Bibi’s Biden Bitch
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last twenty-four hours, you’ve probably heard that the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant, and a dead Hamas leader. This is an important first step in holding the Israeli government accountable for its crimes against humanity in the West Bank, Gaza, and now Lebanon.
If Netanyahu travels to one of the 125 countries that are signatories to the Rome Statute of the ICC, he will be arrested. Notably, the United States is not among those countries, though that shouldn’t be surprising given that he came here in July to address Congress and was welcomed with open arms by most lawmakers.
Now, I’ve previously written about how not voting for Harris over the Gaza issue was idiotic and selfish. While I feel terrible for the people of Palestine, I continue to have no sympathy whatsoever for the Americans who were determined to defeat Biden and Harris because of their support for Israel. It’s not like Trump is any better on this issue, and he’s so much worse on everything else.
If you were to criticize the arrest warrants for any reason, you could argue that Joe Biden should have been listed as well. And I would agree. As someone who voted for him in 2020, and would have voted for him in 2024 if he’d accepted his party’s nomination, he truly is Genocide Joe. Yes, Israel had the right to defend itself after the inside job that was October 7, but they didn’t have the right to massacre more than 44,000 civilians and counting.
Now, it’s no secret by now that Joe Biden’s unconditional support for Israel likely cost his Vice President the election. Biden repeatedly claimed that Donald Trump was a grave danger to American democracy, and now he’s buddy-buddy with the man. But in order to prevent Trump’s return to power, he needed to appeal to the voters who were turned off by his support of this genocide.
Again, as disgusted as I am by Biden’s support for Netanyahu, I didn’t support the Uncommitted movement. But these people held the election in their hands, and they could still vote. American voters are pretty shortsighted, and it’s not just those on the right. But back to the ICC.
After the arrest warrant was issued, Justin Trudeau, the Prime Minister of the magical utopian land known as Canada, stated that his country would comply with international law and the arrest warrant. If Netanyahu travels to Canada, he will be arrested on the spot and sent to The Hague to be tried for war crimes. Admittedly, this is mostly moot, because I highly doubt Netanyahu is dumb enough to travel to a civilized country like Canada that supports international law. Trudeau likely won’t have to act on this promise, but it’s still far better than my home country’s response to the warrant.
Lawmakers of both parties have condemned the ICC for issuing the arrest warrant. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, the most aggressive warhawk in a Senate full of warhawks, even cited the Hague Invasion Act. He threatened to attack the Netherlands, or any other country that complies with the arrest warrant. The Netherlands, one of our NATO allies in Europe! Of course, I suppose they won’t be our ally much longer once Trump takes a sledgehammer to our relationships with our soon-to-be former allies.
Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, meanwhile, stated that if the ICC went after Israel, “we’re next”. My response to that is like that owl meme saying “O RLY?” Like, what would you expect? If you commit war crimes, the ICC will go after you. That’s how a civilized world should work.
However, I can’t absolve the Democrats of their complicity either. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who might as well switch parties at this point, signed the joint statement issued by a bipartisan group of Senators. He said that accepting the ICC’s jurisdiction over Israel was to acknowledge that they had jurisdiction over the United States. No shit! That’s the point! No country should be above the law!
Finally, let’s get to Joe Biden, also known as Genocide Joe. The man I voted for in 2020 and was prepared to vote for this year in order to stop Trump from returning to power. Even after the issue of Israel-Gaza likely cost his Vice President the election, bringing the man he claims to be so dangerous to democracy back into the Oval Office, Biden continues to be Bibi’s bitch. He refuses to condition aid to Israel even now (though, to be “fair”, his successor in two months won’t condition aid at all), and his Press Secretary, speaking for all of America, has stated that we’re working with Israel to consider sanctioning the ICC.
I’ll leave you with a double standard. According to official numbers, Russia has killed more than 12,000 civilians in Ukraine. Admittedly, the actual number is probably several times higher, but you could say the same about the civilian death toll in Gaza. To be clear, I do not support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, even if my country’s next President does. I think Putin should be locked away in The Hague, no questions asked.
But while Russia is the scum of the Earth for invading Ukraine and is rightfully condemned and sanctioned, Israel continues to get U.S. support even under Biden. I think that demonstrates that the United States doesn’t care about human rights at all. Russia is our enemy, so they must be sanctioned for committing genocide in Ukraine. Israel is our ally, so we must support them as they commit genocide in Gaza. When you hold such inconsistent positions on two conflicts, it’s no surprise that the world treats your word as though it has no meaning.
Then again, U.S. foreign policy does a 180° every four years. Maybe I’ll write about that in the future. For now, as sickening as it is that Trump will be our next President, I won’t shed a tear if Biden is locked away for his support of a genocide. He was willing to back Israel even to the point where he ensured the destruction of his own country, and that’s not what a patriot does. So I’ll say this from a leftist perspective: