The US House of Representatives passed legislation on Tuesday to sanction the International Criminal Court for it requesting arrest warrants last month for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials.
The 247-155 vote managed to attract only modest support from the Democrats, which observers say lessens its chances of passing the Senate. The White House opposes the legislation, calling it overreach. State Department spokesperson Matt Miller also made clear the administration’s opposition to the bill.
“We don’t think it is appropriate,” he said, especially while there are ongoing investigations inside Israel looking at the very same questions.
He said that the administration is willing to work with Congress on a response, but it doesn’t support sanctions.
Despite the Joe Biden administration’s dogged support for Israel’s war in Gaza, the remarks from the White House and State Department indicate that it is becoming increasingly dissatisfied with the war cabinet of Israel, whose brutal military campaign has undermined its attempt to fly the flag of US values on the moral high ground.
Biden said in an interview with Time on May 28 that there is “every reason” to think Netanyahu is prolonging Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza for political gain, pointing out that before the war, Netanyahu was facing blowback for wanting an overhaul of Israel’s judicial system.
All the indications are the US is now pressing Tel Aviv to end the war at an early date before the US election campaigning gets into full swing, but Tel Aviv is sticking to its guns.
Biden’s interview with Time also showed the US president and Israeli leader disagree on Gaza’s postwar future. Biden hinted that while all regional countries, if not the US, insist Israel should pull out of Gaza and accept a two-state solution, Netanyahu is adamant that Israeli forces occupy Gaza to turn it into a buffer zone free of Hamas’ existence.
Netanyahu should know that neither presidential candidate in the US wants to be tarred with the brush of being the accomplice of a baby killer.
It is Netanyahu’s inability to end the war that has exhausted the world’s sympathy for Israel as a victim of the Hamas-led attack on Oct 7. All signs show that the cogs of fate are turning against him and his bloodthirsty war cabinet.