news briefing, “Those are allegations that should not be made lightly…we are not seeing acts that constitute genocide. That is a determination by the State Department.”

To claim something like this has made the U.S. complicit in Israel’s genocide of Palestinians. On the Katie Halper Show, U.S. President Joe Biden was taken to task for denying there has been a genocide. The nickname for Biden—“Genocide Joe”—has stuck and has been used regularly by critics and protesters of Israel’s actions. 

Biden has been “warning” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to target civilians, but Netanyahu, truly a fascist, has done it anyway. 

Recently, however, an agreement was made between Biden and Netanyahu to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza. Biden, previously giving a slap on the wrist to Netanyahu, appeared to have made a threat to take action if Israel continues blocking aid. It remains to be seen if Biden would follow through with the threat if Netanyahu reneges on the agreement. This has happened before, with Biden making several gestures to Netanyahu to bring in aid and not target civilians. But that has not worked. The fascists in the Israeli government appear to be hell-bent on continuing their mass murder, based on racism and myths of religious supremacy.

Biden administration officials have not even pushed for a permanent cease-fire. The United States under his leadershipu has vetoed resolutions in meetings of the UN Security Council; standing alone in doing that. However, it abstained from the last proposed resolution. And Israel may not honor that resolution.

Biden’s refusal to push for a cease-fire is inexcusable. His administration gives the impression that the U.S. cannot prevent Israel from stopping its barbarity. Biden has only made suggestions to Netanyahu to tone down the military assault, while continuing to supply Israel with more weapons which, in turn, are used to kill Palestinians.

Biden actually has the power to stop the war, according to Stephen Zunes writing in Truthout: “Though Congress authorizes military aid, the president has the authority under the Arms Export Control Act to withhold (or threaten to withhold) U.S. military aid when the recipient nation violates U.S. or international law.”

And Israel has been committing violations regularly.  Zunes provides what laws Israel has broken: “Israel is currently violating the Fourth Geneva Convention regarding treatment of civilians in war time, among a number of other statutes, and it is violating UN Security Council Resolution 2728, which demands an immediate temporary cease-fire. Israel is also in violation of Section 502B of the 1961 Foreign Assistance Act, which prohibits aid to countries that prevent access to humanitarian relief supplies; the 1999 Leahy Amendment, which prohibits funding foreign security forces engaged in the commission of gross violations of human rights; and Biden’s own Security Memorandum 20, which requires U.S. security partners to provide written assurances that they will use U.S. military assistance in accordance with international law and facilitate humanitarian aid.”

Biden is defying the will of U.S. citizens, a majority of whom think Israel should not receive military aid. This is probably because Republicans, especially, would consider him abandoning Israel. But Biden has those numerous laws that can justify taking action. Plus, he should not have any choice since it is the law. Still, the Biden administration denies Israel is committing any violations like genocide. 

That can be seen in another briefing, when State Department spokesperson Miller claimed on March 25, “We have not found [Israel] to be in violation of international humanitarian law, either when it comes to the conduct of war or when it comes to the provision of humanitarian assistance.” Blatantly Orwellian.

Regarding the approved resolution where the United States abstained, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby made the ridiculous claim that the resolution is “non-binding.” Kirby added that Israel can still go after Hamas. The UN Security Council obviously makes resolutions that are binding. Again, blatantly Orwellian. 

However, to make a resolution binding, it has to be enacted under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. But the U.S. has not allowed this to happen.

The U.S. Congress has the power to constrain Biden but no action has been taken, probably because most of Congress fully supports Israel. There is an ideological commitment which most will not challenge.

There is also the goal of eliminating Hamas, which has in the process caused the “elimination” of many Palestinians. Biden wants a new Middle East without the existence of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah. But Biden is in no position to justify his vision of this new Middle East, given how one-sided he has been in supporting Israel. Plus, the U.S. has to break the habit of deciding what is “good” for other nations. And with the genocide going on, and with the U.S. supporting Israel, a group like Hamas will likely get many recruits.

What about Palestinians attaining sovereignty with a newly formed nation? Ideally, this should be the case. But, writing an opinion piece in the Middle East Monitor, Tamer Ajrami sees Palestinians having limited sovereignty over part of the Palestinian territories. This is part of a scenario written by Ajrami about potential negotiations between Israel and Palestine. Ajrami has Israel recognizing a Palestinian state but, to reiterate, with limited sovereignty. 

The thing is that Netanyahu and Israel’s fascist government will not recognize a Palestinian state. They have made that clear. Even if Netanyahu loses an election, the right wing will still be there and will try to impose its supremacist agenda; this means that Palestinians will still be treated badly. 

Historically, Israel-Palestine negotiations have basically been one-sided, with Israel’s ally, the United States, playing the role of mediator. Palestinians have been accused of rejecting negotiations, but that is because it has meant Israel would not only keep the land it has already stolen, but would possibly continue to steal more land. After all, Israelis would continue to think that all the land in that area belongs to Israel, based on religious myths.

Biden ignores this scenario, being a self-proclaimed Zionist himself. And he has to deal with the Zionist lobby, which has had too much influence over U.S. politics. So Biden will probably continue to appease the lobby. 

Biden wants to remake the Middle East and, Ajrami writes, this is another reason why he does not push for a cease-fire, and why the United States vetoed resolutions in the UN Security Council to implement one. Even the U.S. abstaining from the most recent attempt at implementing a cease-fire has not shown progress. Biden’s attitude reflects the same old U.S. imperialism in deciding for others what they should do in their affairs. 

Biden’s goal—bending to Israel’s wishes to destroy Hamas—is not realistic. Israel has blamed Hamas for all the carnage resulting from the war. But this excuse can only go so far. Hamas did not kill more than 33,000 people, as Israel has done. Israel’s excuses are all the more absurd when it has gone well beyond self-defense. It is likely that Hamas will still be around—despite Israel’s determination to eliminate it—no matter how many Palestinians die in the process. And, thus, it is obvious that Israel is guilty of genocide.

In The Peace Advocate, published by MassPeaceAction, Kathleen Malley-Morrison had this to say about Biden: “The complicity of the U.S. military-industrial complex in the massacre of Palestinians is bringing, rightfully, considerable grief to the presidential campaign of the all-too-complicit Netanyahu ally Joe Biden.” Malley-Morrison goes on to criticize the “time-worn rationale that [Biden] is ‘the lesser of two evils.”’ She points out the outrage of many U.S. citizens, and many other people, writing, “Horror at President Biden’s refusal to call for a permanent ceasefire reverberates around the world.” 

Malley-Morrison quoted the New York-based Center for Constitutional Rights, saying that “through its ongoing unconditional military, diplomatic, and political support to Israel, the United States is not only failing to prevent genocide, but is complicit.” She writes that protesters of “We the People” have made their messages loud and clear to Biden. “The messages abound: ‘Genocide Joe has got to go!’ ‘No ceasefire/no vote!’ ‘A ban on genocide Joe!’” But Malley-Morrison also points out that “Donald Trump is also an evil choice who won’t necessarily be on the Presidential ballot in November.” She seems to have some confidence that Trump will be in prison before November comes. Perhaps.

But U.S. voters are probably stuck with a Biden-Trump rematch, which is a disgrace. Both are obviously not real alternatives. If Biden would only step out of the presidential race, there would be a chance for an alternative to run. But in all probability, Biden will stick to his guns and may put the Democrats at a disadvantage if Trump, a fascist and criminal, gets into power again…as a tyrant.

It goes without saying that the death toll in Gaza has been horrific. In the World Socialist Web Site, Andre Damon writes that, “Over the course of just six months, 5.45 percent of Gaza’s population has been killed, wounded or is missing. A comparable percentage of the American population would be more than 18 million people.

“Most shocking of all is the fact that two-thirds of those killed are women and children. Israel has deliberately targeted medical workers, humanitarian workers, journalists and artists. 

“In the past six months, every element of the U.S.-Israeli justification for bombing, invading and blockading Gaza has been exposed as a lie.”

Hard-line Israeli supporters have hysterically (and falsely) accused Hamas of committing many rights violations, which include rape, murder, killing babies by decapitating them or putting them in ovens, cutting open pregnant women’s stomachs, and other false accusations. While there may have been incidents of rights violations by Hamas, hard-line supporters have blown this all out of proportion.

The Biden administration’s denial of genocide by Israel has been grossly contradicted by the words of Israeli officials. 

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant asserted: “We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly. I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel.”

Israeli President Isaac Herzog asserted: “It’s an entire nation out there that is responsible. It’s not true this rhetoric about civilians not aware, not involved…we will fight until we break their backbone.”

Agriculture Minister Avi Dichter asserted: “We’re rolling out the Gaza Nakba,” which means “catastrophe.” It originally was coined by Palestinians when Zionists imposed ethnic cleansing and drove native Palestinians off the land.

Damon writes that those declarations by Israeli officials showed “genocidal intent, that Netanyahu systematically targeted all aspects of social, economic and cultural life in Gaza, working to level every hospital, school and home, and kill as many men, women and children as possible.” 

Making an important point, Damon writes, “The genocide has undeniably shown that the perspective of Zionism is bankrupt and reactionary. Israel will be forever marked by its association with mass murder.”

Damon expands on his statement, writing, “Beyond Israel, the genocide stands as a condemnation of the entire imperialist order. The capitalist powers in the U.S./NATO axis have supported, armed, funded and politically justified one of the greatest crimes of the modern era.”

Damon writes that the Biden administration has repeatedly declared that there will be no cease-fire, with Biden even saying there is “no possibility” of it. Meanwhile, the Biden administration has continued to give Israel military aid. In the six months of the genocide, more than 100 separate arms transfers have been implemented by Biden. [NOTE: Should you put in the $26.4 billion that the House just passed, that the Senate will pass and that Biden will sign and provide?] At the same time, Biden has continued to be politically spineless in his “tough” negotiations with Netanyahu.

In conclusion, Damon writes that, “Most of all, the Gaza genocide is a crime of capitalism.”

Will the Biden administration continue to deny Israel’s genocide of Gaza? So far, it doesn’t look good. But it cannot be doubted that history will judge Biden and Netanyahu harshly.    

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