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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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Iran’s Supreme Leader Says Trump Is Lying When He Speaks of Peace
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting with government officials in Tehran, Iran, April 15, 2025. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Donald Trump on Saturday of lying when the US president said during his Gulf tour this week that he wanted peace in the region.
On the contrary, said Khamenei, the United States uses its power to give “10-ton bombs to the Zionist (Israeli) regime to drop on the heads of Gaza’s children.”
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One after departing the United Arab Emirates on Friday that Iran had to move quickly on a US proposal for its nuclear program or “something bad’s going to happen.”
His remarks, said Khamenei, “aren’t even worth responding to.” They are an “embarrassment to the speaker and the American people,” Khamenei added.
“Undoubtedly, the source of corruption, war, and conflict in this region is the Zionist regime — a dangerous, deadly cancerous tumor that must be uprooted; it will be uprooted,” he said at an event at a religious center in Tehran, according to state media.
Earlier on Saturday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Trump speaks about peace while simultaneously making threats.
“Which should we believe?” Pezeshkian said at a naval event in Tehran. “On the one hand, he speaks of peace and on the other, he threatens with the most advanced tools of mass killing.”
Tehran would continue Iran-US nuclear talks but is not afraid of threats. “We are not seeking war,” Pezeshkian said.
While Trump said on Friday that Iran had a US proposal about its nuclear program, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi in a post on X said Tehran had not received any such proposal. “There is no scenario in which Iran abandons its hard-earned right to (uranium) enrichment for peaceful purposes…” he said.
Araqchi warned on Saturday that Washington’s constant change of stance prolongs nuclear talks, state TV reported.
“It is absolutely unacceptable that America repeatedly defines a new framework for negotiations that prolongs the process,” the broadcast quoted Araqchi as saying.
Pezeshkian said Iran would not “back down from our legitimate rights”.
“Because we refuse to bow to bullying, they say we are source of instability in the region,” he said.
A fourth round of Iran-U.S. talks ended in Oman last Sunday. A new round has not been scheduled yet.
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Hamas Confirms New Gaza Ceasefire Talks with Israel in Qatar on Saturday
Doha, Qatar. Photo: StellarD via Wikimedia Commons.
A new round of Gaza ceasefire negotiations between Hamas and Israel is underway in Qatar’s Doha, Hamas official Taher al-Nono told Reuters on Saturday.
He said the two sides were discussing all issues without “pre-conditions.”
Nono said Hamas was “keen to exert all the effort needed” to help mediators make the negotiations a success, adding there was “no certain offer on the table.”
The negotiations come despite Israel preparing to expand operations in the Gaza Strip as they seek “operational control” in some areas of the war-torn enclave.
The return to negotiations also comes after US President Donald Trump ended a Middle East tour on Friday with no apparent progress towards a new ceasefire, although he acknowledged Gaza’s growing hunger crisis and the need for aid deliveries.
The post Hamas Confirms New Gaza Ceasefire Talks with Israel in Qatar on Saturday first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Report: ICC’s Khan Goes on Administrative Leave Amid Sexual Misconduct Probe
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
i24 News – Chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan has stepped down temporarily as an investigation into his alleged sexual misconduct by United Nations investigators is nearing its final phase, Reuters reported on Friday citing sources from the international court.
Khan allegedly forced sexual intercourse upon a member of staff on multiple occasions, the Wall Street Journal reported last week, linking the allegations to Khan’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then-defense minister Yoav Gallant.
A statement is expected later today announcing that Khan is going on administrative leave, according to a source in the prosecutor’s office.
The post Report: ICC’s Khan Goes on Administrative Leave Amid Sexual Misconduct Probe first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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