The moment is certainly historic and ironic—war criminal Netanyahu was cheered and given a standing ovation in the United States Congress. Outside the Capitol in Washington, DC, hundreds of thousands gathered to protest his presence and his address to the joint session of Congress. His speech was a collection of genocidal terminology and a slap in the face to the free world. Israel’s desire to erase Palestinians, reiterated by Netanyahu before the most powerful legislative house in the world, was reminiscent of the Nazis’ hate for Jews.

Becoming the first-ever leader to address the US Congress for a fourth time, the mass slaughter of Palestinians is as much on the hands of the US as it is on Netanyahu and Israel. His address centered on gathering more support for his brutal war from the US Congressmen and women—the same war for which he is losing ground and popularity among his own people back home. Any mention of a peace plan, negotiation, ceasefire, or cessation of hostilities was far from the agenda of his address. Netanyahu pleaded for more money, more weapons, and more blindness from the US regarding the human rights abuses in the occupied territories every single day.

By welcoming a war criminal whose arrest warrants have been issued by the International Criminal Court, the United States has collectively expressed disregard for a rules-based order—their own creation. If the perpetrator of genocide can be cheered for, the world has certainly reached a bleak spot in history. While some members of Congress boycotted the session, by and large, their act stands in isolation with no bearing on the House as a whole and on the US’s unchanged, unflinching support for Israel.

For the record of history, the axis of genocide was pictured standing and clapping hands for the perpetrator on the floor.