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The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo should immediately arrest Bosco Ntaganda, a Congolese army general sought on an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC), Human Rights Watch said today. Since January 2010, Ntaganda has been implicated in the assassination of at least eight people, arbitrary arrests of another seven, and the abduction and disappearance of at least one more. Some of these incidents occurred in eastern Congo, others in neighboring Rwanda.
Ntaganda, who lives and moves about openly in Goma, in eastern Congo, has also directly or indirectly threatened more than two dozen people whom he perceives as opposing him. Despite well documented evidence of his abuses, the Congolese government has not acted to arrest Ntaganda, whom it regards as essential to the "peace process" in eastern Congo.
"Ntaganda should be arrested and made to answer for his crimes, rather than being allowed to walk freely in Goma," said Anneke Van Woudenberg, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch. "He is a threat to the people of eastern Congo and is making a mockery of the Congolese government's policy of zero tolerance for human rights abuses."
The majority of those targeted by Ntaganda are family members or former supporters of the rebel leader Laurent Nkunda, whom Ntaganda ousted from the leadership of the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP) rebel group in January 2009 with the help of military authorities from nearby Rwanda. After taking over the leadership of the CNDP, Ntaganda announced that he was ending the rebellion. He said he would integrate the rebel troops into the Congolese national army to carry out joint operations with Rwandan armed forces against the predominately Rwandan Hutu rebel group, the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).
Ntaganda secured a position for himself as a general in Congo's army. The Congolese government said it would not execute the ICC arrest warrant against him in the interest of maintaining peace, contending that Ntaganda is needed to keep the former CNDP troops integrated in the Congolese army.
Ntaganda's putsch, and the subsequent arrest and detention without charge of Nkunda in Rwanda, deeply divided the CNDP movement. A number of Nkunda supporters objected to Ntaganda's leadership, though they took up their new positions in the Congolese army. Other civilians and activists with no links to the CNDP who have exposed Ntaganda's human rights violations and called for his arrest have also been the targets of arbitrary arrests and intimidation by Ntaganda and his supporters.
Assassinations, Disappearances, and Arbitrary Arrests
The most recent assassination occurred on September 14, when Lt. Col. Antoine Balibuno, a well known and respected former member of Nkunda's inner circle, was shot dead in the center of Goma. Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that, hours before his murder, Balibuno had been called to a meeting at a bar with Lt. Col Kabakule Kennedy and Lt. Col. John Asiki, two close supporters of Ntaganda. He reluctantly went to the meeting accompanied by close confidants.
At Kennedy and Asiki's insistence, Balibuno left the bar with them later in the evening and entered their vehicle. He phoned a friend from the vehicle shortly thereafter, leaving the phone line open. The friend could hear him on the phone asking those in the car why they were taking him to Ntaganda's house.
The friend on the other end of the phone told Human Rights Watch in an interview that Balibuno said, "You said we were going to Dallas [a nightclub in Goma], but now we're going to Bosco's house... This isn't what we agreed to. Now there's a jeep full of soldiers blocking the road. I don't understand. Are you going to kill me here?" Then the phone cut off. Minutes later, around 10 p.m., Balibuno was shot dead. A policeman who heard the shots and went to investigate found his body outside the old VIP restaurant in the center of Goma, with bullet wounds in his head, neck, and chest.
In the months prior to his assassination, Balibuno had repeatedly told Human Rights Watch and others that he had been threatened by Ntaganda for refusing to support Ntaganda's leadership of the CNDP. Less than a week before his assassination, Balibuno told Human Rights Watch that Ntaganda had instructed Kennedy to form a "commando unit" to carry out assassinations and kidnappings of those opposed to Ntaganda.
The murder of Balibuno immediately raised tensions between the Nkunda and Ntaganda factions of the CNDP. People close to Balibuno received threatening phone calls, warning them that they would be next. Judicial officials told Human Rights Watch they were reluctant to follow up on the murder case, fearing reprisals from Ntaganda. No arrests have been made, despite clear leads as to who was involved in the murder.
"President Kabila claims that Ntaganda is necessary for the peace process, but Ntaganda's brutal targeting of opponents and blatant disregard for Congolese law and basic human rights is no way to achieve peace," Van Woudenberg said.
At least seven other people with family or other connections to Nkunda have been assassinated in the past four months. One of the assassinations documented by Human Rights Watch took place in Gisenyi, a town in Rwanda bordering Goma, in which Rwandan state agents may have assisted in the killing.
On June 20, a small group of men, including at least one known bodyguard of Ntaganda and individuals whom witnesses described as Rwandan security agents, forcefully entered the home of 77-year-old Denis Ntare Semadwinga, an influential former member of the CNDP with close ties to Nkunda. Semadwinga was repeatedly stabbed in the chest and his throat was slit. Despite repeated calls by neighbors and family members to the Rwandan police for help, no officers arrived for at least two hours.
Friends and family members say that Semadwinga was targeted because he had been opposed to Ntaganda's leadership of the CNDP. He had been called in for questioning by the Rwandan security services before his murder and questioned about his support for Nkunda. According to reports received by Human Rights Watch, Semadwinga may also have been in contact with Gen. Kayumba Nyamwasa, an opponent of the Rwandan president, Paul Kagame. In June 2010, Nyamwasa narrowly escaped a murder attempt in South Africa. Individuals in Rwanda suspected of having links with Nyamwasa have also received threats.
In addition to those assassinated, seven other civilians and army officers critical of Ntaganda have been arbitrarily arrested on Ntaganda's orders since January, according to interviews with victims and other credible reports received by Human Rights Watch. Most were detained at the military intelligence prison in Goma. In nearly all cases, Ntaganda dictated what the charges should be, those arrested told Human Rights Watch. Prison and judicial officials told the detainees that they were instructed to treat their cases differently, and not to follow due process, since the individuals were detained on the direct orders of Ntaganda.
In three cases, judicial authorities investigated the alleged charges but found no evidence that the men were connected to any offense. However, the judicial authorities informed the detainees they could not release them because of Ntaganda's involvement. In other cases, there were limited investigations, or none. Some detainees later paid a bribe for their release and fled into exile. Others were released after several weeks or months without the cases being transferred to judicial authorities.
Others with no connection to the CNDP or Nkunda, but who had criticized Ntaganda, have also been targeted. Sylvestre Bwira Kyahi, the civil society president of Masisi territory, was abducted in Goma on August 24, most likely on Ntaganda's order, and held for a week in an underground prison. Bwira had been in hiding since late July following a threatening phone call from Ntaganda's "secretary" about a public letter Bwira had written to the Congolese president, Joseph Kabila, denouncing, among other things, abuses by troops under Ntaganda's command and calling for Ntaganda's arrest on the basis of the ICC arrest warrant.
In detention, Bwira was blindfolded, tied to a pillar, and repeatedly beaten. He was questioned by soldiers he identified as Tutsi and belonging to the CNDP, whose leadership is largely Tutsi, about why he opposed the group. Following pressure from civil society and human rights groups, Bwira was "provisionally released." Bwira told Human Rights Watch that before he was freed, the soldiers injected his leg with an unknown substance. Bwira is still receiving medical care for the complications caused by this injection and his treatment in detention.
Human Rights Watch received information about another four arbitrary arrests and disappearances in Gisenyi and Cyangugu, Rwandan towns bordering eastern Congo, in which members of the Rwandan security forces and possibly soldiers loyal to Ntaganda may have been involved. Those who disappeared include Sheikh Iddy Abbasi, a former supporter of Nkunda who was abducted outside his home in Gisenyi in March 2010 and has not been seen since.
"We urge the Rwandan authorities to investigate the killings and disappearances which occurred on Rwandan territory and bring to justice those responsible," Van Woudenberg said.
A Record of Human Rights Violations
Ntaganda is sought on an arrest warrant from the ICC for the war crime of enlisting and conscripting children as soldiers and using them in hostilities in 2002 and 2003 in the Ituri district of eastern Congo. In addition to the war crimes that form the basis of the ICC arrest warrant, Ntaganda was also allegedly in command of combatants who arrested, tortured, or killed hundreds of civilians in Ituri between August 2002 and March 2003. United Nations peacekeepers have said that troops under Ntaganda's command were also responsible for killing a Kenyan UN peacekeeper in January 2004 and for kidnapping a Moroccan peacekeeper later that year.
More recently, in November 2008 in North Kivu, CNDP troops under Ntaganda's command killed an estimated 150 people in the town of Kiwanja, one of the worst massacres in North Kivu in the past two years. In 2009, after Ntaganda was made a general in the Congolese army, troops under his command deliberately killed at least 270 civilians in the area between Nyabiondo and Pinga, in western Masisi territory. In the first six months of 2010, Human Rights Watch documented 25 attacks on villages in the same area, resulting in the deaths of at least 105 civilians. The operations may in part have been motivated by an effort to gain control of the area's fertile farmland. Congolese army soldiers interviewed by Human Rights Watch said Ntaganda played a command role in these attacks.
The ICC has jurisdiction over these additional grave international crimes. Human Rights Watch has called on the ICC prosecutor to investigate these incidents and charge Ntaganda if the evidence permits.
On October 11, French authorities arrested Callixte Mbarushimana in France, the executive secretary of the Rwandan FDLR, the group against whom Ntaganda purports to be fighting. Mbarushimana was sought on an ICC arrest for serious crimes committed in eastern Congo in 2009.
"The failure to hold Ntaganda accountable for his past crimes has left him at liberty to continue to perpetrate atrocities," said Van Woudenberg. "Ending impunity for Ntaganda's crimes is essential for breaking the cycle of violence and ensuring that all sides to the conflict face justice for their brutal attacks on civilians."
Trouble for the UN Mission
The participation of Ntaganda in military operations in eastern Congo also causes significant problems for the UN stabilization mission in Congo, MONUSCO. On October 6, Reuters News Agency published an exclusive interview with Ntaganda in which he confirmed he played a leading role in military operations in eastern Congo, known as Amani Leo, backed by UN peacekeepers.
Ntaganda's confirmation of his role is backed up by internal army meeting notes, signed military orders, and confirmation from other army officers that Ntaganda gives them orders, all of which came to light in 2009. The Congolese government continues to deny that Ntaganda plays a role in operation Amani Leo.
Under MONUSCO's conditionality policy for support to Congolese army military operations, adopted in late 2009, and legal advice from the UN's own lawyers, MONUSCO may not support an operation in which an individual sought on an ICC arrest warrant plays a role.
The UN's Office of Legal Affairs (OLA) provided the following specific advice to the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo in April 2009: "There would also be significant legal obstacles to MONUC participating in the operation envisaged in the Directive if Bosco Ntaganda were to play a prominent role in that operation, whether as a commander of, or senior officer in, one or more of the FARDC units involved, or as a staff officer involved in the planning or execution of the operation or otherwise."
The UN Security Council is due to discuss the UN peacekeeping mission in Congo this week in New York.
"The UN mission should provide support to the Congolese government to arrest Ntaganda, as they have done in others cases of human rights abusers, and suspend their support of Amani Leo operations until this has been done," Van Woudenberg said. "Failure to do so places the UN peacekeepers in the untenable position of supporting a suspected war criminal wanted by the ICC."
Human Rights Watch is one of the world's leading independent organizations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights. By focusing international attention where human rights are violated, we give voice to the oppressed and hold oppressors accountable for their crimes. Our rigorous, objective investigations and strategic, targeted advocacy build intense pressure for action and raise the cost of human rights abuse. For 30 years, Human Rights Watch has worked tenaciously to lay the legal and moral groundwork for deep-rooted change and has fought to bring greater justice and security to people around the world.
"Banning asylum and punishing people seeking safety only causes more chaos and dysfunction at the border, and more refugee deaths," said one advocacy center.
While fearful of what a second Trump administration would mean for immigrants, rights advocates this weekend sounded the alarm over messaging on the southern border from Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee.
The vice president traveled to Douglas, Arizona on Friday for her first campaign trip to the U.S.-Mexcio border. There, she met with Border Patrol agents—she was photographed walking with them next to a barbed-wire-covered wall—and delivered what The New York Timescalled "one of her party's toughest speeches on immigration and border policy in a generation."
After Harris' address, the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies (CGRS)
expressed agreement with her that "we need to build a fair, orderly, and humane immigration system," while also warning that her "proposed border policies would do the opposite."
"Banning asylum and punishing people seeking safety only causes more chaos and dysfunction at the border, and more refugee deaths," CGRS said. "We want real solutions to the humanitarian challenges at our border, too. But these policies of cruelty and exclusion fail us, every single time."
CGRS urged Harris to embrace the #WelcomeWithDignity Campaign's policy
solutions: restore access to asylum at the border; support existing systems and launch new ones to receive and integrate people seeking safety; create a more effective and timely immigration system; and strengthen refugee resettlement programs and other pathways to the United States.
During the speech and on social media, Harris emphasized combating drugs. She said: "As attorney general of California, I prosecuted transnational criminal organizations that trafficked guns, drugs, and human beings. I know the importance of safety and security, especially at our border. Today, I visited the U.S.-Mexico border and spoke with Customs and Border Protection officials about our progress to secure our border and disrupt the flow of illegal fentanyl into our nation."
She also took aim at her GOP opponent, former President Donald Trump, for his infamous family separation policy and for killing a bipartisan border bill. While the Republican attacked the legislation so he could campaign on immigration and promise mass deportations, progressives in Congress and rights advocates opposed its "extreme and unworkable enforcement-only policies."
The Democratic nominee also vowed to strengthen asylum restrictions that President Joe Biden imposed in June, which are being challenged in court by critics including the ACLU. The administration's policy change has been followed by a drop in border numbers but also "rampant rights violations," according to migrant rights groups.
Pushing back against Harris' framing that asylum-seekers simply need to go to legal entry points rather than crossing the border unlawfully, Christina Asencio, a research director at Human Rights First, explained on Friday that the border bill would do what the June asylum ban has already done: suspend processing at ports of entry unless people obtain an appointment.
"Human Rights First has documented the life-threatening harm families with children and adults face in Mexico while forced to wait up to nine months for an appointment [through] an app that's only available in three languages," she added. "This is not a solution."
In a social media thread highlighting reports of agents "removing asylum-seekers who explicitly communicated their fear of return in violation of refugee law" since the introduction of Biden's ban, Robyn Barnard, an attorney with the group, said:
Human Rights First and others have interviewed asylum-seekers who expressly requested asylum, relayed their past persecution, explained their asylum claims, showed agents their injuries, had anxiety attacks, sobbed, and begged to be heard, but were ignored.
Other families recounted that not only were they not asked whether they had a fear of return or why they came to the United States, they were not even allowed to speak.
Harris' pledge to toughen the June policy followed Thursday reporting by CBS News that the Biden-Harris administration "is planning to soon issue a regulation to cement the sweeping asylum restrictions it enacted at the southern border" earlier this year.
In response to the reporting, the immigrant youth-led group United We Dream (UWD)
declared, "There's no other way to say this: Turning your backs on people seeking asylum is WRONG and it keeps us stuck in the past with failed policies."
"Communities nationwide agree that our immigration system must be humane, efficient, and fair above all else. Those seeking safety deserve respect and dignity," UWD said. "Our message to the Biden-Harris administration remains clear: We will organize—now and in the future—against any attempts to gut asylum and put our people's lives on the line."
UWD also pointed to a September 4 letter in which it led over 80 groups in warning Biden and Harris that the bipartisan Border Act of 2024 "would cause irreparable harm to our asylum system, our standing on the global stage, and most importantly, it would cause countless deaths at our borders and in other countries."
While many immigrant rights advocates are frustrated with both Biden and Harris, multiple groups continue to support her candidacy—given that the alternative is Trump—and even some critics praised certain parts of her Friday remarks.
"It was good to hear [Harris] recognize the need for more asylum officers and immigration judges, which are a must to tackle asylum backlogs and enable timely asylum decisions," said Eleanor Acer, director of Human Rights First's refugee protection program. "Real solutions like these are needed, NOT bans and bills that cut due process and deny access to asylum."
Immigrant rights advocate Erika Andiola, "who has lived through some of the most traumatic experiences because of our broken immigration system," said that "I was so glad to hear her talk about our undocumented community and a promise to fight for a path to citizenship."
"I'm so glad to see Harris pushing back on Trump's scapegoating of immigrants," she continued. "I wish she would have also talked about his plan for mass deportations and the consequences that could have. Consequences not only for our immigrant community, but also for millions of mixed-status families and our economy overall."
The advocate also expressed sadness over her "promise to criminalize reentries" and urged Harris to "move away from starting the conversation on this issue speaking about drugs and criminal activity at the border," stressing that "yes, those are important issues for voters, but conflating security with human migration just creates more fear in the public about our people."
"We must change the narrative about our immigrant community," she argued. "We must show the humanity, tell the stories, and detangle the problems we as immigrants face from the need of the American people to feel safe. Immigrants, we are part of the fabric of this country. We are your neighbors, classmates, and coworkers. That's where the conversation should start."
"To those insisting that, 'This is not the time!' to have those other conversations, I say: This is *exactly* when we need to be having them," said one climate scientist.
This is a developing story. Please check back for possible updates...
As emergency crews have worked through the weekend to rescue people and restore essential services across several southeastern U.S. states, green groups in recent days have pointed to the death and damage from Hurricane Helene as just the latest evidence of the need for sweeping action on the climate emergency.
Helene made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane with 140 mph winds in Florida's Big Bend region late Thursday, then left a path of destruction across hundreds of miles of Georgia, the Carolinas, and Tennessee. As of early Sunday, at least 64 people are confirmed dead—including at least two people in Virginia—though that figure is expected to rise.
"Moody's Analytics said it expects $15 billion to $26 billion in property damage," The Associated Pressreported Sunday on what is now a post-tropical cyclone. "AccuWeather's preliminary estimate of the total damage and economic loss from Helene in the U.S. is between $95 billion and $110 billion."
The youth-led Sunrise Movementsaid Sunday that "any reporting about Hurricane Helene needs to be clear—this is not normal. This is not just a tragedy. This is a crime. Fossil fuel companies have known this would happen for the last 50 years. They lied to the public and bought out our government just to make a profit. Make them pay."
Greenpeace USA similarly declared on social media Saturday that "#HURRICANEHELENE MUST BE A WAKE-UP CALL FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE!"
"We are heartbroken," the group said, noting the dozens of people killed. "Communities have been devastated. The corporations heating the climate must be held accountable."
Dozens of communities across the United States have already
launched climate liability lawsuits against Big Oil, which knew for decades that fossil fuels would heat the planet but promoted disinformation and raked in huge profits. Recently there have been calls for legal action by the U.S. Department of Justice and potential homicide cases brought by state and local prosecutors.
"Our hearts and solidarity go out to everyone facing the devastation. Please support mutual aid relief efforts and demand oil companies #StartDrillingStartPaying!" Greenpeace said Saturday.
Sunrise executive director Aru Shiney-Aja on Sunday offered a "friendly reminder that fossil fuel companies get 20 BILLION dollars in [government] subsidies every year," while the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) "runs out of money to respond to disasters like Helene."
Both Shiney-Aja and Greenpeace shared footage from Asheville, North Carolina, which endured what Ryan Cole, the assistant director of Buncombe County Emergency Services, described as "biblical flooding."
Just two years ago,
The New Ledereported that "from wildfires racing through the drought-stricken West, to heavy flooding in the central and eastern regions of the United States, extreme weather events are spurring many Americans to seek refuge in more environmentally stable cities, so-called 'climate havens,'" including Asheville.
This weekend, Asheville—which is over 2,000 feet above sea level and more than 250 miles from the coast—and surrounding communities are contending with disrupted water, power, and communications services due to what officials are reportedly calling "Buncombe County's own Hurricane Katrina."
Noting Asheville's elevation and distance from the coast, Lucky Tran, director of science communications and media relations at Columbia University in New York City, said Sunday that "no place is safe from climate change. We all suffer the consequences. We must all take action. We are all in this together."
As
The New York Timesreported Sunday:
People across western North Carolina chainsawed their way to loved ones and drove for hours Saturday on dwindling gas tanks in search of food and power, in what one resident described as a "mini-apocalypse" after Hurricane Helene.
Authorities said the region was facing a historic disaster a day after the powerful storm swept through the Southeast, downing power lines and washing out highways. Landslides, spotty cellphone service, and a gas shortage complicated rescue and recovery efforts. Some stranded people were being airlifted to safety.
Antonia Juhasz, a senior researcher on fossil fuels at Human Rights Watch,
said Saturday that "Asheville, North Carolina is being wiped off the map by the worst storm to hit the region in a generation. This is what the climate crisis looks like: the production and use of fossil fuels changes the climate, intensifying extreme weather events and making them more frequent."
As hurricane scientist Jeff Masters detailed Friday, fossil fuel-driven climate change "makes the strongest hurricanes stronger," boosts rainfall from such storms, leads to more rapid intensification, and causes sea-level rise that increases storm surge damage.
In an effort to emphasize the climate change connection to extreme weather, from heatwaves to hurricanes, some climate campaigners have suggested naming such events after oil and gas companies.
"What did a Helene ever do to deserve getting this horrific hurricane named after her? We should be naming hurricanes after fossil fuel CEOs instead. How about Hurricane Darren?" said Fossil Free Media director Jamie, taking aim at ExxonMobil's Darren Woods.
Daniel Swain, a climate scientist focused on extreme weather, said on social media Saturday, "The images and stories just beginning to emerge from eastern TN and western NC in the aftermath of widespread catastrophic flooding wrought by Helene are genuinely horrifying, and the full scale of the disaster is likely as yet untold."
"This was, by far, the most extreme rain event in observed record across much/most of the region, where reliable records date back over 100 [years]. Unsurprisingly, the flooding which resulted has also been widespread, historic, and generally catastrophic across a broad region," he explained. "These floods, which were concentrated in valleys containing rivers and typically modest creeks and streams, involved extremely large volumes of water moving downhill at high velocity. This was not a gradual or 'gentle' inundation by any means."
Swain stressed that "sometimes 'worst-case' scenarios really do come to pass, and I think we often lack the collective imagination to fully envision what that looks like. That's a problem, because being honest about risks that exist is [the] first step toward mitigating them and preventing harm!"
"Ultimately, there many folks in FL, GA, NC, and TN who are in need of urgent assistance—and that is/should be foremost priority," he added. "But to those insisting that, 'This is not the time!' to have those other conversations, I say: This is *exactly* when we need to be having them."
The AP reported that "in Atlanta, 11.12 inches (28.24 centimeters) of rain fell over 48 hours, the most the city has seen over two days since record-keeping began in 1878," while "in Florida's Big Bend, some lost nearly everything they own, emerging from the storm without even a pair of shoes."
Along Florida's Gulf Coast, "Helene shoved a wall of water estimated at least 10 feet high into the lowest-lying areas of Steinhatchee," according toUSA Today.
South of there, in Pinellas County, officials have identified over 18,000 homes damaged by Helene—and at least 11,000 are "uninhabitable," as the Tampa Bay Timesput it.
Highlighting the connection between climate change and more intense hurricanes, Congressman Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) said Thursday that "the climate crisis is here. We must act to save lives."
"The U.S. government are conspirators to the war criminal Netanyahu's genocidal plan," said the Michigan Democrat.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib on Saturday had notably different responses to Israel's intense bombing campaign in Lebanon over the past 24 hours, which killed hundreds of people including key Hezbollah leaders.
"Our country is funding this bloodbath," Tlaib (D-Mich.) said on social media Saturday morning, sharing a post from Zeteo's Prem Thakker with videos of the Israeli assault on Lebanon that began Friday, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in New York City to address the United Nations General Assembly.
"Sending more of our troops and bombs to the region is not advancing peace," added Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in Congress and a leading critic of Israel's yearlong genocide in the Gaza Strip. "The U.S. government are conspirators to the war criminal Netanyahu's genocidal plan."
In the post shared by Tlaib, Thakker noted that "the U.S. was reportedly informed of this mass Israeli attack on Beirut in Lebanon shortly beforehand," which "comes just one day after [the] U.S. released $8.7 billion more in aid to Israel."
Tlaib also shared that her office is fielding "desperate calls" from U.S. citizens who are struggling to leave Lebanon. She declared that "the mission of the U.S. Department of State is to protect Americans, and they are failing AGAIN."
Biden, meanwhile, began his Saturday afternoon statement by noting that Israel killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, which the Iran-backed Lebanese political and paramilitary group confirmed earlier in the day—a development that elevated fears of a broader regional war.
"Hassan Nasrallah and the terrorist group he led, Hezbollah, were responsible for killing hundreds of Americans over a four-decade reign of terror," Biden said. "His death from an Israeli airstrike is a measure of justice for his many victims, including thousands of Americans, Israelis, and Lebanese civilians."
The president continued:
The strike that killed Nasrallah took place in the broader context of the conflict that began with Hamas' massacre on October 7, 2023. Nasrallah, the next day, made the fateful decision to join hands with Hamas and open what he called a "northern front" against Israel.
The United States fully supports Israel's right to defend itself against Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and any other Iranian-supported terrorist groups. Just yesterday, I directed my secretary of defense to further enhance the defense posture of U.S. military forces in the Middle East region to deter aggression and reduce the risk of a broader regional war.
Ultimately, our aim is to de-escalate the ongoing conflicts in both Gaza and Lebanon through diplomatic means. In Gaza, we have been pursuing a deal backed by the U.N. Security Council for a ceasefire and the release of hostages. In Lebanon, we have been negotiating a deal that would return people safely to their homes in Israel and southern Lebanon. It is time for these deals to close, for the threats to Israel to be removed, and for the broader Middle East region to gain greater stability.
While the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) thanked Biden "for standing with our democratic ally Israel," journalists from around the world and other critics highlighted that his statement "has not a word on civilian casualties."
Ali Abunimah, director of The Electronic Intifada, was among those who pointed out that Biden said the "assassination of Nasrallah, in an Israeli massacre that killed hundreds, 'is a measure of justice for his many victims.'"
"Utterly depraved, and by this twisted, criminal Biden logic, those who tried to assassinate Trump were also instruments of 'justice," Abunimah said, referring to former U.S. President Donald Trump, Republican nominee for the November election.
Middle East expert Assal Rad said: "Biden calls massive bombs in a densely-populated area that leveled six apartment buildings in Lebanon 'a measure of justice.' The torching of international law and the precedent that is being set should terrify us all."
Rad also slammed Biden's cease-fire call, saying: "This is nonsense. You can't provide the funding and weapons to continue the conflict *without* conditions, twist humanitarian law to give Israel total impunity, and reject every international institution that seeks accountability, and then say your 'aim is to de-escalate.'"
Others recalled Israel's 2004 assassination of Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin, which also killed seven other people. The administration of former Republican U.S. President George W. Bush—who launched the global War on Terror in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks—didn't issue a forceful condemnation like some European leaders, but a spokesperson for the State Department said at the time that "we are deeply troubled" by the attack.
As'ad Abukhalil, a Lebanese American professor at California State University, Stanislus, declared Saturday that "there has been no U.S. president EVER who has unconditionally allowed unrestrained Israeli savagery in the Middle East as Biden has done."
Abukhalil warned that "the U.S. will suffer for years to come from the policies of Biden in the Middle East," which he described as "more far-reaching [than] Bush's."
Biden, a Democrat, was initially seeking reelection in November, but after a disastrous summer debate performance against Trump, he passed the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris. After putting out Biden's Saturday statement, the White House released a similar one from Harris—which was also lauded by AIPAC.
"Hassan Nasrallah was a terrorist with American blood on his hands. Across decades, his leadership of Hezbollah destabilized the Middle East and led to the killing of countless innocent people in Lebanon, Israel, Syria, and around the world. Today, Hezbollah's victims have a measure of justice," Harris said. "I have an unwavering commitment to the security of Israel. I will always support Israel’s right to defend itself against Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis."
"President Biden and I do not want to see conflict in the Middle East escalate into a broader regional war," she added. "We have been working on a diplomatic solution along the Israel-Lebanon border so that people can safely return home on both sides of that border. Diplomacy remains the best path forward to protect civilians and achieve lasting stability in the region."
In response, Margaret Zaknoen DeReus, executive director at the California-based Institute for Middle East Understanding, said: "Like Biden, not a word from the VP , from the candidate of joy & freedom, about the 1,000+ Lebanese men, women and children Israel obliterated. Not a word about hundreds of thousands of Lebanese displaced, entire city blocks destroyed. We don't exist as human beings to this [administration]."
Responding to both statements on social media, the anti-war group CodePink said that the Biden-Harris administration "believes flattening a residential area with... bombs is 'justice.'"