SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
israel
Rubio, Trump Accused of Criminal Obstruction for Sanctioning ICC Judges
"Sanctioning ICC judges for doing their work on behalf of justice is a flagrant attack on the rule of law," said one critic.
Jun 06, 2025
Human rights defenders on Friday accused U.S. President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio of criminal obstruction after Rubio announced sanctions targeting four International Criminal Court judges who authorized an investigation into torture allegations against American troops in Afghanistan and arrest warrants for fugitive Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Rubio sanctioned International Criminal Court Judges Solomy Balungi Bossa of Uganda, Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza of Peru, Reine Adelaide Sophie Alapini Gansou of Benin, and Beti Hohler of Slovenia "pursuant to President Trump's Executive Order 14203." The order was issued in February and sanctioned ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan and accused the Hague-based tribunal of "baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel."
"Have Marco Rubio's State Department lawyers read him Article 70 of the Rome Statute on obstruction of justice?"
"These four individuals have actively engaged in the ICC's illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America or our close ally, Israel," Rubio added. "The ICC is politicized and falsely claims unfettered discretion to investigate, charge, and prosecute nationals of the United States and our allies."
Two of the sanctioned judges authorized a probe of U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan. The other two green-lighted warrants for the arrest of Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, his former defense minister, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza, including weaponized starvation and the murder of Palestinians—at least 54,607 of whom have been killed since Israel began its assault and siege of Gaza following the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
The ICC's Assembly of State Parties—the court's governing body—said in a statement Friday that the U.S. sanctions are a "regrettable" effort to "impede the court and its personnel in the exercise of their independent judicial functions.
Kenneth Roth, a professor at the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs and former director of Human Rights Watch, on Friday accused Trump and Rubio of "obstructing justice under Article 70 of the Rome Statute," the treaty establishing and governing the ICC.
Christoph Safferling, director of the International Nuremberg Principles Academy—a Germany-based foundation "dedicated to the advancement of international criminal law and related human rights"— said Friday that 80 years after the the Nuremberg Trials of Nazi war criminals, "obstructing the ICC is an affront to the commitment to justice and the rule of law."
"The court carries forward this legacy and calls for our steadfast support in the fight against impunity," Safferling added.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk
said Friday that he was "profoundly disturbed" by the U.S. sanctions.
"Attacks against judges for performance of their judicial functions, at national or international levels, run directly counter to respect for the rule of law and the equal protection of the law—values for which the U.S. has long stood," Türk added.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the European Union "deeply regrets" the Trump administration's move.
Slovenia's Foreign Ministry said that "Slovenia regrets the announced sanctions by the U.S. government against four judges of the International Criminal Court, including a judge from Slovenia," and "rejects pressure on judicial institutions and influence on judicial operations."
"Courts must act in the interests of law and justice," the ministry continued. "In the current situation we will support the judge, who is a Slovenian citizen in carrying out her mandate." Due to the inclusion of an E.U. member state on the sanctions list, Slovenia will propose the immediate activation of the blocking act."
The E.U.'s blocking statute is meant to protect businesses in the 27-nation bloc from adverse consequences of foreign—particularly U.S.—sanctions.
During the first Trump administration, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo sanctioned then-ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and Prosecution Jurisdiction Division Director Phakiso Mochochoko for investigating U.S. war crimes in Afghanistan. This, even after the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber II announced it would not grant a request by Bensouda to open an investigation into the alleged torture of prisoners held in U.S. military and secret CIA prisons in Afghanistan, Poland, Romania, and Lithuania.
In 2021, Khan angered human rights defenders by announcing he was seeking approval to resume an investigation into potential war crimes in Afghanistan committed by the Taliban and the Islamic State—but would exclude alleged crimes perpetrated by U.S. forces.
U.S. and Israeli officials often note that neither country is a party to the Rome Statute. However, the court has affirmedr its jurisdiction "in relation to crimes committed on the territory of Palestine, including Gaza," as well as "over crimes committed by Palestinian nationals inside or outside Palestinian territory."
Responding to the U.S. sanctions, Amnesty International secretary general Agnès Callamard said Friday that "this is an attack against international justice and the fight against impunity."
"Governments who believe in a rule-based order must take all necessary measures to protect the four judges against the impact of the sanctions," she continued. "They must assure the ICC of their full support. They must voice their commitment to the independence and impartiality of the ICC clearly and loudly. They must implement all arrest warrants and support the ICC in all its investigations."
"International justice is a battleground. It has been so from the very beginning," Callamard added. "Victims know so all too well. We will keep fighting and resisting all attempts to derail, undermine, destroy the search for justice and the rule of law."
In April, the ACLU filed a lawsuit in a Maine federal court on behalf of Matthew Smith, co-founder of the human rights group Fortify Rights, and international lawyer Akila Radhakrishnan arguing that Trump's sanctions against Khan violate their First Amendment rights.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Israeli Lies and Western Complicity: How Deceit Became a Weapon of War
The people of Gaza are not only being starved, bombed, and murdered. They are being erased from global consciousness by a wall of deception.
Jun 06, 2025
Throughout its long history of ethnic cleansing and occupation, Israel has remained consistent in its tactics: lie, deny, and distort the truth—often with the backing, or at least the indulgence, of Western powers. Lying has become an Israeli art form, refined over decades, practiced with impunity, and amplified by a complicit global media that not only tolerates but actively legitimizes these falsehoods.
The latest massacre at the food distribution in Gaza offers yet another stark and sickening reminder of this pattern. At dawn on Sunday, June 1st, more than 30 Palestinians were murdered while waiting for food aid in Rafah. As usual, Israel swiftly denied responsibility, claiming its army was unaware of any shooting near the American-led distribution center. But eyewitnesses, survivors, humanitarian organizations, and hospitals told a contradictory story.
Israel is not only getting away with war crimes—it’s getting away with lying about them.
Israel’s denial was immediately echoed—and defended by American officials. The U.S. ambassador—better described as Israel’s emissary within the State Department—dismissed reports of the massacre as “fake news.” This grotesque inversion of truth is a familiar maneuver, reminiscent of the Flour Massacre on February 29, 2024, when Israeli forces opened fire on civilians collecting flour, killing 112 and injuring over 760.
Again, Israel denied responsibility, claiming the deaths resulted from “stampedes” and civilians being run over by aid trucks. Yet even after the United Nations and media outlets like Al Jazeera challenged the Israeli disinformation and presented video footage clearly showing Israeli forces firing on unarmed civilians, no accountability followed.
In Gaza, it is not just food aid sites have become death traps. Ambulances are targets. First responders, doctors, and even their children have become “legitimate” military objectives.
Last week, Israel targeted the home of Dr. Alaa al-Najjar, killing nine of her ten children—Yahya (12), Eve (9), Rival (5), Sadeen (3), Rakan (10), Ruslan (7), Jibran (8), Luqman (2), and Sedar, not yet one year old. Her husband, Dr. Hamdi al-Najjar, succumbed to his injuries days later. Their tenth child, 11-year-old Adma, sustained a critical head injury and is unlikely to survive due to Gaza’s medical blockade.
Israel’s standard, callous response followed, explaining that its aircraft had struck “a number of suspects” in Khan Younis.
In March, the Israeli army murdered eight medics, six civil defense workers, and a United Nations employee—then buried them in the sand. The military later blamed the “suspicious behavior” of an ambulance for the attack. When confronted with video evidence disproving the claim, the army reverted to its usual script: “a mistake,” “a wrong decision,” “disciplinary action taken.” Fifteen lives erased with a bureaucratic shrug.
When Israel murdered seven humanitarian workers from the World Central Kitchen in April 2024, the Biden administration initially expressed outrage. Twenty-four hours later, that outrage was mollified by Israeli firsters in Washington. White House spokesperson John Kirby reversed course, claiming there was no evidence of deliberate targeting—absolving Israel in the same breath that had condemned it. A mass killing became a footnote.
This is nothing new.
In October 2023, nearly 500 civilians were killed in a blast at the Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza. Israel immediately blamed a misfired Palestinian rocket. Just hours after landing in Tel Aviv, President Joe Biden publicly parroted the Israeli narrative—despite overwhelming eyewitness accounts, growing evidence, and skepticism from independent observers.
And then there is the case of Shireen Abu Akleh, the Palestinian-American journalist gunned down in 2022. Israel initially claimed she was killed by Palestinian crossfire and released a video that was quickly discredited. Yet Western media gave more airtime to Israeli claims than to eyewitness testimony. Months later, under the weight of irrefutable evidence, Israel admitted responsibility—calling it, once again, a “mistake.”
The soldier who murdered a “lesser” U.S. citizen, like other killers of journalists, never faced justice. In fact he was promoted to Captain and went on killing with impunity—until reports emerged of his death during a battle in Jenin.
Just like the murdered children of Gaza, truth itself has become another collateral damage in Israel's war of disinformation. And those tasked with defending it—the media and democratic institutions—have too often served instead as marketers and conveyors of Israeli lies and propaganda.
The people of Gaza are not only being starved, bombed, and murdered. They are being erased from global consciousness by a wall of deception. And until the world begins to value Palestinian lives as much as it values Israeli (proven false) narratives, the Israeli theater of blood and deceit will continue.
Israel is not only getting away with war crimes—it’s getting away with lying about them. The impunity is not only military; it is moral, political, and informational. Israel has long mastered the art of the lie, dating back to the creation of political Zionism. The West, and its managed media, has normalized these falsehoods—just as it has normalized the starvation and siege of Gaza.
Israel lies with impunity because the world—especially the United States and much of the West—not only permits it, but promotes it. Western governments and media have built an echo chamber where Israeli narratives always take precedence—not due to credibility, but to avoid the reckoning that truth would demand. In choosing falsehood over fact, they evade moral accountability and sidestep the need to reconcile their professed values with the genocide they enable.
This is no longer just about Israeli lies. It’s about a global system complicit in sustaining Israel’s habitual lies and systematic deceit to cover up a starvation and a livestreamed genocide.
Keep ReadingShow Less
As Israel Slaughters Gazans, US House Progressives Push 'Block the Bombs Act'
"Netanyahu and Trump are a lethal, unaccountable, extremist duo," said Congresswoman Delia Ramirez. "Congress needs to assert its oversight authority."
Jun 05, 2025
With over 54,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip killed by the Israeli assault and the 2 million survivors suffering from the ongoing bombings and blockade on essentials, nearly two dozens progressives in the U.S. Congress came together Thursday to call for passage of a bill that would withhold offensive weapons from Israel.
Like former Democratic U.S. President Joe Biden, Republican President Donald Trump has continued to provide diplomatic and weapons support to the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose forces have left the Palestinian enclave in ruins since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
"Netanyahu has laid siege to Gaza, killing at least 54,000 people, repeatedly displacing the entire population, and cutting off access to desperately needed humanitarian aid."
"Netanyahu and Trump are a lethal, unaccountable, extremist duo. Trump has bypassed congressional oversight on weapons transfers. The Israeli government is currently escalating attacks on the civilian population of Gaza. They are both out of control. Congress needs to assert its oversight authority," said Congresswoman Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) in a statement.
"Enough is enough," Ramirez declared. "By introducing the Block the Bombs Act, a broad coalition is listening to the American people who don't want their taxpayers' money to continue supporting gross violations of U.S., international, and humanitarian law."
Two former leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus—Reps. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Mark Pocan (D-Wis.)—as well as Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) are spearheading the fight for the bill alongside Ramirez. Another 18 Democrats in the House of Representatives have signed on as co-sponsors, including current CPC Chair Greg Casar (D-Texas) and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), the only Palestinian American in either chamber.
"For the last year and a half, Benjamin Netanyahu has laid siege to Gaza, killing at least 54,000 people, repeatedly displacing the entire population, and cutting off access to desperately needed humanitarian aid," said Pocan. "This commonsense bill will prevent more unchecked transfers of these offensive weapons systems that are used to violate international human rights laws and hopefully help bring this devastating conflict to an end."
Although there was a cease-fire in place for nearly two months earlier this year, Netanyahu abandoned it in March. Since then, negotiations for an end to Israel's annihilation of Gaza and the release of both Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and hostages taken by Palestinian militants in 2023 have been unsuccessful.
Throughout the war, efforts by progressives in both chambers of Congress—including multiple resolutions led by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)—to block U.S. weapons that Israel uses to massacre civilians in Gaza also have not been successful. A growing number of critics across the globe condemn the U.S.-backed Israeli assault as genocide.
This morning @ramirez.house.gov, @sarajacobs.house.gov, @jayapal.house.gov, and @pocan.house.gov introduced historic legislation to stop sending bombs to the Israeli military. It should be common sense. We should not be supporting mass killing and starvation. Thank you all for your leadership.
[image or embed]
— Sunrise Movement (@sunrisemvmt.bsky.social) June 5, 2025 at 12:57 PM
The new bill is backed by dozens of advocacy groups that have spent the past 20 months sounding the alarm about the soaring death toll, starvation, and destruction of infrastructure in Gaza, including Amnesty International USA, Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), Council on American-Islamic Relations, Demand Progress, Human Rights Watch, IfNotNow Movement, IMEU Policy Project, Indivisible, Jewish Voice for Peace Action, Justice Democrats, Institute for Policy Studies, Progressive Democrats of America, Rabbis for Cease-Fire, Sunrise Movement, Win Without War, and Working Families Party.
"The Block the Bombs Act is a historic bill," but also "a straightforward challenge to United States complicity in Israel's genocidal campaign in Gaza as Israeli forces block humanitarian assistance and directly target schools, hospitals, and civilians," said CCR associate director of policy Brad Parker. "As the Israeli government escalates the murder, starvation, and forcible transfer of Palestinians with President Trump's full support, we recognize and appreciate the bold leadership of Reps. Ramirez, Jacobs, Jayapal, and Pocan."
CCR also encouraged supporters of the bill to visit blockthebombs.org, which features a tool enabling U.S. voters to write to their members of Congress and ask them to co-sponsor the legislation, H.R. 3565.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular