Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who remains wanted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity, completed a 7-10 July visit to Washington without a Gaza ceasefire or public tongue-lashing from President Donald Trump.

From Netanyahu’s vantage point, prolonging the Israeli assault on Gaza is beneficial for his political prospects.

Dithering, even during a genocide, made for a successful trip. Perhaps a deal will be struck later this week, but Netanyahu is not a man moving with any urgency. He’s facing very little pressure from allied governments largely content to provide weapons to Israel or look away from the apartheid state’s atrocities in Gaza.

At least for now, Netanyahu and Trump, the genocidaires-in-chief, remain joined at the hip in normalizing human rights abuses in Gaza with American arms. They are both content with a cruel and deadly starvation policy propagandized to the world by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s Rev. Johnnie Moore, a Trump ally.

A sycophantic Netanyahu played to Trump’s ego when he handed him a copy of a letter nominating him for a Nobel Peace Prize, notwithstanding the tens of thousands of Palestinians the two – along with President Joe Biden – have combined to kill.

Netanyahu’s defense minister Israel Katz is even pushing to confine Palestinians in a concentration camp in southern Gaza. The BBC, applying its typical cowardly headline, asserted “Israeli defense minister plans to move Gaza’s population to camp in Rafah,” euphemistically reducing a concentration camp to a “camp.”

Netanyahu continued to push Trump toward the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Gaza. He’s softened the language to appear more benign, but it’s ethnic cleansing he’s broaching with the American president.

He may find he’s pushing on an open door as Trump has championed the idea previously. Indeed, Netanyahu is delighted to promote the long-held Israeli goal as Trump’s “brilliant vision.”

According to Netanyahu, “President Trump had a brilliant vision. It’s called free choice. If people want to stay, they can stay, but if they want to leave, they should be able to leave. It shouldn’t be a prison. It should be an open place, and give people a free choice.”

Seeking to enlist other countries in his plans for ethnic cleansing, Netanyahu added: “We’re working with the United States very closely about finding countries that will seek to realize what they always say that they want to give the Palestinians: a better future. We’re getting close to finding several countries, and this will give Palestinians the freedom to choose.”

In short, the choice as Netanyahu puts it is between death by Israeli bombardment and starvation or the “free choice” of a self-executing ethnic cleansing, a steroidal spinoff of the Israeli government forcing Palestinians to demolish their own homes instead of being fined if Israeli forces have to carry it out.

Despite widespread popular disapproval of Israel due to its policies, a bipartisan mix of US senators met with Netanyahu during his visit.

War criminal

Washington has a generous share of sycophants and genocide supporters, but Netanyahu did receive criticism during his visit from Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Congresswoman Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.

Sanders referred to the Israeli prime minister as “a war criminal who will be remembered as one of the monsters of modern history.” Sanders’ great shortcoming over the past 21 months of genocide, however, rests in believing that the problem simply lies with Netanyahu and his government rather than being more deeply rooted in Israel’s political leadership across decades and the expansionist, anti-Palestinian state ideology of Zionism.

The rule of law in international affairs, of course, was long since defenestrated by Washington politicians. Today, Trump and his henchmen are keen to see just how far they can push the envelope in shaping the presidency in an increasingly authoritarian manner.

Rubio claimed that the United States “has repeatedly condemned and objected” to what he called the “biased and malicious activities of Albanese that have long made her unfit for service as a special rapporteur.”

The secretary of state was incensed at her for “recommending that the ICC, without a legitimate basis, issue arrest warrants targeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.” Rubio maintained that the ICC has no “legitimate basis” for issuing the arrest warrant for Netanyahu, overlooking the copious evidence compiled to date of his involvement in Israeli war crimes in Gaza.

Obviously, Rubio is also setting aside his own complicity in the ongoing genocide.

He also inveighed against congressional colleague Omar in his usual racist fashion. He’s a bigot and genocide promoter though far too few of his colleagues are willing to say it.

Directing sectarian animosity at Omar for having the good sense to note that Netanyahu is a war criminal, Fine tweeted: “I’m sure it is difficult to see us welcome the killer of so many of your fellow Muslim terrorists. The only shame is that you serve in Congress.”

The Electronic Intifada did note his comment from November 2024 that the “Hebrew Hammer is coming,” stating that it “reads as a threat” because he combined this language with a “bombs away” directive targeting Omar and Tlaib. Attempting workplace intimidation, he even recommended that they depart before his arrival in Washington.

Nobody paying a shred of attention was the least bit surprised he would bring his racism and anti-Muslim bigotry with him from Florida.

Fine then misspelled the name of Hakeem Jeffries, the House Democratic leader, while calling him “Jihadi Jefferies.” It’s an odd attack by Fine as Jeffries has significantly backed Israel in its genocidal violence against Palestinians while receiving heavy financial support from pro-Israel groups and associated individuals.

Fine may have a small gift for alliteration, but no skill in that department can obscure that his words promote only hate and animosity within the United States and genocide in Gaza. Words more at home in the Jim Crow South are entirely acceptable in the Republican Party and generally ignored by mainstream media.

Democrats are starting to challenge the words Fine throws at his colleagues, but they are far less eager to challenge him on his promotion of war crimes and genocide in Gaza.

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