A United States-based human rights organisation has called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate former US president Joe Biden for ‘aiding and abetting’ war crimes in the besieged Gaza Strip, and incumbent US President Donald Trump for ‘obstructing justice’.
Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) said in a statement on Monday that it had submitted a 172-page request to ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan on January 19.
The request called on the ICC to investigate Biden as well as former US secretary of state Antony Blinken and former defence secretary Lloyd Austin, for their ‘accessorial roles in aiding and abetting, as well as intentionally contributing to, Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.’
Under Biden, the US provided Israel with $17.9 billion in military aid from October 2023 to October 2024 alone, when the Tel Aviv regime was waging a genocidal war on Gaza.
The figure was around six times the volume of Washington’s routine annual military aid to the occupying entity.
In January, several former US officials admitted that Israel couldn’t have committed war crimes in Gaza without the US military support.
DAWN’s request, reportedly prepared with the assistance of ICC-registered lawyers and war crimes experts, says that the former US officials breached articles of the Rome Statute, the court’s founding document, through their support for Israel.
This is the first time a US-based group has called on the ICC to investigate a former president.
According to the DAWN’s submission, the Biden administration’s $17.9 billion in military aid, diplomatic support, such as vetoing several resolutions at the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council, intelligence cooperation, and approval of Israel’s war on Gaza were ‘deliberate and purposeful decisions’ by the administration.
‘There are solid grounds to investigate Joe Biden, Antony Blinken, and Lloyd Austin for complicity in Israel’s crimes. The bombs dropped on Palestinian hospitals, schools, and homes are American bombs, the campaign of murder and persecution has been carried out with American support,’ said Reed Brody, a veteran war crimes lawyer and DAWN board member.
DAWN’s document stresses that US officials knowingly overlooked the dire situation in the blockaded Palestinian territory, despite public reports of Israeli crimes against civilians, and were ‘undoubtedly’ aware of the risk of Israeli war crimes from the outset of the entity’s genocidal aggression.
Elsewhere in the statement, the Washington-based rights group also said that Trump’s sanctions against the ICC could subject him to ‘individual criminal liability for obstruction of justice.’
‘On February 6th, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order for sanctions against ICC officials to punish them for their investigation of Israeli officials, and on February 13, the Treasury Department sanctioned ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan under this order.
‘This order could subject President Trump to individual criminal liability for obstruction of justice under Article 70 of the Rome Statute. Trump has also proposed a plan to forcibly displace all Palestinians from Gaza and to take over the territory,’ DAWN said.
The rights group added that if Trump’s scheme of relocating some 2.3 million Gazans is ‘implemented’, it would also subject him ‘to individual liability for war crimes and the crime of aggression under Article 8 of the Rome Statute.’
‘Trump isn’t just obstructing justice; he’s trying to burn down the courthouse to prevent anyone from holding Israeli criminals accountable,’ said Raed Jarrar, DAWN’s advocacy director.
‘His plan to forcibly displace all Palestinians from Gaza should also merit ICC investigation – not just for aiding and abetting Israeli crimes but for ordering a forcible transfer, a crime against humanity under the Rome Statute,’ Jarrar added.
Since October 2023, Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 48,319 Palestinians, predominantly women and children, with another 111,749 injured.
Many victims remain trapped under rubble, as rescue teams struggle to access affected areas, raising concerns that the death toll will continue to climb.
Elsewhere in the statement, the Washington-based rights group also said that Trump’s sanctions against the ICC could subject him to ‘individual criminal liability for obstruction of justice’.
Meanwhile, the Euro-Med Monitor has warned against efforts being exerted by Israeli occupation authorities to impose a new status quo in the West Bank through systematic destruction of Palestinian camps and the policy of forced displacement.
The Euro-Med human rights group said in a statement on Tuesday that the Israeli destruction of Palestinian refugee camps in the northern West Bank and the displacement of its inhabitants opens a new chapter of the ‘Nakba’ of the Palestinian people.
The announcement of the Israeli war Minister, Yisrael Katz, to expel about 40,000 Palestinian refugees from the camps of Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur Shams and make them unlivable, represents an attempt to impose a new status quo that makes their return impossible, in the short or long term, it added.
The statement stressed that the deployment of a unit of tanks and heavy army vehicles in those areas has no security or military necessity, but does impose military control on the northern West Bank.
It added that the Israeli occupation authorities may seek to impose a new reality in areas subject to the sovereignty of the Palestinian Authority (PA), which means cancelling the PA’s role in those areas, and would be a step on the path of annexing the West Bank.
The Euro-Med pointed out that Israel’s impunity at world platforms over the past decades and the international silence on the Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip have only encouraged the Israelis to expand the aggression and escalation in the West Bank.
The human rights group called on the international community to place actual pressure on Israel to end its military campaign in the northern West Bank, allow the return of the displaced, and to halt its policy of destruction and displacement against Palestinians.
On January 21, the Israeli occupation army began a military campaign against the city of Jenin and its camp, leaving dozens killed, and more wounded and seizing detainees, before extending the military offensive to Tulkarem and Tubas.
The aggression on Jenin has so far resulted in the deaths of 27 Palestinians and the injury of dozens of others, as well as the displacement of 40,000 people, while in the Tulkarem and Nur Shams camps, 12 citizens were martyred, and approximately 14,000 displaced.
- Hamas has rejected a report by the American daily newspaper The New York Times as ‘inaccurate’ and ‘taken out of context’ for misrepresenting recent remarks by a senior official of the Palestinian resistance movement
In a statement released on Monday, the Gaza-based group said the interview conducted with Moussa Abu Marzouk, a senior member of its political bureau, and published several days ago did not contain the full content of the answers, and his exact remarks were quoted out of context.
On Monday, The New York Times ran an article titled: ‘Hamas Official Expresses Reservations About October 7th Attack on Israel’ claiming that Abu Marzouk had voiced doubts about it.
According to the article, Abu Marzouk admitted he would not have endorsed the assault had he been aware of the destruction it would cause in Gaza.
Hamas, in its statement, said that Abu Marzouk confirmed that the large-scale surprise attack, dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, against the usurping Tel Aviv regime on October 7th, 2023, reflected the Palestinian people’s right to resistance and their rejection of Israel’s siege, occupation, and settlement expansion activities.
Abu Marzouk also emphasised that the criminal Israeli regime had committed appalling war crimes and genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza.
He’d told the New York Times that Hamas would not give up its positions and the Palestinian people’s right to use all forms of resistance, including armed resistance, to fight off the Israeli occupation and liberate their land.
‘The resistance weapon belongs to our people and its purpose is to protect our people and our holy sites, so it is not permissible to drop or surrender it as long as the (Israeli) occupation exists on our land,’ the high-ranking Hamas official told the newspaper.
Backed by the United States and its Western allies, Israel launched the war on Gaza, after Hamas and other Gaza-based Palestinian resistance movements carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against the Israeli regime in response to its decades-long campaign of oppression against the Palestinians.
Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has led to the killing of at least 48,346 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and the injury of 111,759 others since early October 2023.
A ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement went into effect in Gaza on January 19, halting Israel’s aggressive campaign against the coastal region.
A United States-based human rights organisation has called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate former US president Joe Biden for ‘aiding and abetting’ war crimes in the besieged Gaza Strip, and incumbent US President Donald Trump for ‘obstructing justice’.
Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) said in a statement on Monday that it had submitted a 172-page request to ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan on January 19.
The request called on the ICC to investigate Biden as well as former US secretary of state Antony Blinken and former defence secretary Lloyd Austin, for their ‘accessorial roles in aiding and abetting, as well as intentionally contributing to, Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.’
Under Biden, the US provided Israel with $17.9 billion in military aid from October 2023 to October 2024 alone, when the Tel Aviv regime was waging a genocidal war on Gaza.
The figure was around six times the volume of Washington’s routine annual military aid to the occupying entity.
In January, several former US officials admitted that Israel couldn’t have committed war crimes in Gaza without the US military support.
DAWN’s request, reportedly prepared with the assistance of ICC-registered lawyers and war crimes experts, says that the former US officials breached articles of the Rome Statute, the court’s founding document, through their support for Israel.
This is the first time a US-based group has called on the ICC to investigate a former president.
According to the DAWN’s submission, the Biden administration’s $17.9 billion in military aid, diplomatic support, such as vetoing several resolutions at the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council, intelligence cooperation, and approval of Israel’s war on Gaza were ‘deliberate and purposeful decisions’ by the administration.
‘There are solid grounds to investigate Joe Biden, Antony Blinken, and Lloyd Austin for complicity in Israel’s crimes. The bombs dropped on Palestinian hospitals, schools, and homes are American bombs, the campaign of murder and persecution has been carried out with American support,’ said Reed Brody, a veteran war crimes lawyer and DAWN board member.
DAWN’s document stresses that US officials knowingly overlooked the dire situation in the blockaded Palestinian territory, despite public reports of Israeli crimes against civilians, and were ‘undoubtedly’ aware of the risk of Israeli war crimes from the outset of the entity’s genocidal aggression.
Elsewhere in the statement, the Washington-based rights group also said that Trump’s sanctions against the ICC could subject him to ‘individual criminal liability for obstruction of justice.’
‘On February 6th, 2025, President Trump issued an executive order for sanctions against ICC officials to punish them for their investigation of Israeli officials, and on February 13, the Treasury Department sanctioned ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan under this order.
‘This order could subject President Trump to individual criminal liability for obstruction of justice under Article 70 of the Rome Statute. Trump has also proposed a plan to forcibly displace all Palestinians from Gaza and to take over the territory,’ DAWN said.
The rights group added that if Trump’s scheme of relocating some 2.3 million Gazans is ‘implemented’, it would also subject him ‘to individual liability for war crimes and the crime of aggression under Article 8 of the Rome Statute.’
‘Trump isn’t just obstructing justice; he’s trying to burn down the courthouse to prevent anyone from holding Israeli criminals accountable,’ said Raed Jarrar, DAWN’s advocacy director.
‘His plan to forcibly displace all Palestinians from Gaza should also merit ICC investigation – not just for aiding and abetting Israeli crimes but for ordering a forcible transfer, a crime against humanity under the Rome Statute,’ Jarrar added.
Since October 2023, Israel’s war on Gaza has killed at least 48,319 Palestinians, predominantly women and children, with another 111,749 injured.
Many victims remain trapped under rubble, as rescue teams struggle to access affected areas, raising concerns that the death toll will continue to climb.
Elsewhere in the statement, the Washington-based rights group also said that Trump’s sanctions against the ICC could subject him to ‘individual criminal liability for obstruction of justice’.
Meanwhile, the Euro-Med Monitor has warned against efforts being exerted by Israeli occupation authorities to impose a new status quo in the West Bank through systematic destruction of Palestinian camps and the policy of forced displacement.
The Euro-Med human rights group said in a statement on Tuesday that the Israeli destruction of Palestinian refugee camps in the northern West Bank and the displacement of its inhabitants opens a new chapter of the ‘Nakba’ of the Palestinian people.
The announcement of the Israeli war Minister, Yisrael Katz, to expel about 40,000 Palestinian refugees from the camps of Jenin, Tulkarem and Nur Shams and make them unlivable, represents an attempt to impose a new status quo that makes their return impossible, in the short or long term, it added.
The statement stressed that the deployment of a unit of tanks and heavy army vehicles in those areas has no security or military necessity, but does impose military control on the northern West Bank.
It added that the Israeli occupation authorities may seek to impose a new reality in areas subject to the sovereignty of the Palestinian Authority (PA), which means cancelling the PA’s role in those areas, and would be a step on the path of annexing the West Bank.
The Euro-Med pointed out that Israel’s impunity at world platforms over the past decades and the international silence on the Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip have only encouraged the Israelis to expand the aggression and escalation in the West Bank.
The human rights group called on the international community to place actual pressure on Israel to end its military campaign in the northern West Bank, allow the return of the displaced, and to halt its policy of destruction and displacement against Palestinians.
On January 21, the Israeli occupation army began a military campaign against the city of Jenin and its camp, leaving dozens killed, and more wounded and seizing detainees, before extending the military offensive to Tulkarem and Tubas.
The aggression on Jenin has so far resulted in the deaths of 27 Palestinians and the injury of dozens of others, as well as the displacement of 40,000 people, while in the Tulkarem and Nur Shams camps, 12 citizens were martyred, and approximately 14,000 displaced.
- Hamas has rejected a report by the American daily newspaper The New York Times as ‘inaccurate’ and ‘taken out of context’ for misrepresenting recent remarks by a senior official of the Palestinian resistance movement
In a statement released on Monday, the Gaza-based group said the interview conducted with Moussa Abu Marzouk, a senior member of its political bureau, and published several days ago did not contain the full content of the answers, and his exact remarks were quoted out of context.
On Monday, The New York Times ran an article titled: ‘Hamas Official Expresses Reservations About October 7th Attack on Israel’ claiming that Abu Marzouk had voiced doubts about it.
According to the article, Abu Marzouk admitted he would not have endorsed the assault had he been aware of the destruction it would cause in Gaza.
Hamas, in its statement, said that Abu Marzouk confirmed that the large-scale surprise attack, dubbed Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, against the usurping Tel Aviv regime on October 7th, 2023, reflected the Palestinian people’s right to resistance and their rejection of Israel’s siege, occupation, and settlement expansion activities.
Abu Marzouk also emphasised that the criminal Israeli regime had committed appalling war crimes and genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza.
He’d told the New York Times that Hamas would not give up its positions and the Palestinian people’s right to use all forms of resistance, including armed resistance, to fight off the Israeli occupation and liberate their land.
‘The resistance weapon belongs to our people and its purpose is to protect our people and our holy sites, so it is not permissible to drop or surrender it as long as the (Israeli) occupation exists on our land,’ the high-ranking Hamas official told the newspaper.
Backed by the United States and its Western allies, Israel launched the war on Gaza, after Hamas and other Gaza-based Palestinian resistance movements carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against the Israeli regime in response to its decades-long campaign of oppression against the Palestinians.
Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has led to the killing of at least 48,346 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and the injury of 111,759 others since early October 2023.
A ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement went into effect in Gaza on January 19, halting Israel’s aggressive campaign against the coastal region.
