ICC arrest warrants & recent Congress vote comments from major U.S. Palestine advocacy organization

WASHINGTON, DC, November 21, 2024— Today, the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Israeli war criminals Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, further isolating the U.S. government’s genocidal stance to endlessly arm Israel on the world stage.

This is the beginning of the end of an era of total impunity for the Israeli settler colonial state, which has been violently stealing native Palestinian land for over 76 years while emboldened by the U.S. government.

These arrest warrants also come at the same moment as undeniable and extremely overdue movement toward justice in Congress.

In today’s vote on HR 9495, which would give Trump unprecedented power to shut down nonprofits and student groups advocating for Palestinian rights, we saw 37 Democratic House representatives switch sides and back away from supporting the bill since last week. Only 15 Democratic representatives voted for it.

Last night, 19 senators, making up almost 40% of Democrats in the Senate, voted for at least one resolution to block deadly weapons to Israel.

Our movement has successfully driven a wedge in the Democratic Party, and there's no going back. The party is now split over arming Israel—all in spite of the White House repeating genocidal propaganda, Biden's latest aggressive attempts to sway senators’ votes, and millions in AIPAC dollars to keep politicians beholden to the Israeli apartheid state.

Last night’s votes are still very far from representing the 77% of Democratic voters and 61% of all voters who overwhelmingly want to stop arming Israel, but it is only a matter of time before we reach a breaking point. That's thanks to the tireless efforts of our entire movement for Palestinian liberation and millions demanding justice.

The people are done with empty political theater. Our tax dollars should be funding much-needed care for our communities, like housing and healthcare, instead of mass killings. Even as the Senate debated the value of Palestinian lives in a dystopian moment yesterday, Israel was committing another massacre of Palestinian people at Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza.

We demand an arms embargo now to cut off the endless supply of U.S. weapons that Israel is using to wipe out Palestinians in Gaza, whose lives are on the line with each passing moment.