Monday, the Biden administration strongly criticized the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) attempts to pursue arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials and Hamas leaders, claiming that these actions treated the terrorist group and a major US partner on an equal level.
The international criminal court is pursuing arrest warrants for certain individuals, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, for their alleged involvement in the assault on Israel on October 7 and the ensuing conflict that has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of Palestinians, according to ICC prosecutor Karim Khan, who spoke exclusively to AWN’s Christiane Amanpour on Monday.
Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defense minister, and other high-ranking Hamas officials are also the targets of warrant requests, according to Khan.
“Outrageous” was the word Biden used to describe the ICC’s actions in a Monday statement.
“I want to make it very clear,” the president stated, “regardless of what this prosecutor may suggest, there is absolutely no comparison – zero – between Israel and Hamas.”
An opportunity presented itself for Biden, who has long been an advocate for Israel’s right to exist, to firmly defend the United States’ top Middle Eastern partner during a period of strained ties between the president and Israeli leadership, thanks to Khan’s pursuit of the warrants. Prior to Israel’s planned invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza, Biden initially placed limits on US funding to Israel in an interview with AWN’s Erin Burnett earlier this month. A number of candid phone conversations between the two leaders have taken place in the past few months, with Biden trying to persuade Netanyahu to consider alternatives to launching a military operation in a populated area.
The revelation brings Netanyahu into the company of Putin, Putin of Russia, and Gadhafi, the late dictator of Libya, all of whom were the targets of ICC arrest proceedings; this is the first time the ICC has sought an arrest warrant for the leader of a significant US ally.
Despite backlash to the ICC’s attempts to get the warrants, Khan, the prosecutor, refused to back down. “Everyone is subject to the law,” he informed Amanpour.
Israel and the United States are not ICC members. However, if the court were to issue an arrest warrant for either Gallant or Netanyahu, it would create significant obstacles for any Israeli leader to visit any of the 124 countries that have ratified the court’s laws. This includes important US allies such as Germany and Britain, as member nations would be obligated to assist with extradition efforts involving the individuals wanted.
The world was rocked by the news that the ICC is pursuing warrants for the leaders of Israel. Efforts by the court to achieve a truce were deemed “not helpful” by close US allies such as Britain. The United States “fundamentally rejects” the court’s announcement, according to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who added that it “could jeopardize” the parties’ continuing attempts to establish a ceasefire and hostage settlement.
The authority of the ICC to pursue those arrests was also called into question by officials of the Biden administration.
Rep. Mike Johnson, who called the International Criminal Court’s actions “baseless and illegitimate,” stated that the Republican leadership of the House will consider punishment in light of the court’s ruling. The Biden administration intends to remain in constant contact with members of Congress, according to National Security Council spokesman John Kirby. However, Kirby did not go so far as to pledge support for any Republican attempt to impose additional sanctions on the ICC.
The United States finds itself in a precarious situation due to the lack of consensus on the ICC’s operations. The US is lending its assistance to the ICC’s independent investigation into Russian war crimes in relation to its ongoing operations in Ukraine.
The United States, according to Kirby, will keep funding such initiatives.
Reminding everyone that killing innocent Ukrainian people is an actual war purpose of Mr. Putin is what Kirby told reporters on Monday. In other words, he is intentionally going after civilian infrastructure in an effort to murder unsuspecting citizens.
Adding, “That is not what the IDF is doing,” Kirby continued.
“More discriminative, more targeted, [and] more precise” in Israeli operations against Gaza is something the US has been urging the Israeli government to do, Kirby admitted.