RSS
The International Criminal Court Reveals Its Moral Bankruptcy

International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan speaks during an interview with Reuters in The Hague, Netherlands, Feb. 12, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
The shocking announcement by the International Criminal Court (ICC) that it has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is more than a perversion of international justice. It is an outrageous assault on the global order, and an attempt to destroy the leadership of free nations from within.
Never before has the international criminal system pursued the leaders of democratic countries in such a manner, as they are generally presumed to police their abuses through an independent judicial system. After these unjustified prosecutions, the world has taken a significant step backward from the diplomatic order that emerged after the Second World War.
In the first place, the issuing of these arrest warrants is a grotesque twisting of justice in the simple sense. Can anyone have forgotten why Israel found itself at war with the terrorist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip in the first place?
Israel unilaterally withdrew from the territory in 2005; two years later, in 2007, the terrorists of Hamas seized control from the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority by force in a brutal coup. After years of biding their time, on October 7, 2023, Hamas launched a massive, Iran-armed invasion of Israeli territory, in which they butchered 1,200 Israelis and foreign nations, committed grotesque acts of rape and torture, and took 251 living and dead victims (including 12 Americans) back to Gaza as hostages.
Israel launched a war against Hamas in response; it is a defensive war, meant to ensure that the events of October 7 — the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust — can never happen again.
Prime Minister Netanyahu’s office rightly compared the ICC persecution to the Dreyfus Affair, a 19th century incident in which France falsely accused a Jewish army officer of being a German spy, leading to his long-term imprisonment and an outburst of antisemitism.
The disgusting reality is that the ICC emerged out of a process that began with the world community’s resolute decision to prosecute the Nazi war criminals who slaughtered most of European Jewry. Now, the ICC has perversely used its mandate to attack Jews seeking to prevent another genocide against our people.
Now that they have been issued, the warrants have real and deleterious consequences. The ICC itself has no enforcement power, and indeed, there is still an unenforceable outstanding ICC warrant for the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin. However, many nations have already agreed that they will arrest Netanyahu and Gallant if they land on their territory, which limits Netanyahu’s ability to travel and represent the Jewish State abroad. Notably, Vice President of the European Commission, Josep Borrell, stated that the ICC ruling applied to all member states of the European Union.
More importantly, it makes Netanyahu and Israel itself seem guilty — although all objective evidence points in the opposite direction.
The United States, thankfully, has maintained a firm response, with a White House National Security Council spokesperson saying that the US “fundamentally rejects the Court’s decision to issue arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials [and is] deeply concerned by the Prosecutor’s rush to seek arrest warrants and the troubling process errors that led to this decision.”
Similarly, President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming National Security Advisor, Florida Congressman Mike Waltz, opined that “Israel has lawfully defended its people & borders from genocidal terrorists,” and pledged a “strong response to the antisemitic bias of the ICC & UN come January.” Incoming US Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) warned that the Senate would pursue sanctions against the ICC and Khan if they “do not reverse their outrageous and unlawful actions to pursue arrest warrants against Israeli officials.”
This bipartisan US response has been echoed by a few other clear-sighted leaders around the world, who understand the stakes.
The foreign minister of one EU state — Peter Szijjártó of Hungary — recognized that the ICC’s “shameful and absurd … decision disgraces the international judiciary by equating leaders of a country attacked by a heinous terror attack with the leaders of the terrorist organization responsible.” Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, noted his “deep disagreement” with the decision, which he pointed out “ignores Israel’s legitimate right to self-defense against the constant attacks by terrorist organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah.” However, these brave voices are few and far between.
What would the consequences be if these warrants were universally enforced? Israel would come under a state of siege, its leaders unable to leave the country for fear of being incarcerated in a foreign land, in contradiction to the ordinary rules of diplomatic immunity. There would be many other consequences — but this symbolic one is very important. As in the not-so-long-ago days when Jews could not leave their area of many cities at night without breaking the law, the ICC is trying to raise a new ghetto wall around Israel.
As usual in history, the destruction of civilization may start with the targeting of Jews, but does not end with them. Just imagine if Iran were to successfully seek arrest warrants against the US president, or North Korea against the leaders of South Korea and Japan — and leading democracies vowed to uphold them. Now is the time for the US and other responsible powers to push back, and hard, ensuring that the ICC never again has the power to commit such abuses of justice.
Lizzy Savetsky works with numerous non-profit and philanthropic movements as an outspoken advocate for Israel and the Jewish people. You can find her on Instagram @lizzysavetsky.
The post The International Criminal Court Reveals Its Moral Bankruptcy first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Germany’s Halt to Arms Exports to Israel Is Response to Gaza Expansion Plans, Chancellor Says

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz attends a cabinet meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Aug. 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Liesa Johannssen
Germany’s decision to curb arms exports to Israel comes in response to Israel’s plan to expand its operations in the Gaza Strip, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Sunday in an interview with public broadcaster ARD.
“We cannot deliver weapons into a conflict that is now being pursued exclusively by military means,” Merz said. “We want to help diplomatically, and we are doing so.”
The worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and Israel’s plans to expand military control over the enclave have pushed Germany to take this historically fraught step.
The chancellor said in the interview that the expansion of Israel’s operations in Gaza could claim hundreds of thousands of civilian lives and would require the evacuation of the entire city of Gaza.
“Where are these people supposed to go?” Merz said. “We can’t do that, we won’t do that, and I will not do that.”
Nevertheless, the principles of Germany’s Israel policy remain unchanged, the chancellor said.
“Germany has stood firmly by Israel’s side for 80 years. That will not change,” Merz said.
Germany is Israel’s second-biggest weapons supplier after the US and has long been one of its staunchest supporters, principally because of its historical guilt for the Nazi Holocaust – a policy known as the “Staatsraison.”
RSS
Newsom Calls Trump’s $1 Billion UCLA Settlement Offer Extortion, Says California Won’t Bow

California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks at a press conference, accompanied by members of the Texas Democratic legislators, at the governor’s mansion in Sacramento, California, U.S., August 8, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
California Governor Gavin Newsom said on Saturday that a $1 billion settlement offer by President Donald Trump’s administration for UCLA amounted to political extortion to which the state will not bow.
The University of California says it is reviewing a $1 billion settlement offer by the Trump administration for UCLA after the government froze hundreds of millions of dollars in funding over pro-Palestinian protests.
UCLA, which is part of the University of California system, said this week the government froze $584 million in funding. Trump has threatened to cut federal funds for universities over anti-Israel student protests.
“Donald Trump has weaponized the DOJ (Department of Justice) to kneecap America’s #1 public university system — freezing medical & science funding until @UCLA pays his $1 billion ransom,” the office of Newsom, a Democrat, said in a post.
“California won’t bow to Trump’s disgusting political extortion,” it added.
“This isn’t about protecting Jewish students – it’s a billion-dollar political shakedown from the pay-to-play president.”
The government alleges universities, including UCLA, allowed antisemitism during the protests and in doing so violated Jewish and Israeli students’ civil rights. The White House had no immediate comment beyond the offer.
Experts have raised free speech and academic freedom concerns over the Republican president’s threats. The University of California says paying such a large settlement would “completely devastate” the institution.
Large demonstrations took place at UCLA last year. Last week, UCLA agreed to pay over $6 million to settle a lawsuit by some students and a professor who alleged antisemitism. It was also sued this year over a 2024 violent mob attack on pro-Palestinian protesters.
RSS
Trump Nominates State Dept Spokeswoman Bruce as US Deputy Representative to UN

FILE PHOTO: U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce speaks during her first press briefing at the State Department in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
President Donald Trump said on Saturday he was nominating State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce as the next US deputy representative to the United Nations.
Bruce has been the State Department spokesperson since Trump took office in January.
In a post on social media in which Trump announced her nomination, the president said she did a “fantastic job” as State Department spokesperson. Bruce will need to be confirmed for the role by the US Senate, where Trump’s Republican Party holds a majority.
During press briefings, she has defended the Trump administration’s foreign policy decisions ranging from an immigration crackdown and visa revocations to US responses to Russia’s war in Ukraine and Israel’s war in Gaza, including a widely condemned armed private aid operation in the Palestinian territory.
Bruce was previously a political contributor and commentator on Fox News for over 20 years.
She has also authored books like “Fear Itself: Exposing the Left’s Mind-Killing Agenda” that criticized liberals and left-leaning viewpoints.
In a post after Trump’s announcement, Bruce thanked him and suggested that the role was a “few weeks” away. Neither Trump nor Bruce mentioned an exact timeline in their online posts.
“Now I’m blessed that in the next few weeks my commitment to advancing America First leadership and values continues on the global stage in this new post,” Bruce wrote on X.
Trump has picked former White House national security adviser Mike Waltz to be his U.N. envoy. Waltz’s Senate confirmation for that role, wherein he will be Bruce’s boss, is still due.
Waltz was Trump’s national security adviser until he was ousted on May 1 after he was caught up in a March scandal involving a Signal chat among top Trump national security aides on military strikes in Yemen. Trump then nominated Waltz as his U.N. ambassador.