Palestine advocates saw a small victory this week when the Senate voted against advancing H.R. 23.
The legislation would impose sanctions on anyone working to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute American citizens or officials from U.S.-allied countries. The bill has exactly one target: the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has sough to prosecute Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over war crimes in Gaza. The bill passed the House earlier this month by a vote of 243 to 140.
This time around Republicans could not find 60 votes to advance the bill to a Senate vote. Unsurprisingly, the only Democratic Senator to side with the GOP was Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman. “My vote follows Israel,” Fetterman openly acknowledged on Twitter.
The Democratic reaction to this effort does not mark some sort of deep respect for the ICC. Multiple lawmakers made it clear that they support the overall effort of rebuking the court over Israel, but felt the bill’s text was too broad.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) tried to change the language so that the ICC could be sanctioned, but not necessarily U.S. companies who happen to do business with the court. She pointed out that most Democrats agree with lead co-sponsor Sen. Tom Cotton’s (R-AR) goal, but simply want some small fixes.
“I know we share most of the same concerns he does in drafting the bill, but I think it’s overly broad, it’s not drafted in a way that addresses the unique concerns that we have with respect to the International Criminal Court,” she explained.
These sentiments were echoed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY). “The ICC bill is one I largely support and would like to see become law,” he said. “However, as much as I oppose the ICC bias against Israel, as much as I want to see that institution drastically reformed and reshaped, the bill before us is poorly drafted and deeply problematic.”
It’s also not an isolated incident. Criminal proceedings against the Court’s Prosecutor and Judges have been initiated in Russia and the Polish government adopted a resolution to protect Netanyahu from arrest during a recent visit, just to name two recent examples.
This week current and former presidents of the Assembly of States Parties of the ICC published an article at Just Security calling on the court to be protected.
“As the international legal order faces a critical moment, we urge States, civil society, corporations, and citizens worldwide to rally in defense of the ICC. Advocacy, education, and public support are essential to ensuring the Court’s resilience,” it reads. “This is a pivotal moment to reaffirm our collective responsibility to uphold the rule of law. Failure to act risks unraveling the multilateral framework that underpins global peace and justice.”
“The ICC, though young, holds a timeless promise. Allowing it to falter endangers the principles of justice, accountability, and international cooperation that are essential for a fair and stable world,” the article continues. “Now is the time to stand united, defend the ICC, and safeguard the future of the international legal order for generations to come.”
Republicans rejected the Democrats proposed alterations, but it’s safe to say that the effort to protect Israeli leaders from being prosecuted is not going anywhere. It’s unclear how the GOP will proceed from this point, but since the opposition party is aligned with their goals it does feel like only a matter of time before similar legislation is approved with bipartisan consensus.
Despite the arrest warrant, Netanyahu is scheduled to meet with Trump at The White House next week.
Ali Abunimah arrest ignored by mainstream media
Last week Swiss authorities arrested Palestinian American journalist and The Electronic Intifada executive director Ali Abunimah, who was in Zurich to give a speech.
Abunimah was violently taken into custody by three plainclothes officers, stuck in an unmarked vehicle, and taken to an undisclosed location for multiple days before ultimately being deported. The police accused him of “offending against Swiss law,” but he was never presented with any actual charges.
“This ordeal lasted three days but that taste of prison was more than enough to leave me in even greater awe of the Palestinian heroes who endure months and years in the prisons of the genocidal oppressor,” Abunimah tweeted after he was released. “More than ever I know that the debt we owe them is one we can never repay and all of them must be free and they must remain our focus.”
Abunimah has been a prominent Palestine advocate for decades and he was clearly targeted for this reason. Unfortunately, his horrific ordeal is not an isolated incident. It’s just one part of a global crackdown on those who defend Palestinians and condemn Israel’s crimes.
In fact, it’s not even the first time a journalist at EI has been targeted by European authorities in recent months. EI associate editor Asa Winstanley said police officers raided his home last October. He wasn’t arrested, but had his electronic devices confiscated.
“I share the shock and urge for a prompt investigation into this matter,” tweeted UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese after Abunimah was detained. “The climate surrounding freedom of speech in Europe is becoming increasingly toxic, and we should all be concerned.”
There’s a lot happening in the world right now, but one might assume this kind of story would crack its way into Western mainstream media, as this is a U.S.-based journalist being detained by the government of a foreign country for the crime of journalism.
However, that assumption would prove incorrect. Take a look at the major U.S. papers and you’ll find nothing about the situation or its potentially chilling impact on Palestine activism. You’ll find information about it in foreign outlets like Al Jazeera, independent websites in the U.S., and the statements of human rights groups, but nothing in spots like the New York Times or the Washington Post. Also nothing from the U.S. government.
“Not a single mainstream western media outlet has covered the Swiss authorities arresting Electronic Intifada’s executive director Ali Abunimah,” tweeted BreakThrough News’ Rania Khalek. “A ‘civilized’ western country is persecuting a journalist for exposing Israel’s crimes and the media is silent. Bunch of hypocrites.”
For more information on this saga, check out EI’s recent livestream in which Ali talks about what happened to him.
“All the other prisoners were just giving victory signs and waving,” said Abunimah. “And it was really one of the most touching things I’ve ever seen. So that tells you solidarity is everywhere.”
Odds & Ends
🏫 Trump to cancel student visas for Palestine protesters
🇮🇱 Yes Elon Musk, you can be both a Zionist and a Nazi
🇺🇸 Trump lifts hold on 2,000-pound bombs to Israel, removes sanctions on settlers
🇵🇸 The U.S. appears to be pushing for more ethnic cleansing in Gaza. Will it succeed?
🤝 Counterpunch: Gaza and Trump’s Ethnic Cleansing of the Century Proposal
🇨🇭 Electronic Intifada: Switzerland deports EI’s Ali Abunimah
❓ Al Jazeera: Does Donald Trump plan to force Gaza’s population to neighbouring states?
🎓 Haaretz: Rights Groups Worried by Calls for Jews, Israelis to Report ‘pro-Hamas’ Activity on U.S. Campuses
🇸🇦 Responsible Statecraft: Let’s make a deal: expect foreign arms sales to really explode now
🪖 The Guardian: ‘I realized we’re such hypocrites’: how growing numbers of US veterans were moved to protest over Gaza
⚖️ Responsible Statecraft: The Senate blocks ‘poorly crafted’ ICC sanctions bill
💰 Detroit Free Press: Rashida Tlaib: Politicians should not be allowed to profit from war
📖 New York Times: Florida Scours College Textbooks, Looking for Antisemitism
🎙️ Jewish Insider: U.S. civil rights commission to launch investigation of campus antisemitism
👷 In These Times: After Gaza Cease-fire, the Labor Movement Isn’t Done Fighting for Palestinian Freedom
⏰ Common Dreams: At 89 Seconds to Midnight, Doomsday Clock Now ‘Closest It Has Ever Been to Catastrophe’
Stay safe out there,
In addition to the Odds and Ends, here’s a story from the Guardian on a topic I haven’t seen covered in the U.S. media: U.S. army veterans and currently serving members of the military protesting the ‘war’ in Gaza – they recognize genocide when they see it:
‘I realised we’re such hypocrites’: how growing numbers of US veterans were moved to protest over Gaza…..josh Shurley, 49, a former army infantryman says military personnel have enough experience of conflict to view what they are seeing in Gaza as atrocities and feel a duty to speak up. Vice-president of Veterans for Peace, he says that over the past year there has been a swell of interest in the group, particularly from younger people….“Every month we are getting three to four times the amount of phone calls from veterans wanting to join us than previous years,” he says. He believes the more combat an individual has seen, the more committed they are to peace, despite the military’s culture of loyalty and compliance making dissent difficult. Shurley points to Maj Harrison Mann, the most senior ranking US army official to resign over Gaza and says each time someone speaks out it makes it less intimidating for others….“I was like, ‘Are they seriously dropping 1,000lb JDAMs [joint direct attack munitions] in one of the most densely populated places on Earth?’” Stoker recalls. “It was so egregious, it was so insane, that we had to just call each other to make sure we weren’t hallucinating. To not be gaslit by what was going on.”
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/jan/16/us-veterans-protest-over-gaza
And Harrison Mann, one of the first active duty members of the army to resign over Gaza last year –
I think immediately after October 7, anybody who follows this region, regardless of where they are ideologically, had this expectation that the Israeli response would be massive and violent. We saw in the first week after October 7 that the public statements of Israeli leadership indicated that they were interested in conducting some kind of collective punishment. They launched this air campaign where they were killing tons of civilians. So really from the first couple of weeks, it was clear that they were going to kill a lot of civilians, that that was not necessarily going to be accidental or a drawback for how they were conducting the operation….
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/army-major-harrison-mann-resign-gaza-israel.html
Israeli AI-propaganda bot starts accusing Israel of genocide, apartheid and being ‘white colonisers’
An Israeli social media account run by an ‘AI bot’ designed to spread Israeli propaganda about Palestine has started accusing Israel of illegal colonisation, racism and genocide.
The so-called ‘FactFinderAI’ used artificial intelligence to promote Israel’s excuses and false claims during its genocide in Gaza has started attacking the Israeli government – and other ‘hasbara’ [pro-Israel propaganda] accounts set up to spread pro-Israel lines online and ‘counter the delegitimisation of Israel’ – and even the Zionist, now-former US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
According to Israeli newspaper Haaretz, the account was one of a network intended to:
After, presumably, some ‘machine learning’, FactFinderAI account even went so far as challenging Israel’s narrative on the 7 October 2023 raid – Israeli media has long admitted that many and perhaps most Israeli victims were killed by their own side – and described Israeli troops as:
And while originally attacking United Nations relief agency UNRWA – now banned by Israel – it then began praising UNRWA’s work and described Blinken as someone who:
The Israeli government has spent huge amounts of money – probably subsidised by the US – on AI-driven ‘hasbara’ projects and accounts, money now seemingly well spent as it appears that machines do learn.
https://skwawkbox.org/2025/01/31/israeli-ai-propaganda-bot-starts-accusing-israel-of-genocide-apartheid-and-being-white-colonisers/