DAWN, a D.C.-based nonprofit organization that supports democracy and human rights in the Middle East and North Africa, is asking the International Criminal Court to investigate former President Joe Biden, former Secretary of State Antony Blinken and former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin for possible complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity, citing the $17.9 billion worth of U.S. weapons transfers to Israel overseen by the Biden administration. “The bombs that Israel has used to destroy schools, hospitals and homes in Gaza were American bombs that they provided. Israel’s campaign of murder and persecution was carried out with political support that they ensured,” says Reed Brody, a longtime war crimes lawyer and a board member at DAWN. Biden, Blinken and Austin were not only “aware of what was being done with their ammunition,” but also “tried to stifle criticism” of their policies. Furthermore, says Brody, U.S. complicity in Israeli war crimes could extend into the Trump administration. He suggests that the ICC prosecutor “would be well within his rights” to open a probe into Trump following the administration’s sanctions on the ICC in response to arrest warrants issued against Israeli officials.
