Unprecedented: US rights group drags Biden, Blinken to ICC over Gaza genocide

By Alireza Akbari

In a first, a US-based rights group has called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate Joe Biden, Antony Blinken, and Lloyd Austin for “aiding and abetting” Israeli genocidal war crimes in Gaza.

This landmark referral further exposes US complicity and direct involvement in Israel’s genocidal war against Palestinians in the besieged territory, which has claimed more than 48,000 lives, the majority of whom are children and women, in the past 15 months.

In a 172-page communication submitted last week to ICC prosecutor Karim Khan, DAWN – a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting democracy and the rule of law – stated that Biden, Blinken, and Austin must be investigated “for their accessorial roles in aiding and abetting, as well as intentionally contributing to, Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.”

“Prepared with the support of ICC-registered lawyers and other war crimes experts, the submission details a pattern of deliberate and purposeful decisions by these officials to provide military, political, and public support to facilitate Israeli crimes in Gaza,” the statement noted.

“This support included at least $17.9 billion in weapons transfers, intelligence sharing, targeting assistance, diplomatic protection, and official endorsement of Israeli crimes, despite knowledge of how such support had and would substantially enable grave abuses.”

The human rights group stated that its communication lays out the “legal and factual basis” for investigating Biden, Blinken, and Austin under Articles 25(3)(c) and (d) of the Rome Statute, both of which pertain to “aiding and abetting and intentionally contributing to crimes committed by Israeli officials in Gaza.”

“Not only did Biden, Blinken, and Secretary Austin ignore the overwhelming evidence of Israel's grotesque and deliberate crimes, overruling their own staff recommendations to halt weapons transfers to Israel, they doubled down by providing Israel with unconditional military and political support to ensure it could carry out its atrocities,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Executive Director of DAWN.

"They provided Israel not only with essential military support but equally essential political support by vetoing multiple ceasefire resolutions at the UN Security Council to ensure Israel could continue its crimes."

In a video posted on DAWN’s X page (formerly Twitter) on February 24, Whitson announced that the US-based organization has formally submitted its case to the ICC against the former American officials.

The submission further detailed the full extent of American support for Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, outlining a $17.9 billion package that included weapons transfers, intelligence sharing, targeting assistance, diplomatic protection, and official endorsement of Israeli acts of aggression.

According to the communication, US officials named in the communication provided this military aid to the Tel Aviv regime despite being fully aware that it would enable the Israeli regime to commit grave abuses in its genocidal war on Gaza.

Whitson underscored that DAWN’s submission to the ICC is a serious legal action rather than a symbolic gesture.

“The time has come to hold these U.S. officials accountable for aiding and abetting war crimes, crimes against humanity, and even genocide in Gaza,” she stated.

In the video, she further accused American government officials of deliberately ignoring Israeli genocidal war crimes for over 15 months, despite mounting evidence.

“These officials have ignored the evidence of Israeli war crimes, crimes against humanity, including indiscriminate and deliberate attacks on civilians and the deliberate starvation of the Palestinian population in Gaza.”

According to Whitson, former US officials have knowingly continued to provide various forms of support to the Israeli regime.

In a striking coincidence, as DAWN submitted its communication to the ICC – calling for an investigation into US officials’ role in enabling Israel’s 15-month-long genocidal campaign in Gaza – the Government Media Office in Gaza released new data exposing the sheer scale of Israeli genocidal crimes against Palestinians in the besieged territory.

According to Salama Marouf, head of the Government Media Office in Gaza, Israeli attacks have obliterated 4,889 families, leaving 280,000 families homeless since October, 2023.

The latest statistics also reveal that the Israeli regime has carried out at least 10,100 massacres in Gaza in the past 15 months, wiping out 2,092 families in the process.

The genocidal aggression continues despite a ceasefire in place with the Israeli regime continuing to attack ordinary civilians in different parts of the territory.

Early on Sunday, Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu suspended the implementation of the ceasefire deal beyond the first phase, which Hamas resistance movement termed a “war crime.”

DAWN filed the communication in response to the ICC Prosecutor’s November 17, 2023 call for parties to submit information relevant to the court’s ongoing probe into grave violations of the Rome Statute in Palestine, including Israel’s acts of aggression in Gaza.

The submission presents extensive documentation of key decisions made by the three American officials to provide Israel with critical support. It details how Biden, Blinken, and Austin approved over $17.9 billion in military aid, including advanced weaponry, while also offering active military assistance such as US-operated combat operations, intelligence gathering, and targeting support.

Beyond military backing, the document highlights the officials’ political maneuvers to shield Israel from accountability, particularly through vetoing ceasefire resolutions at the United Nations Security Council, effectively ensuring the continuation of hostilities in Gaza.

The communication also examines the public stance of these officials, noting that their official statements and endorsements emboldened Israeli acts of aggression against Palestinians. 

DAWN emphasizes that this combination of military, political, and diplomatic support provided to the Israeli regime amounts to direct complicity in the genocidal war on Gaza.

The submission also presents extensive evidence demonstrating how the named US officials fulfilled both the material (actus reus) and mental (mens rea) elements of aiding, abetting, and facilitating crimes committed by Israeli forces in Gaza since October 2023.

Biden, known for unapologetically referring to himself as a "Zionist", personally ensured the transfer of American weapons and funds to Israel, both within and outside US regulations.

In some cases, as documented by human rights groups, he even bypassed congressional reviews, prevented public scrutiny, and substantially contributed to the commission of these crimes.

Biden is also said to have ordered US intelligence services to work alongside their Israeli counterparts and deployed US intelligence assets to Gaza, contributing to Israel’s ethnic cleansing in the region.

On the political front, he authorized US Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield to veto seven UN Security Council resolutions, including those calling for the free flow of humanitarian aid.

He also directed Washington to abstain from voting on four resolutions that aimed to halt or limit Israeli military attacks on civilians in Gaza since October 2023.

Blinken is also accused of personally authorizing the transfer of military aid and direct commercial arms sales to Israel, despite objections from his own staff over potential violations of US law.

The submission argues that the former top American diplomat proceeded with these transfers fully aware that the regime in Tel Aviv was using these weapons to commit genocidal crimes in Gaza.

Blinken’s repeated political endorsements of Israel -- justifying and legitimizing its war crimes -- encouraged the commission of crimes by Israeli regime authorities, according to the submission.

DAWN’s filing also outlines multiple instances where Austin approved arms sales and military support to Israel, despite being fully aware that these weapons were being used to commit genocidal crimes.

The submission further argues that these approvals were in clear violation of US laws prohibiting arms transfers for the commission of war crimes.

On February 26, two days after Whitson publicly addressed the communication, DAWN’s X account shared a video featuring DAWN board member Reed Brody, a veteran war crimes lawyer.

In the video, Brody highlighted the complicity of US officials in Israeli genocidal war crimes, which, he stated, have been imposed on the Palestinian people for over 15 months since October 2023.

“In November the ICC issued warrants against Benjamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant for starvation as a method of warfare for intentionally directing attacks against civilians, for the crime against humanity of murder and persecution but they didn’t act alone,” Brody stated.

He also noted that, under the ICC Statute, individuals can be held liable for aiding and abetting crimes.

DAWN’s communication to the ICC lays out the legal and factual basis for investigating Biden, Blinken, and Austin for violating Articles 25(3)(c) and (d) of the Rome Statute, linking them to crimes outlined in the ICC arrest warrants against Netanyahu and former Israeli minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant.

These charges include war crimes such as starvation as a method of warfare and the intentional targeting of civilians, as well as crimes against humanity, including murder, inhumane acts, and persecution under the Rome Statute.

Additionally, the document details their role in the war crime of deliberately attacking civilian infrastructure under Article 8(2)(b)(ii) and their complicity in genocide under Article 6.

“That’s what we say,” Brody stated, emphasizing that the bombs Israel has used to destroy schools, hospitals, and homes in Gaza were American bombs, supplied by Biden, Blinken, and Austin.

In another video posted on DAWN’s X account, Raed Jarrar, the group’s Advocacy Director, criticized US President Donald Trump’s executive order from early February, which imposed sanctions against ICC officials. Jarrar condemned the move as an attempt to obstruct justice.

“Soon after taking office, President Trump issued an executive order imposing sanctions on the ICC prosecutor. President Trump is not just obstructing justice, he is practically trying to burn down the courthouses to prevent holding Israeli criminals accountable,” said Jarrar.

Jarrar also pointed to Trump’s plan to take over Gaza and ethnically cleanse its Palestinian population, arguing that such actions expose him and his administration to criminal liability under the ICC.

“On top of that, he’s been talking about taking over Gaza and owning it. All of these actions expose him and other officials in his administration to criminal liability of ICC for both obstruction of justice and committing war crimes even if the United States is not signatory to this treaty,” he said.

He further criticized the failure of US institutions to uphold domestic and international laws prohibiting military aid to the Israeli regime, underscoring the need for international legal action.

“When US institutions fail to uphold domestic and international law prohibiting military aid to abusive regimes,” said Jarrar, “we have a responsibility to seek justice…the ICC offers a vital path forward for ending these crimes and forgetting justice."

On February 6, 2025, Trump issued an executive order imposing sanctions on ICC officials in retaliation for their investigation into Israeli officials. Nearly a week later, the US Treasury Department sanctioned ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan under this order.

According to legal experts, this move could expose Trump to individual criminal liability for obstruction of justice under Article 70 of the Rome Statute.

Additionally, his reported plan to “forcibly displace” Palestinians from Gaza and seize control of the territory—if implemented—could make him personally liable for war crimes and crimes of aggression under Article 8 of the Rome Statute.

According to the submission, multiple credible sources—including the Biden administration itself—have documented how the Israeli forces persistently, repeatedly, and predictably used US-supplied weapons to carry out attacks in Gaza, in violation of international humanitarian, human rights, and criminal law.

Despite knowing that US military aid to Israel violates US laws prohibiting military assistance to abusive forces, the named US officials repeatedly intervened to block efforts to curb military support for the Israeli regime, which has been accused of massacring Palestinian civilians, including children.

These officials have also ignored pleas from United Nations officials and agencies and defied the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) orders to halt the sale and transfer of weapons to Israel.

A day after the submission was announced, Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Palestinian territories, described it as an “important development.”

“Important development. Never has international justice been at such a critical and historical crossroad,” Albanese wrote on X.

US-based scholar and author Assal Rad also reacted to DAWN’s historic move, noting that the Biden administration knowingly enabled Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

“The Biden admin knew all along what Israel was doing in Gaza, they ignored their own staff, American protesters, international law and norms, global NGOs and the UN, all in service of genocide. They paved the way for Trump to do the same now,” Rad wrote in a post on February 24.

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