Thursday, July 10, 2025

Polaris of Enlightenment

ICC urged to investigate Biden for war crimes

The situation in Gaza

Published 27 February 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Biden is accused of enabling Netanyahu's genocide in Gaza.
3 minute read

A Washington-based human rights organization has filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court, calling on the ICC to launch investigations against Joe Biden, former Secretary of State Antony Blinken and former Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.

Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) accuses the three of aiding and abetting Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza through extensive arms shipments and unwavering diplomatic support.

According to DAWN, the actions of these officials during the Gaza war intentionally contributed to gross abuses against civilians, in violation of international criminal law under the ICC’s Rome Statute. The 172-page indictment was submitted to the Court’s Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan earlier in January.

The organization assesses that Biden, Blinken and Austin “aided and abetted” war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Israeli military in Gaza. The legal basis is invoked in Article 25(3) of the Rome Statute, which criminalizes knowingly facilitating the commission of a crime by another person.

Among the crimes listed are deliberate attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, widespread destruction, killing and displacement of civilians – acts that constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute.

They ensured that U.S. support continued despite the knowledge that such support violated U.S. laws prohibiting military assistance to abusive security forces, ignored pleas from United Nations officials and agencies, and defied the International Court of Justice’s orders to cease the sale, transfer and diversion of weapons to Israel that could be used to commit genocide in Gaza”, the organization writes.

One of many bombed schools in Gaza. Photo: Mohammed Balousha/X

US bombs destroyed schools

DAWN emphasizes that the three US decision-makers acted with full knowledge of the consequences of their decisions, and that their support essentially enabled Israel’s military operations despite reports of serious abuses and war crimes.

The organization points out that the bombs that destroyed Palestinian hospitals and schools were of American origin, which, according to DAWN, underscores the direct role of the United States in the genocide.

It points to how the Biden administration provided Israel with at least $17.9 billion worth of weapons and other military equipment and shared intelligence information with its military.

President Biden personally made the transfer of U.S. weapons and funds to Israel possible within and outside strict U.S. regulations, including by, in some cases, bypassing congressional review, preventing public scrutiny, and substantially contributing to the commission of the crimes”, the human rights organization argues.

In practice, the US has always stood behind Netanyahu. Photo: Benjamin Netanyahu/FB

Stopping UN resolutions

It also points out that it was Biden who authorized the US ambassador to the UN to veto resolutions that sought to stop or limit Israeli attacks on civilians.

These vetoes underline President Biden’s role in depriving civilians in the Gaza Strip of objects indispensable to their survival, a starvation-related crime. Moreover, President Biden repeatedly made public statements demonstrating his personal and unwavering support for Israel despite knowledge of its ongoing crimes, even justifying these crimes as acceptable ‘self-defense’“, it notes.

As for Blinken, he too supported the decisions and openly defended Israel’s military action – despite objections from his own advisers that the weapons were used against civilians.

The then Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, in turn ensured that the Pentagon continued to supply advanced weapons equipment, despite knowing that it was being used in Gaza, and repeatedly stressed that the US stood behind Israel’s invasion and bombing.

Lloyd Austin and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. Photo: U.S. Secretary of Defense

“Pure anti-Semitism”

The International Criminal Court has been investigating suspected war crimes in Palestine. The semi-autonomous territory joined the ICC in 2015, giving it jurisdiction over crimes committed on Palestinian land.

The court has already issued arrest warrants against senior Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, for war crimes committed during the invasion.

Although the US and Israel are not parties to the ICC, the court ruled that non-member nationals can be prosecuted for crimes committed on the territory of a member – in this case, Palestine. DAWN writes that US courts have little interest in investigating the alleged war crimes and that it is therefore up to the ICC to try the cases.

Both Washington and Jerusalem are expected to oppose the ICC moving forward with the case and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has previously dismissed the ICC’s investigations as “pure anti-Semitism”.

Democracy for the Arab World Now describes itself as a democracy and human rights organization and was founded in 2018 by Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The organization says it works to create "a world where the human rights, liberty, and dignity of every person in the Middle East and North Africa are upheld by democratically elected governments, safeguarded by independent institutions and civil society organizations working under the rule of law, and supported by international governments and institutions around the world".

The goal of the work in the US is for the US government to "stop supporting undemocratic governments" in the Middle East and instead recognize that US interests are "better protected by policies that foster peace, freedom, equality, and justice".

The organization's founder, Khashoggi, was murdered in 2018 at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul – reportedly by Saudi agents on behalf of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

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Israel wants to relocate entire Gaza population

The situation in Gaza

Published 8 July 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Israel Katz orders the Israeli military to establish a concentrated zone for the population in Gaza.
2 minute read

The Netanyahu government in Israel has announced through Defense Minister Israel Katz that the Israeli military will establish a controlled area at the border with Egypt. The stated goal is to concentrate Gaza’s entire population in the area, which they are calling a “humanitarian city”.

The Israeli military IDF will guard the new area in the city to be built on the ruins of the bombed city of Rafah in southern Gaza, according to the Israeli government’s plans as reported by Israeli newspapers including Haaretz and Jerusalem Post. According to Katz, planning for the construction could begin during the 60-day ceasefire currently being negotiated.

The stated goal is to gather Gaza’s entire population in the limited zone at the border with Egypt. Katz states that the plan is for people entering the area to be thoroughly screened to ensure they are not connected to Hamas, and that once they enter the area, they will not be allowed to leave again. The advantage for them of entering there, officials explain, is that the area will not be attacked by the Israeli military, and basic necessities will be available.

The project is justified by Katz, like Israel’s Gaza policy in general, as aimed at reducing the influence of the Islamist resistance movement Hamas.

International warnings of ethnic cleansing

A large number of countries have long accused Israel of pursuing an ethnic cleansing project in Gaza, and UN Secretary-General António Guterres has also warned that the intention from the Israeli side appears to be to drive out the Palestinian population.

The intention might be for the Palestinians to leave Gaza, for others to occupy it, Guterres stated during the COP16 conference in Colombia in October last year.

– We will do everything possible to help them remain there and to avoid ethnic cleansing that might occur if there is not strong determination from the international community, he continued.

Swedish doctor in Gaza: “A haze of blood”

The situation in Gaza

Published 7 July 2025
– By Editorial Staff
2 minute read

Foreign journalists are not allowed to enter Gaza, but continued reports are coming from healthcare workers about a catastrophic humanitarian situation. Swedish doctor Märit Halmin is one of 300 reportedly working at a field hospital and entered with a UN convoy.

It becomes like a haze of blood, gunshot wounds, explosion injuries, amputations, she says.

I don’t really have words to describe it, I had followed the news reporting before I came here and thought I would be prepared but it’s so terrible, she tells Swedish public radio P1.

When I entered Gaza and was driven here it was almost like a moonscape, there are no buildings. There are just piles of rubble and debris, dust and sand from destroyed concrete. Everything is destroyed, she recounts.

“Bizarre and brutal injuries”

Halmin has previously been deployed in Yemen and Syria, but says the proportions in Gaza are completely different with masses of injured civilians streaming in with very severe injuries.

I can’t even distinguish the individual patients because there are so many coming in with such bizarre and brutal injuries. It becomes like a haze of blood, gunshot wounds, explosion injuries, amputations, she says.

Help exists – but doesn’t get in

The doctor reports that there is a shortage of all types of resources, where the field hospitals have to improvise extensively and assist each other with the equipment they have, and she states that even her healthcare colleagues are severely malnourished.

I think the main problem right now is perhaps not that too little help is being sent but that somehow there’s a silent acceptance that the help doesn’t get in because of the blockade that exists against Gaza.

US approves $510 million weapons sale to Israel

The situation in Gaza

Published 1 July 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Crew aboard USS John C. Stennis prepares to move MK-82/BLU 111 bombs.
1 minute read

The United States has approved a $510 million weapons sale to Israel, including thousands of bomb guidance systems, the Pentagon announces. The deliveries come as Israel faces repeated accusations of committing genocide in Gaza, partially carried out using American bombs.

In a statement, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said the sale includes 3,845 Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) guidance systems and additional guidance systems for the MK 82 bomb.

“The United States is committed to the security of Israel”, the DSCA stated, adding that the sale “is vital to US national interests”.

The prime contractor is Boeing, based in St. Charles, Missouri.

The deal comes at a time of increased international scrutiny of US military support for Israel, as civilian casualties in Gaza continue to rise due to Israeli bombing campaigns.

Priest in West Bank’s last Christian village: “We live under constant fire from settlers”

The situation in Gaza

Published 29 June 2025
– By Editorial Staff
Today, Taybeh has approximately 1,300 inhabitants, and the village has maintained a Christian presence for at least 1,500 years.
3 minute read

Violence is escalating in the West Bank – including in Taybeh, the very last entirely Christian village in the region. Here, residents have experienced firsthand how extreme Jewish settlers are intensifying their attacks against Palestinian communities in the area.

– We live under constant fire from settlers, and under the crossfire of the Israeli occupation army, says Bashar Fawadleh to AsiaNews.

Fawadleh has been the parish priest at the Church of the Redeemer, which belongs to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, since 2021. He reports that the violence has forced more than ten Christian families to leave Taybeh since October 2024.

Taybeh, with approximately 1,300 residents, is located about 30 kilometers north of Jerusalem and 15 kilometers northeast of Ramallah in the West Bank. The village is surrounded by both Palestinian communities and several Jewish settlements. During the past week, residents, both Latin Catholic and Greek Orthodox, have experienced an escalation in attacks.

On Tuesday, June 25, dozens of masked settlers attacked the nearby village of Kafr Malik. According to journalist Ihab Hassan, the attack was carried out with support from the Israeli army. The settlers reportedly shot at civilians and set fire to cars and houses – three people were killed and nine were injured, one seriously.

Refuse to abandon their homes

Parish priest Fawadleh describes the situation in the village as desperate. In a statement to news agency ACIMENA, he says:

– Yesterday (Wednesday) evening, settlers attacked homes in the Karamelo roundabout, an area at the eastern entrance to the village

– The incident coincided with an attack by dozens of settlers on the village of Kafr Malik, which is near us, and which led to the death of three martyrs and the burning of many vehicles and homes.

Despite the violence, he says Taybeh’s residents refuse to yield or abandon their homes:

– We are living in very difficult conditions, but we are not afraid to remain in our land. We are not afraid of those who kill. We are a people who love our land and will never abandon it.

Aim to ethnically cleanse the area

The situation in the West Bank has been unstable since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, and settler attacks have escalated in recent months. According to analysts, extremist Jewish settler groups are trying to drive out both Muslims and Christians from areas they consider “the promised land”.

At the same time, radical settlers have gained political strength. Through their influence in the government – particularly via the Jewish Power and Religious Zionist parties – their agenda has gained increased traction.

Both parties are part of the coalition led by Benjamin Netanyahu and have pushed for expansion of settlements, increased arming of settlers, and a tougher stance against Palestinians in the West Bank.

Recently, The Nordic Times reported how Jewish settlers near the Gaza border openly advocate for ethnic cleansing, wanting all Palestinians to be expelled – so they can take over the area themselves.

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