White House silent as calls grow to prosecute US citizens serving in Israeli army

Alameen Templeton

Activists are urging the White House to take action against US citizens participating in the Gaza genocide as Israeli soldiers after some posted videos of their atrocities.

Under the Federal War Crimes Act, the US can prosecute individuals for war crimes if either the victim or the perpetrator is a US citizen.

About 23 380 US citizens are currently serving in the Israeli army and are participating to greater or lesser extents in the unfolding genocide. About 600 000 US citizens have settled in Israel.

US citizen Bram Settenbrino, for instance, shared online videos of his engineering unit demolishing a masjid, homes and other buildings.

Another, Yuval Green, candidly admitted to CNN they would destroy and loot homes “for revenge”. He and two other stormtroopers are now refusing to serve in the occupation army, saying soldiers would enter homes without reason, shoot children and even kill captives to relieve boredom.

This followed testimony from six other soldiers who recounted harrowing testimonies of routinely executing Palestinian civilians merely to release pent-up frustrations.

Israel has not disputed the authenticity of any of the videos. Settenbrino was adamant in an interview with The Guardian that “I have not committed any war crimes whatsoever.”

Some legal experts suspect Tel Aviv and the US may be trying to roll out a “new normal” for public international humanitarian law, tearing up the Geneva Convention rule books and trying to forge a new understanding of what constitutes the “rules of war”.

The US has made it clear it believes it stands above the rules it expects other nations to follow in its attacks against the International Criminal Court and threats it has made against its personnel.

Prior to releasing requests for arrest warrants against Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant, the ICC had to warn the US its threats constituted a breach of international law.

Several US lawmakers at the time opined alarmingly that “we could be next” if they did not take steps to prevent the ICC from targeting their ally, Israel, that they have armed throughout the Gaza genocide despite the many warnings that have come their way that Israel is in breach of the laws of basic civilisation.

Thousands of US citizens are serving in the Israeli offensive force and their documented atrocities have underlined a troubling question – are US officials willing to shoulder their responsibilities under their own laws to prosecute its own citizens who break them?

Brian Finucane, a former US state department legal adviser, argues the US as a signatory of the Geneva Conventions is obliged to enforce them, especially against its own citizens.

Prior to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the US last week, the Centre for Constitutional Rights called on the justice department to investigate Netanyahu and others implicated in the Gaza genocide.

“US officials, government employees approving or facilitating continued weapons transfers to Israel, and individual US citizens currently serving active-duty roles in the Israeli military should definitely be concerned about their own individual criminal responsibility,”  Brad Parker, director for the Centre, said.

South African lawyers Tembeka Ngcukaitobi told the ICJ: “There is now a trend among the soldiers to film themselves committing atrocities against civilians in Gaza, in a form of ‘snuff’ video.” He cited examples of soldiers recording themselves destroying houses and declaring their intent to “erase Gaza” or “destroy Khan Younis” – potential evidence of genocidal intent.

“The vast number of such videos online demonstrates that the military leadership isn’t even trying to discipline the rank and file,” Joel Carmel, of the Israeli veterans group Breaking the Silence, told the Guardian.

He added, “More importantly, the issue is less about the videos themselves and more about what it says about the way we fight in Gaza. Destroying homes and places of worship is a day-to-day activity for soldiers in Gaza – it is the opposite of the ‘surgical’ strikes on carefully chosen targets that we are told about by the IDF.”