The US congress tries to block Israel from facing justice for war crimes in the International Criminal Court

Joe Biden and the US congress have continued to act in step with Israel’s ongoing colonisation and genocide in Palestine. Congress passed a bill that contained a long-term provision that would reduce funding to the Palestinian Authority, which governs the Israeli occupied West Bank, if:

the Palestinians initiate an International Criminal Court (ICC) judicially authorized investigation, or actively supports such an investigation, that subjects Israeli nationals to an investigation for alleged crimes against Palestinians.

Israel is committing international crimes against the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. And the US is threatening economic sanctions on not Israel, which it also supports with $3.8bn per year and weapons, but the Palestinians.

In the West Bank, Israel is conducting unlawful killings and expanding illegal settlements. And in Gaza, Israel is:

• Massacring hungry civilians while they queue for bread.
• Targeting civilian infrastructure.
• Targeting journalists and doctors.
• Using starvation as a weapon of war.

The US is supporting all of this.

Removing aid for Palestinians

Through the bill, Biden and congress also made their removal of funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) last until March 2025.

The UN agency delivers healthcare, social services, education, and refugee camps for 1.7 million Gazans. That’s because most Palestinians in Gaza are refugees from elsewhere in what’s now called Israel.

Palestinians have faced ongoing oppression and apartheid since 1948 when Israel established itself through colonising 78% of Palestine.

The US has continued to remove UNRWA funding, alongside other Western nations like the UK who have also cut funding. The cut is based on manufactured allegations from Israel that a small number of UNRWA staff were involved in the 7 October attack. Israel concocted the allegations through torturing UN staff into false confessions.

Israel has provided zero evidence that UN staff were involved. Still, the US and other Western nations acted in line with the colonial project.

US Congress: protecting Israel’s war criminals

The US-led empire’s shielding of war criminals from repercussions includes the UK. Both George Bush and Tony Blair have not faced any justice for using false intelligence to invade Iraq.

And Labour leader Keir Starmer, when he was Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in 2011, blocked the arrest of former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni.

The arrest concerned Israeli war crimes during the 2008 bombing of Gaza. A UN report found that under Livni the Israeli military intentionally targeted civilians and civilian infrastructure.

If the US and UK really supported a two state solution, they would be piling on the diplomatic and economic pressure towards Israel to prevent genocide and further colonisation of Palestine.

Instead, the US-led establishment is using its leverage to support Israel committing grave crimes. That’s disgusting and must be called out.

Featured image via Israeli PM – YouTube