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accountability
Demand an End to the US-Israel War on Iran and Accountability for War Criminals
In the short term: Americans must demand Congress uses the powers it has to reign in the imperial presidency. In the long term, we must agitate and work toward accountability for killing.
Mar 05, 2026
Israel has again escalated its genocide of the Palestinians into an all-out regional war. Although the speed and intensity slowed, it never stopped killing in Gaza or Lebanon, and has now begun massively bombing Iran for the first time since June 2025. Israel’s patron, the United States, has joined in the immoral, unjustifiable slaughter in Iran.
According to Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA), after only four days of carpet bombing the densely-populated capital Tehran and throughout the country, Israel and the United States have killed at least 1,097 civilians, including 181 children. At least 5,402 people have been injured. Another 880 reported deaths are under review to determine whether they are civilians. Many more Iranian military personnel have been killed. The opening salvo of this latest illegal war of aggression included the bombing of a girls’ primary school, a massacre that killed at least 175 people, mostly children.
The Israelis have been trying to push the United States to attack Iran for more than 30 years. American politicians of both major political parties have been threatening to attack Iran for decades. Both countries finally created their opportunity to launch the war they dreamed of. The most cruel and violent movements in both countries have taken power and have made clear they will slaughter as many people as possible to further their geopolitical goals: inflicting maximum damage and creating instability to weaken a perceived regional rival.
Despite decades of American violence justified with lies, there are still those who believe the absurd propaganda about liberation and human rights. I have seen Israelis raising the monarchist flag of Iran, as if supporting the son of the deposed dictator will endear themselves to the population of the country. Somehow, there are still naïve Israelis and Americans who genuinely believe their countries are killing schools full of little girls to “save” the women of Iran. To those dupes I say: If you believe that, I can offer you the Brooklyn Bridge at a very reasonable price. The warmed-over “Global War on Terror” rhetoric was laughable in 2001 and even more so today.
Every single living current and former American president, and many of the dead, should be arrested and brought to trial for their war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocides.
Some years ago, I attended a live poetry reading in the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York near that same bridge. It was part of a Nowruz, Persian New Year, festival. Unfortunately, I cannot remember the name of the poet or the poem he read aloud, but one line has stuck with me ever since: “After the bombs, before the next.” That is the reality for tens of millions of Iranians, Palestinians, Lebanese, Yemenis, and on and on. Never knowing when, not if, the United States, Israel, and their allies will start bombing their country again.
In the decade plus since that night, I have met many Iranians, some of whom I count among my dearest friends. At this very moment, I cannot contact them because of the ersatz holy war being waged by Israeli and American religious fanatics and far-right fascists. I do not know if my friends or their families are safe. I hope with every fiber of my being that they are.
In a moment of mass killing and sickening triumphalism, Americans must speak out against this aggression. No caveats, no hedging. Neither Israel nor the United States have a right to attack any country they want. The moment US or Israeli jets—at this point a distinction without a difference—take off to bomb Tehran, Beirut, or anywhere else, those governments are responsible for the consequences of those actions. In the short term: Americans must demand Congress uses the powers it has to reign in the imperial presidency. In the long term, we must agitate and work toward accountability for killing.
I will close by reiterating a call I have made many times before: Every single living current and former American president, and many of the dead, should be arrested and brought to trial for their war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocides. To that call I will add Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, already a fugitive from an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant for his crimes in Gaza, and every other living Israeli prime minister. Those efforts are the minimum we should demand, and must be the first step in a long accountability process for my friends, their families, and the 93 million other Iranians now under attack.
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In Refusing to Impeach Trump, Congress Has Failed the American People and the World
Where would we be if the opposition party had followed through on that vote in April? What if DOGE; illegal firings of federal workers; and wildly destabilizing, illegal tariffs had been enough for Congress to begin asserting their power?
Mar 04, 2026
Over a year into President Donald Trump’s second lawless, unconstitutional administration, Congress is only “considering” reasserting themselves as a co-equal branch of government. They have mounted no meaningful response to repeated usurpation of war powers and purse, ignoring continued obstructions of justice and violations of civil liberties. Congress has been so desperate to avoid imposing accountability on this administration that the mere idea of impeachment sent them into a “frenzied rage” throughout 2025.
This inaction bears rotten fruit again and again. The president’s unilateral declaration of war on Iran in February of 2026 can be traced directly to congressional inaction after Trump’s unilateral strikes on Iran in May of 2025. At that time, Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) forced a vote on H.Res 537, impeaching Donald J. Trump for high crimes and misdemeanors. Congress voted to table the resolution. By refusing to impose consequences eight months ago, Congress has effectively green-lit this war, including the murder of more than 50 schoolgirls.
American voters across the nation and in swing districts have supported impeachment for nearly a year. Today mainstream grassroots groups like 50501 have joined the call for Congress to impeach Trump. Imagine if Congress was leading this effort instead of fighting it. What could we accomplish if we had our nominal leaders on our own side, rather than fighting against us at every step?
Today, individual representatives say they support impeachment, but they throw up road blocks: insisting it is a process (Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY)), that there should be an inquiry first (Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-RI)), that they need to have leadership’s buy-in (Rep. Joe Morelle (D-NY)), or that they must wait for the midterms (Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.)). These are all lies.
The American people like cowards even less than they like fascists. As a result, Democrats today are less popular than Donald Trump.
Impeachment is a privileged resolution, and that means any member can introduce articles of impeachment at any time through Rule IX and demand that the House address it within 48 hours. Congress is missing the will to act.
The first impeachment articles of Trump’s second term were filed in April of 2025 by Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.), after Citizens’ Impeachment (then Operation Anti-King) coordinated a grassroots campaign to push for impeachment. H.Res 353 incorporated Citizens’ Impeachment’s article on tyranny and was filed under Rule IX to force a vote. The backlash—from Democratic leadership and from his own party—was so intense that Thanedar withdrew the articles from the floor five minutes before the vote. The resolution has been with the Judiciary Committee, untouched, for the last 10 months.
Where would we be if the opposition party had followed through on that vote in April? What if DOGE; illegal firings of federal workers; and wildly destabilizing, illegal tariffs had been enough for Congress to begin asserting their power?
Rep. Thanedar has since learned to use the drafting of impeachment articles as a political tool instead of the desperately needed accountability that the nation requires. In December of 2025, Thanedar’s office asked Citizens’ Impeachment to endorse H.Res 935 impeaching Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for the murder of two shipwrecked survivors. Citizens’ Impeachment did so, with the caveat that simply drafting articles was not enough—the articles needed to be filed under Rule IX and brought to a vote as soon as possible. Rhetoric was escalating, military assets were being moved into position, and it was clear that military action was imminent.
Had Rep. Thanedar forced a vote then, when Hegseth’s murder of shipwrecked survivors was in the news and Congress had just reminded military members that they must refuse illegal orders, he would have brought consequences to bear on one of the least popular members of Trump’s cabinet, and possibly forestalled the Venezuela strikes. Instead, President Trump and Secretary Hegseth once again usurped congressional war powers without consequence. H.Res. 935 remains with the Judiciary Committee, irrelevant and ignored.
Similarly, Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) spent months requesting an impeachment inquiry into Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s behavior before Robin Kelly (D-Ill.) decided to just write up the articles and make it happen. A full 187 members of Congress have now endorsed H.Res 996, an impeachment resolution for Noem. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) even claimed he would pursue impeachment if Noem wasn’t fired “immediately.” Without a vote though, even those actions are empty. Jeffries made that promise one month ago. Noem is still in office, H. Res 996 remains in committee, and Noem’s federal paramilitary forces continue their occupation of American cities unabated.
Articles of impeachment record the lawlessness of this administration, but they aren’t magical. The real power that every member of the House has is to force votes on those articles, putting their colleagues on record for their endorsement of the Trump administration’s repeated constitutional violations. And with the exception of Rep. Green, they absolutely refuse to use it.
In perhaps the most baffling abdication of both power and good sense, only two members of Congress have even considered impeachment for the Department of Justice's inept and corrupt handling of the Epstein Files. No articles have been written or filed though, despite the nearly unanimous vote to release the Epstein Files; the enormous, bipartisan outrage of the public at the Epstein Class; the blatant cover-up and obstruction of justice at the hands of Attorney General Pam Bondi; and pre-written articles of impeachment sent directly to Congress by thousands of constituents. Congress cannot seem to connect the dots to realize that not only would impeachment be good for the country, it would be overwhelmingly popular, even as midterms loom on the horizon.
The American people like cowards even less than they like fascists. As a result, Democrats today are less popular than Donald Trump.
What’s new here is that Congress already knows it can and should do more. As early as July 2025, one anonymous representative admitted it to NBC, saying of their constituents: “They aren’t buying that just because we are in the minority, we can’t do anything. The truth is we can. And we should.”
With the midterms coming up, voters have a chance to do something about this toxic dynamic. There are more than 100 pro-impeachment candidates on the ballot this election cycle, including prominent contenders like NJ-11 Analilia Mejia, former national political director for Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential campaign and a member of former sPresident Joe Biden’s Department of Labor
The 435 members of the House are the only people with the power to begin impeachment proceedings. The 100 members of the Senate are the only people who can convict and remove Trump and his enablers from power. For a year, these powerful people have refused to take action. They have chosen to delay, and wait, and defer, allowing ever more harm to come to America and its people. In 2026 we should replace them all—they do not have the courage to meet this desperate moment for the country.
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The All Too Ordinary Death of Nasrallah Abu Siyam
What happened to Nasrallah was not unusual; in fact, it was entirely predictable. It reflects a pattern Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank have been forced to live with for decades.
Feb 26, 2026
I’ve grown accustomed to the violence in Palestine; to seeing my brothers and sisters stripped from their homes and taken away from life itself. That violence has always felt close. And yet, with Nasrallah Abu Siyam, it became unmistakable.
Not only was he my age, he was born just miles from my hometown. An American citizen. Living an ordinary life. Dreaming of ordinary things. And still, he was shot and killed by Israeli settlers, simply for helping guard his fam ily’s livestock in the occupied West Bank.
In nearly every way, his life mirrored mine. The only difference was where he stood. And that difference, it seems, was enough.
What happened to Nasrallah was not unusual; in fact, it was entirely predictable. It reflects a pattern Palestinians living in the occupied West Bank have been forced to live with for decades—one in which violence is routine, accountability is absent, and loss is absorbed without consequence.
Nasrallah Abu Siyam lived an ordinary life. He should have been afforded the ordinary right to keep it.
That pattern is clearest in how these moments of violence unfold. In Mukhmas, the village where Nasrallah was killed, a resident described what happened plainly:
“When the settlers saw the army, they were encouraged and started shooting live bullets.”
In other words, the presence of the occupying forces did not interrupt the violence; it emboldened it. This is a reality Palestinians have long understood— that the forces ostensibly tasked with “maintaining order” often function instead as a mechanism for enabling and inflicting violence.
Time and time again, Palestinians are left to bury the result.The scale of that violence is not abstract, nor is it disputed.
Between October 2023 and October 2025 alone, more than 1,100 Palestinians were killed in the occupied West Bank by Israeli forces and settlers—229 of them children. That means more than 1 in 5 of those killed were children. In that same span of time, over 10,900 Palestinians were wounded and nearly 21,000 were detained.
And yet, none of this devastation takes place on a battlefield. There is no armed group to point to, no battle to cite. What remains is an occupied territory where civilian death, injury, and detention occur as a matter of policy and practice—not as rare or exceptional events.
By this point, it may sound like a broken record—not just from me, but from years of warnings repeating what the international community has recorded and then promptly ignored. But repetition becomes inevitable when impunity is preserved at every level.
Impunity—that, I must say—does not exist in a vacuum. It is sustained through material support, political protection, and deliberate silence. All of which the United States is deeply embedded in: in the weapons supplied, in the cover extended, and in what goes unsaid. When Americans like Nasrallah Abu Siyam—at least six of them in the past two years—are killed under an occupation supported by US authority, and little is said and less is done, that silence becomes a statement in itself.
Put simply, it is a statement of how Palestinian life—American or not—is weighed, and how little that weight has meant in the political world.
No power should have the authority to dictate which lives are expendable—and which are not. Nasrallah Abu Siyam lived an ordinary life. He should have been afforded the ordinary right to keep it. But again, that failure is not abstract. It has a name, a place, and a date.
This piece was originally published on Substack.
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