RSS
Outspoken Progressive Democrats Critical of Israel Keep Mum on ICC Seeking Arrest of Israeli Leaders
US Reps. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) hold a news conference. Photo: Reuters / Erin Scott
Several of the most prominent progressive members of the Democratic Party and outspoken critics of Israel in the US Congress have kept silent amid news that the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor’s office is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense chief.
Both Republicans and Democrats slammed the ICC for targeting Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant amid the Jewish state’s ongoing war against Hamas, a Palestinian terror group that launched the conflict with its Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel. US lawmakers from both major parties decried the ICC’s decision to draw a moral equivalence between Israel and Hamas, three of whose leaders are also being pursued by the court.
However, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) released a statement in which she accused Israel of “war crimes” and expressed approval of the ICC’s announcement. She urged the US government not to intervene with the court’s processes.
“The International Criminal Court must be allowed to conduct its work independently and without interference. The application for arrest warrants is merely the beginning of a judicial process. The ICC has been a functioning court – it has seen convictions, acquittals, and dismissals, as we would expect from an impartial and non-political judicial body,” Omar wrote.
“The allegations from the prosecutor’s office are significant, and it has long been my belief that the absence of credible processes for justice are a key reason the conflict between Israel and Palestinians continues to escalate,” Omar continued.
Meanwhile, Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) commented on the matter on social media.
“Accountability for war crimes can’t be conditional,” she wrote on X/Twitter. “Seeking arrest warrants for human rights abuses is an important step towards accountability. It’s shameful for US officials to threaten the ICC while continuing to send weapons that enable war crimes.”
Some US lawmakers have threatened to impose sanctions on the ICC due to its effort to go after Israeli leaders.
Bush has been a fierce critic of the Israel, accusing the country of being an “apartheid government.” She condemned the US for what she described as facilitating a “famine” in Gaza due to its support for Israel. In April, she voted against providing additional funding to Israel, accusing the country of enacting an “ongoing genocide.”
Despite Omar and Bush’s statements, other members of the so-called “Squad” of far-left US lawmakers have been noticeably silent about the ICC’s controversial decision.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) did not release a statement through her office or on social media in response to the ICC’s announcement. Tlaib, the first Palestinian-American woman to serve in Congress, has long been a fierce critic of Israel. Earlier this month, Tlaib issued a statement calling for the ICC to “swiftly issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu and senior Israeli officials” over the war in Gaza. Tlaib has accused Israel’s military response to Hamas, which slaughtered 1,200 people and kidnapped over 250 others in its Oct. 7 invasion of the Jewish state, as a “genocide.”
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) also did not release a statement regarding the ICC’s announcement. Bowman has been a vocal opponent of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, accusing the country of committing “genocide” against the Palestinian population. J-Street, a progressive advocacy group, rescinded its endorsement of Bowman earlier this year in response to his hostile rhetoric regarding Israel in the months following the Oct. 7 attacks. Bowman currently trails Westchester County Executive George Latimer in the Democratic primary by double-digits, according to polls.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) similarly did not issue a statement in response to the ICC. Ocasio-Cortez first called for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas during a CNN interview in October 2023, an exchange in which the congresswoman struggled to explain how Israel should go about reaching its security goals. Last month, Ocasio-Cortez voted against supplying Israel with arms and compared the humanitarian situation in Gaza to “an unfolding genocide.”
Tlaib, Bowman, and Ocasio-Cortez all did not respond to requests for comment for this story.
More moderate members of the Democratic Party condemned the ICC for drawing an equivalency between Israel and Hamas. Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) called the ICC’s decision “not law but politics,” while Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) slammed the ICC’s announcement as “disgusting” and said the organization’s “credibility is now in shambles.”
The post Outspoken Progressive Democrats Critical of Israel Keep Mum on ICC Seeking Arrest of Israeli Leaders first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
RSS
Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
RSS
Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.