February, 04 2025, 03:48pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
press@ccrjustice.org
NEW YORK
Today, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with President Trump in Washington, Palestinian Americans are calling on the Department of Justice to investigate Netanyahu for genocide, torture, and war crimes, and to enforce the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for his leading role in war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza. A submission sent on their behalf by the Center for Constitutional Rights urges the DOJ’s Human Rights and Special Prosecution Section to proceed with investigations and prosecution, and to immediately effectuate Netanyahu’s surrender to the court in The Hague for further proceedings.
“The person who is responsible for the killing and displacement of my entire family in Gaza, and who has an outstanding ICC warrant for his arrest, is being greeted with a red carpet at the White House. This is shameful, and sends the world a message that there is no accountability for genocide,” said Basim Elkarra.
The ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber issued an arrest warrant for Nentanyahu in November, finding reasonable grounds to believe he is responsible for using starvation as a weapon of war and intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population – both war crimes – and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts. Today’s letter cites the responsibility of the U.S. government to open investigations itself and support for it to enforce the warrant stemming from its ratification of the Genocide Convention, the Geneva Conventions, and the Convention Against Torture.
“Instead of meeting its obligations to investigate and prosecute Benjamin Netanyahu for genocide, torture, and war crimes, the United States is welcoming the man responsible for the 15-month genocidal campaign against Palestinians in Gaza with open arms and promises of even more weapons,” said Katherine Gallagher, Center for Constitutional Rights Senior Staff Attorney and ICC Legal Representative for Victims in the Situation in the State of Palestine. “The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Netanyahu for his role in the mass murder, starvation, denial of access to food, water, and medicine, and persecution of Palestinians in Gaza. The U.S. should move toward prosecuting Netanyahu now or surrender him to the ICC, not further prop him up and bolster his sense of impunity.”
The five signatories – Waeil Elbhassi, Laila Elhaddad, Basim Elkarra, Mohammad Herzallah, and Ayman Nijim – were all plaintiffs in a lawsuit charging then-President Biden, Secretary Blinken, and Secretary Austin with failure to prevent and complicity in Israel’s genocide in Gaza. A federal judge said Israel’s actions “plausibly” constituted genocide but dismissed the suit on jurisdictional grounds.
“A year ago, a federal court told us that Israel was plausibly committing genocide, but that the court’s hands were tied,” said Ayman Nijim. “Today, even though there’s an international warrant for his arrest, Netanyahu is visiting the U.S. with impunity.”
While genocide was not among the charges in the ICC warrant, its conclusions, according to the Center for Constitutional Rights, in fact support a finding that the underlying acts of this most serious human rights crime have been committed in that they confirm that Israel inflicted conditions on Palestinians intended to cause their destruction in whole or in part.
“As a Palestinian-American from Gaza whose family members have suffered immeasurably to Israel’s ongoing assault, I find it appalling that President Trump is meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu—a man facing International Criminal Court arrest warrants for war crimes and crimes against humanity,” said Laila Elhaddad. “This meeting is yet another reminder of how Israeli officials complicit in atrocities continue to be shielded by political power rather than held accountable. This is not diplomacy, it is complicity: justice demands action, not handshakes with war criminals.”
Today’s submission is a follow-up to a letter sent by the Center for Constitutional Rights in July in which it called on the DOJ to open a criminal investigation into Netanyahu for genocide, war crimes, and torture.
Attachments
Feb 2025_HRSP Netanyahu with Exs.pdfThe Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. CCR is committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change.
(212) 614-6464LATEST NEWS
Watchdog Exposes Millions in Medicare Advantage Lobbying Ahead of Dr. Oz Hearing
Health experts and others have sounded the alarm about Oz since Trump announceded his nomination in November, with many opponents highlighting the doctor's investments in companies with direct CMS interests and his push to expand Medicare Advantage when he unsuccessfully ran as a Republican to represent Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate in 2022.
Medicare Advantage is a type of CMS-approved health insurance plan from a private company that seniors can choose for medical coverage instead of government-administered Medicare. Critics often call it a "profit-seeking healthcare scam."
Public Citizen's brief points out that last year, "more than half of all seniors eligible for Medicare were enrolled" in these private plans that "cost taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars and deliver inferior care compared to traditional Medicare."
"Since their inception in 2003, Medicare Advantage plans are estimated to have cost taxpayers more than $600 billion in overpayments," the document notes. "These overpayments are expected to grow to $1 trillion over the next decade."
"Just seven companies account for 84% of all Medicare Advantage enrollment," the brief continues. "While lobbying disclosures do not reveal how much is spent on a single issue, disclosures reveal that these seven companies spent more than $330 million combined lobbying on all issues over the last five years, according to data from OpenSecrets."
Those companies are UnitedHealthcare, Humana, Blue Cross Blue Shield, CVS Health, Kaiser, Centene, and Cigna.
Public Citizen found that in 2024, they collectively had 328 lobbyists targeting the federal government, with nearly 70% of them specifically working on Medicare Advantage. Blue Cross had the most lobbyists focused on such plans (99), followed by Humana (33) and UnitedHealth Group (27).
"If Oz is confirmed as the CMS administrator, attacks on traditional Medicare are likely to move into overdrive," Eagan Kemp, a healthcare policy advocate at Public Citizen, warned in a Tuesday statement. "We should strengthen Medicare by improving it and expanding access to it, not weaken it through further privatization."
The Senate Committee on Finance is set to consider Oz on Friday morning. Since Trump returned to the White House in January, the GOP-controlled chamber hasn't blocked any of his nominees.
Most Popular