'We want an arrest warrant for Biden': Activists call for wider accountability for Gaza war

The International Criminal Court's (ICC) arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant have emboldened organisers to push harder for an end to the war on Gaza, anti-war activists and pro-Palestinian advocates told Middle East Eye on Thursday.

At the same time, they say the warrants are a grossly inadequate development, given the carnage still unfolding in Gaza.

With the death toll in Gaza said to be anywhere between 44,000 and 186,000 or even more, activists in the US said the development would be a step forward in making Israel a pariah state, though the priority remained to find a way to halt the flow of weapons to Israel, which the US government refuses to do. 

On Thursday, human rights groups were scampering to respond to a failed Senate vote led by Bernie Senators to block new arms sales to Israel the previous night, as well as to the other development later in the morning that saw Congress vote in favour of Resolution 9495; which, if passed by the Senate, would make it easier to criminalise and target charities and pro-Palestinian nonprofits in the US.

Beth Miller, political director of Jewish Voice for Peace, called the bill "a five-alarm fire for anyone who seeks to protect free speech, civil society and democracy".

Read more: 'We want an arrest warrant for Biden': Activists call for wider accountability for Gaza war