Israel’s allies in Congress slammed the ICC prosecutor’s decision to file an application for an arrest warrant against Israel’s leaders
By Amir Tibon Ben Samuels Jonathan Lis Reuters
Israel will try to convince the White House and Congress to impose sanctions on the International Criminal Court in The Hague, after the ICC’s chief prosecutor called on Monday to issue arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Hamas’ leaders.
While the United States doesn’t recognize the ICC’s authority, the Biden administration has so far decided against taking any concrete action against it. Now, the pro-Israel lobby in Washington will try to propose punitive measures to be taken against the ICC and the office of Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan, with the encouragement of the Israeli government.
In late April, a group of Republican Senators wrote to the chief prosecutor and warned him that if he issued warrants against Israeli officials, they would promote sanctions against him and his employees and his family, including barring them entry to the United States. But such measures require bipartisan support, and it’s not certain whether enough Democratic lawmakers would support them.
President Biden called the application for arrest warrants “outrageous,” adding, “let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.”
Secretary of State Blinken added that the U.S. “fundamentally rejects the announcement.”
Senator Lindsey Graham, Israel’s top Republican Senate ally, said on Monday he will “feverishly work with colleagues on both sides of the aisle in both chambers to levy damning sanctions against the ICC,” adding that “Prosecutor Khan is drunk with self-importance and has done a lot of damage to the peace process and to the ability to find a way forward.”
Rep. Ritchie Torres, among the most vocally pro-Israel Democrats, said “the decision to seek arrest warrants is not law but politics. It is not justice but rather retribution against Israel for the original sin of existing as a Jewish State,” said Rep. Ritchie Torres, among the most vocally pro-Israel Democrats, in the first reaction from a U.S. lawmaker since Khan revealed his findings.
Conversely, Democratic Rep. Mark Pocan, one of the most strident critics of Israel’s conduct in Gaza, said that “If Netanyahu comes to address Congress, I would be more than glad to show the ICC the way to the House floor to issue that warrant.”
Senator Jim Risch, the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called the ICC’s decision “absurd,” adding that it “continues to be obsessed with targeting Israel during its time of need. There is no cause for why the court should be investigating Israel as it is not a party to the Rome Statute and Israel has a fully functional judiciary.”
Risch added that “the fact that the court applied for warrants for Hamas and Israeli officials at the same time provides a false moral equivalency between their actions. Israel has responded to reckless Hamas aggression with extreme caution for civilians, while Hamas raped and murdered Israeli and American civilians. Today’s actions have hurt the credibility of the court and seriously harmed legitimate accountability efforts where true war crimes are occurring, like Ukraine, Syria, and across Africa.”
Republican Senator Tom Cotton said he will work to ensure ICC employees and their families will not be permitted to enter the U.S. following its “antisemitic and politically motivated ‘charges.’”
“My colleagues and I look forward to making sure neither Khan, his associates nor their families will ever set foot again in the United States,” said Cotton, who spearheaded previous efforts warning the ICC against taking legal action against Israel.
In addition, Israel will be asking friendly countries in Europe to take steps against the ICC, though the chances of obtaining such cooperation from many of the most important Western countries are slim. Last year, the chief prosecutor issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and a host of Russian military officials, on suspicion of war crimes committed in Ukraine.
Most European governments supported the warrants against Putin and view them as a deterrent against the Russian leader and the top regime officials in Moscow, and therefore will not rush to take punitive action against the ICC for Israel’s sake.
“This action is not helpful in relation to reaching a pause in the fighting, getting hostages out or getting humanitarian aid in,” a spokesperson for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said, “referring to the decision made by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.
“The U.K., as with other countries, does not yet recognize Palestine as a state and Israel is not a state party to the Rome Statute”, which outlines the ICC’s areas of jurisdiction, the spokesperson added.
Asked if the police would arrest Netanyahu if he came to Britain, the spokesperson said he would not comment on what he called “hypotheticals”.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala harshly condemned the ICC prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant, saying “[The proposal] to issue an arrest warrant for the representatives of a democratically elected government together with the leaders of an Islamist terrorist organization is appalling and completely unacceptable.”
“We must not forget that it was Hamas that attacked Israel in October and killed, injured and kidnapped thousands of innocent people. It was this completely unprovoked terrorist attack that led to the current war in Gaza and the suffering of civilians in Gaza, Israel and Lebanon,” he continued.
Karl Nehammer, the Chancellor of Austria, also blasted Khan’s decision. “We fully respect the independence of the ICC. The fact however that the leader of the terrorist organization Hamas whose declared goal is the extinction of the State of Israel is being mentioned at the same time as the democratically elected representatives of that very state is non comprehensible [sic.].”
Comments
16 responses to “Biden Slams ‘Outrageous’ ICC Decision to Seek Arrest Warrants Against Netanyahu, Gallant”
US doesn’t recognize the ICC’s authority.
But it sided with ICC on Putin and everyone who doesn’t ask, “How high”, when US says “Jump”.
Actually, Israel has been committing war crimes (under US protection) for MANY years! It has occupied land that isn’t theirs, made thousands of extrajudicial arrests without charge, tortured, killed and maimed Palestinians at will and protected settlers while they rampage against PEACEFUL Palestinian villagers. When the USA turns a blind eye to all this, they are war criminals also!
Exactly
Biden is a senile dimwit and whore for his money masters, the Zionist Jews, and the rest of the kennel of European lapdogs who roll over and sit up for The Empire are just impotent lackeys of The Empire. This is long overdue. Let the cowardly bastards scream.
FFS! What planet do these delusional twits (sic) live on – or are they bought and paid for with Israeli money?
Bob, unfortunately this is mostly paid with our tax dollars, that is, US taxpayers fund just about everything Israel does. We fund their single-payer health, their genocide, their land stealing, and anything else these scumbags do the taxpayers in the US pay for it.
““This action is not helpful in relation to reaching a pause in the fighting, getting hostages out or getting humanitarian aid in,” a spokesperson for British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said.
A pause to resupply our weapons through Cyprus, but don’t mention the mistreated Palestinian ‘hostage’ children interned in indefinite ‘administrative detention’, or the Zionist jacKKKboot on Gaza’s supply lines for nearly twenty years….or the fact they are the rightful owners of the land they broke into on October 7th ’23.
But then, Zionistan is, after all, a creation of ye o£de Brutish Vampire.
Under the Authority of the 1883 Pendleton Act and Oregon Revised Statutes article one section one of the Oregon State Constitution as a citizen and resident in Oregon I demand that US Marshall Arrest Joseph Robinette Biden Jr who is guilty of treason and War crimes in the United States.
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We declare that all men, when they form a social compact are equal in right: that all power is inherent in the people, and all free governments are founded on their authority, and instituted for their peace, safety, and happiness; and they have at all times a right to alter, reform, or abolish the government in such manner as they may think proper.[1]
That needs to happen but won’t
It isn’t US…it isn’t israel…IT IS USrael.
Bombshell, US claims jurisdiction over Gaza, hence what is happening in Palestine, is now an official American colonizing project, ethnic cleansing and Genocide.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20240521-us-icc-doesnt-have-jurisdiction-in-gaza-we-do/
Israel’s murderous attack on the USS LIBERTY has never been resolved in any way. Over 150 killed/wounded with Israel arrogantly claiming “misidentification “LBJ was severely compromised/blackmailed by the Zionist.
It looks that them ICC judges panel will be Bribed, some maybe coerced, threatened, families picked up & warnings given.. to ensure no such ICC decision against these 2 global zionist gods comes forth. ‘If & when’ it comes & these 2 war crimes criminals .. Net in Yahoo & Gallant’s arrest warrants are issued, then globally whenever & wherever these 2 mfkrs travel will be open to arrest & put behind bars for life. At least they will have a wolves sniffing their behinds 24×7;
The difference between barbarism and civility is something we call the rule of law. Some times the rule of law is a tactic used by the conquering barbaric nation to pacify the rabble. “Might does make right… obviously. Manifest destiny and all. So if ya’ll want us Mighty Godzilla types to stay civil, do not restart hostilities. Ya’ll lost. We won. That’s a fact. And you know how bloody barbaric we can get.”
Well, Godzilla and her monstrous compadres in barbarism colonized then neo-colonialized most of planet earth. And in a fit of altruistic clarity made rules of law, that the newly civilized nations were suppose to abide by. And for the most part, the neocolonial offspring born of the rape of most of the “uncivilized” world have been good little boys and girls, abiding by those rules. All except one… THE ZIONISTS.
The Zionist have forgotten that they’re a colonial experiment. They act up like a spoiled brat in a supermarket. And mama America refuses to chasten the little demon. This was cool all through the middle of to the end of the 20th Century. But now, this insane colonial brat called Zionism is showing its ass on THE WORLD WIDE WEB. And the whole world is watching. And Mama America seems too stupid to even be embarrassed by this bombastic barbaric blunder.
The Gaza Massacre is not just a case of a big high school bully stealing the little six grade girl’s lunch. This is a case of the big bully killing the little girl because she kicked him in the groin (she amateurishly missed his balls) one day after school for doing it. Yeah it was wrong for the provoked-unprovoked attack. But damn. Not only did he murder the damned near defenseless little tyke. He did it on THE WORLD WIDE WEB. Mama America should beat his ass publicly just for being so arrogantly presumptuous and damnably stupid. But she didn’t.
So now, not only the local cops (The New York based UN) are on the case, but the International Criminal Court wants to bust Mama’s baby. And THE WHOLE WORLD will witness whether the rule of law matters or was writing those rules of war just a tactic to keep the rabble in line… civilized morality be damned. What do you think? Wait a minute. Anybody with half a brain to think already know the answer.
Israel does what they want and the us goes along with them To keep their jobs
I would suggest that criminality in the Western world ,in politics ,the judicial ,and the people at at large that support said criminality without question ,will grind down to the downfall of the Western world .History will not be kind towards nations that have forgotten who the boss really is .