Israeli Labor leader Merav Michaeli on the ICC move to investigate Israel for war crimes: “It is a very, very problematic decision. It does not promote peace in any way. It does not promote a solution for the two state solution. It escalates the conflict.” Though Michaeli says the two-state solution is “completely not on the agenda” for voters in the March 23 election.
J Street, Americans for Peace Now and New Israel Fund issue wishywashy statements on the ICC moving forward to investigate Israeli war crimes. It’s sad it’s come to this– “heartbreaking,” “sobering,” a “tragedy.” And J Street feels deep sympathy for Israeli families who fear for their children in the Israeli army. But while they say Israel must be held accountable, they can’t approve the ICC investigation.
Response to Netanyahu’s deal with right wing racist party shows that US Israel lobby is getting tired of fighting for the good Israel. That drumbeat of racism and Jewish supremacy is working on American advocates for Israel. They’re losing their own illusions. What was “dangerous and deeply concerning” two years ago is just more of the same today.
The ICC ruling on Israeli war crimes in occupied territory is a Rubicon moment for progressives. And it should get liberal Zionist backing as a real step toward 2 states. But they want no real pressure on Israel, just “criticism.”
ICC ruling that it has jurisdiction to investigate Israeli war crimes has put the country’s leadership on the defensive. Netanyahu calls it “pure antisemitism” and Israel’s US advocates, AIPAC, AJC, and Dennis Ross rush in to say that the ICC has no jurisdiction.
If Palestinian anti-apartheid activist Issa Amro was one of the Russian or Chinese human rights defenders being accused of bogus charges and unfairly convicted by a military court, we would have certainly heard his name on the Senate floor or during a White House press briefing, says Jamil Dakwar.
An Israeli military court could send anti-apartheid activist Issa Amro to jail next week for among other absurd charges using the word “stupid” with an Israeli soldier. An international campaign to stop Amro’s sentencing now includes the Canadian mission to Ramallah, novelist Raja Shehadeh and the liberal Zionist org J Street.
Earlier this week, a U.S. State Department official declared that the Biden administration “embraces and champions” the controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism. That definition notably defines certain criticisms of Israel as antisemitic.
Liberal Zionist groups have all but ignored B’Tselem’s bombshell report stating that Israel is an apartheid regime. And no wonder, the report impugns the progressive credentials of any organization that calls itself pro-Israel, and apartheid demands use of a tool liberal Zionists have rejected as allegedly antisemitic, BDS.
Liberal Zionists say there are 2 regimes in Israel and West Bank, and apartheid in the West Bank doesn’t undermine democracy in Israel. It’s a fiction, Nathan Thrall shows in London Review of Books. Israel’s discriminations against Palestinians demonstrate there has been an apartheid policy in Israeli government since 1948.