There is finally talk of a possible ceasefire to end the carnage in Gaza, although the Israeli government is still delaying full acceptance, no doubt because the bloodlust of its extremists has not yet been satiated. While any cessation in the wanton killing of Palestinians by the Israeli military is to be welcomed, Jonah Valdez writes that the details of the deal show that it is almost the same as the one that fell apart over the past summer.

“This is the ceasefire agreement I introduced last spring,” Biden said, flanked by Vice President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Antony Blinken. “The road to this deal has not been easy — I’ve reached this point because of the pressure that Israel put on Hamas, backed by the United States.”

It was a clear attempt by Biden to claim credit for the historic agreement forged in Doha, Qatar — a final part of his legacy on his way out of the White House. And it was a bid to take some of the spotlight from President-elect Donald Trump, who declared the deal “could have only happened” because of his involvement. 

But experts and Palestinian Americans who have been advocating for a ceasefire for months saw Biden’s speech as an admission that a deal should and could have happened far sooner, a delay resulting in the deaths of thousands more Palestinians, as well as Israeli hostages. And now, as the deal is set to go into effect on Sunday, many worry about how many more lives could still be lost between now and then. 

“It’s welcome, of course, and very, very, very long overdue — this could’ve been reached six, seven months ago,” said Khaled Elgindy, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University who helped negotiate deals between Palestinian leadership and Israel in the past. 

It is grotesque to read that Biden and Trump are both trying to claim credit for any ceasefire deal. Credit? For what? For enabling to continue for so long what Biden could have stopped right at the beginning? Biden of course is trying to wash away the blood that will drench his legacy. He could have used the power that the US has over Israel to stop the genocidal slaughter a long time ago. Instead he, as usual with him, capitulated cravenly to Israel and its war criminal leaders, especially Benjamin Netanyahu, essentially giving them a free hand to kill civilians with impunity and flatten Gaza. This complicity in genocide is something that he should never be allowed to forget

The slaughter by Israel was so indiscriminate that even hardened US veterans were appalled at what was done, because they were familiar with the lethality of the munitions that Israel was using, supplied by the US, was capable of.

Josh Shurley, 49, a former army infantryman says military personnel have enough experience of conflict to view what they are seeing in Gaza as atrocities and feel a duty to speak up. Vice-president of Veterans for Peace, he says that over the past year there has been a swell of interest in the group, particularly from younger people.
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Former US army ranger [Greg] Stoker, 35, began campaigning accidentally. On 10 October 2023, he was at home in Austin, Texas, watching on television the Israeli military bombing Gaza in retaliation for the murderous Hamas attack in Israel on 7 October.

“I called my friend Travis, ‘Are you seeing what I’m seeing?’” Stoker says.

The two self-professed “nerds” had met almost a decade earlier playing Dungeons and Dragons. Travis Jansz*, a former artillery officer, had done two tours in Iraq and Stoker four in Afghanistan.

“I was like, ‘Are they seriously dropping 1,000lb JDAMs [joint direct attack munitions] in one of the most densely populated places on Earth?’” Stoker recalls. “It was so egregious, it was so insane, that we had to just call each other to make sure we weren’t hallucinating. To not be gaslit by what was going on.”

The ordnance being used, they say, create a secondary blast of over-pressure that can injure or kill anyone within a 50-metre radius, with children the most vulnerable. A signoff on the use of such bombs, they say, would carry an understanding they would create a high number of civilian casualties.

“I’m watching all these ex-air force colonels,” says Stoker, “these officers who are now pundits for CNN and MSNBC and Fox News, get up in front of the nation, on legacy media and just straight up lie about American targeting practices. What’s acceptable, what adheres to the law of land warfare. They were just absolutely lying about everything.”

The shocking cruelty that has been on display to a worldwide audience has had the effect of creating holes in Israel’s immunity to repercussions. For so long, the US has been like the bully on the world playground, protecting its protege Israel so that it could do whatever it felt like to whomever it wanted. But Ramzy Baroud writes that other countries are now stepping in to take action because the scale of the atrocities has been too much to ignore.

According to the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation (KAN), more than 50 Israeli soldiers are being pursued in countries ranging from South Africa to Sri Lanka to Sweden.

In one case, the Hind Rajab Foundation filed a complaint in a Swedish court against Boaz Ben David, an Israeli sniper from the 932 Battalion of the Israeli Nahal Brigade. He is also accused of committing war crimes in Gaza.

The Nahal Brigade has been at the heart of numerous war crimes in Gaza. Established in 1982, the brigade is notorious for its unhinged violence against occupied Palestinians. Their role in the latest genocidal atrocities in the Strip has far exceeded their own dark legacy.

Even if these 50 individuals are apprehended and sentenced, the price exacted from the Israeli army pales in comparison to the crimes carried out.
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The Israeli government understands that the issue now goes beyond individuals. It is about the loss of Israel’s historic status as a country that stands above the law.

As a result, the Israeli army announced that it decided not to publicly reveal the names of soldiers involved in the Gaza war and genocide, fearing prosecution in international courts.

However, this step is unlikely to make much difference for two reasons. First, numerous pieces of evidence against individual soldiers, whose identities are publicly known, have already been gathered or are available for future investigation. Second, much of the documentation of war crimes has been unwittingly produced by Israeli soldiers themselves.

Reassured about the lack of accountability, Israeli soldiers have taken countless pieces of footage showing the abuse and torture of Palestinians in Gaza. This self-indictment will likely serve as a major body of evidence in future trials.
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Pursuing alleged Israeli war criminals in international and national courts is just the start of a process of accountability that will last many years. With every case, Israel will learn that the decades-long US vetoes and blind Western protection and support will no longer suffice.

It was the West’s shameless shielding of Israel throughout the years that allowed Israeli leaders to behave as they saw fit for Israel’s so-called national security—even if it meant the very extermination of the Palestinian people, as is the case today in Gaza.

Still, Western governments, including the US and Britain, continue to treat wanted Israelis as sanctified heroes—not war criminals. This goes beyond accusations of double standards. It is the highest immorality and disregard for international law.

Things need to change; in fact, they are already changing.

Since the start of the Israeli war on Gaza, Tel Aviv has already learned many difficult lessons. For example, its army is no longer “invincible”, its economy is relatively small and highly dependent, and its political system is fragile. In times of crisis, it is barely operable.

It is time for Israel to learn yet another lesson: that the age of accountability has begun. Dancing around the corpses of dead Palestinians in Gaza is no longer an amusing social media post, as Israeli soldiers once thought.

I am not as sanguine as Baroud about how many Israeli government officials and soldiers will be held accountable for their crimes.

But at least it is a start.