since everyone now agrees israel has gone overboard in their response in
gaza maybe it’s time to allow the international criminal court to go after
these war criminals and stop sending more weapons for more overboard
and genocidal action in gaza?
Biden denounces ICC for ‘outrageous’ implication of equivalence between
Israel and Hamas
By Michael Williams, CNN
Published 3:15 PM EDT, Mon May 20, 2024
Win McNamee/Getty Images
President Joe Biden returns to the Oval Office after speaking in the Rose
Garden of the White House on May 14, 2024.
Washington
CNN
—
The Biden administration on Monday forcefully denounced efforts by the
International Criminal Court to seek arrest warrants for top Israeli officials
and Hamas leaders, saying the court’s efforts put the terrorist
organization and a top US ally on equivalent footing.
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an
exclusive interview on Monday that the international tribunal is seeking
arrest warrants for officials including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar on charges of war crimes and
crimes against humanity for their respective roles in the October 7 attack
on Israel and the subsequent war that has left tens of thousands of
Palestinians dead.
The prosecution team is also seeking warrants for Israel’s Defense
Minister, Yoav Gallant, along with top Hamas leaders, Khan said.
In a statement on Monday, Biden called the ICC’s efforts “outrageous.”
“Let me be clear,” the president said in the statement, “whatever this
prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence – none – between Israel
and Hamas.”
Khan’s pursuit of the warrants gave Biden – a long time supporter of Israel
and its right to exist – a chance to speak strongly in favor of the US’ top
Middle Eastern ally at a time of tense relations between the president and
Israeli leadership. In an interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett earlier this
month, Biden put conditions on US aid to Israel for the first time over
Israel’s planned invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza. Biden has also had
multiple frank phone calls with the Israeli prime minister in recent months
as he tries to cajole Netanyahu into pursuing options that don’t involve a
military operation in a population center.
The announcement marks the first time that the ICC has sought an arrest
warrant for the leader of a top US ally, and places Netanyahu in the
company of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the late Libyan despot
Moammar Gadhafi – both of whom were subjects of arrest efforts by the
ICC.
Khan, the ICC prosecutor, batted down criticisms over the tribunal’s
efforts to secure the warrants. “Nobody is above the law,” he told
Amanpour.
Neither the US nor Israel are members of the ICC. But if the court were to
grant an arrest warrant for Netanyahu or Gallant, the decision would make
it extremely difficult for either Israeli leader to travel to any of the 124
countries that are party to the court’s laws, including top US allies like
Britain and Germany, which would compel member nations to cooperate
with efforts to extradite those subjected to the warrants.
News that the ICC is seeking warrants for the Israeli leaders sent
reverberations of condemnation across the world. Close US allies like
Britain said the court’s efforts were “not helpful” in reaching a pause in
fighting. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States
“fundamentally rejects” the court’s announcement, saying it “could
jeopardize” ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire and hostage deal
between the warring parties.
Biden administration officials also questioned whether the ICC had the
jurisdiction to seek those arrests.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, describing the ICC’s efforts as “baseless
and illegitimate” said House GOP leaders would look at sanctions in
response to the court’s decision. National Security Council spokesman
John Kirby said the Biden administration plans to stay in close touch with
members of Congress but stopped short of committing support for any
Republican effort to levy new sanctions on the ICC.
The bipartisan condemnation of the ICC’s efforts puts the United States in
a delicate position. The United States is supporting a separate effort by
the ICC to document and investigate Russian war crimes related to its
continued operations in Ukraine.
Kirby said the US would continue to support those efforts.
“I would remind everybody that it is an actual war aim of Mr. Putin to kill
innocent Ukrainian people,” Kirby told reporters on Monday. “I mean, he’s
deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure with the aim of killing
innocent civilians.
“That is not what the IDF is doing,” Kirby added.
Still, Kirby acknowledged, the United States continues to urge the Israeli
government to be “more discriminative, more targeted, [and] more
precise” in its Gaza operations.
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