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US Lawmakers Slam ICJ Demand That Israel End Rafah Offensive
US Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Jim Risch (R-ID) talks to the media after a meeting with Carlos Alfredo Vecchio (2nd R), charge d’affaires appointed by Venezuela’s opposition leader and self-proclaimed interim president Juan Guaido, on Capitol Hill in Washington, US, Jan. 30, 2019. Photo: REUTERS/Yuri Gripas
The International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) ruling on Friday that Israel must stop its military offensive against Hamas in the southern Gaza city of Rafah was mostly met with condemnation among US lawmakers.
Key members of Congress argued that Israel needed more time to complete its military goals against Hamas, a Palestinian terror group that launched the war in Gaza on Oct. 7 by slaughtering 1,200 people in southern Israel. The lawmakers also suggested that Israel has an obligation to defend its citizens and that the Jewish state should disregard the ruling by the court.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) lambasted the ICJ and urged Israel to continue its military operations in Rafah.
“As far as I’m concerned, the ICJ can go to hell,” Graham wrote on X/Twitter.
“It is long past time to stand up to these so-called international justice organizations associated with the UN. Their anti-Israel bias is overwhelming,” Graham added.
“The ICJ’s ruling that Israel should stop operations that are necessary to destroy four battalions of Hamas killers and terrorists — who use Palestinians as human shields — is ridiculous. This will and should be ignored by Israel,” Graham continued.
Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL), a member of the House Task Force Combating Antisemitism, also expressed disagreement with the ICJ ruling, asserting that Israel has a “responsibility to defend itself” and “rescue its hostages” kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7.
“This war would be over today if Hamas released the hostages and laid down its arms,” Schneider wrote on X/Twitter.
“It takes two to have a ceasefire and the world’s focus should be on pressuring Hamas to surrender and to increase access to humanitarian aid, not to undermine Israel’s legitimate military objectives,” Schneider continued.
The representative cautioned that Israel still maintains the “responsibility to ensure sufficient aid enters [Gaza] and to take appropriate measures to limit and prevent civilian casualties.”
Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, rebuked the ICJ and accused the international body of aiding Hamas. He also accused the organization of being antisemitic.
“The UN has chosen to support terrorists who use hostages as weapons rather than support a sovereign nation that seeks to defend its citizens,” Risch wrote.
“Once again, the ICJ at the UN has shown its hate, bias, and its predilection for antisemitism,” he added. “In particular, I am disgusted to learn an American judge voted for this ruling. The ICJ is both morally and structurally bankrupt, and the United States should immediately cut off its funding to this prejudiced organization.”
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) issued a forceful repudiation of the ICJ’s decision, arguing that the penalties levied against Israel by international organizations “appear coordinated.”
“The essential US-Israel relationship will not be weakened by globalist bureaucrats, and we should strongly oppose this dangerous gambit,” Johnson wrote.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), the only Palestinian-American in Congress, expressed agreement with the ICJ’s ruling and accused Israel of perpetrating a genocide against Palestinians.
“The whole world is taking action to stop the genocide of Palestinians, including the International Court of Justice,” Tlaib wrote.
“Where is President Biden’s ‘red line?’” Tlaib added.
South Africa first presented a case at the ICJ accusing Israel of committing genocide against Gazan civilians in January.
The ICJ on Friday ordered that Israel end its military operations in Rafah, which Israeli officials have described as Hamas’ last bastion in Gaza. The order also demanded that Israel allow war crimes investigators to probe its military operations in Gaza and substantially increase the already significant amount of humanitarian aid entering Gaza.
The ICJ has no enforcement powers, and Israeli officials have said they will not comply with the ruling.
The post US Lawmakers Slam ICJ Demand That Israel End Rafah Offensive first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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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.”
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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.
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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.