The Pentagon has rejected the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) decision to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Thursday.
Sabrina Singh, Deputy Pentagon news Secretary, told reporters during a news briefing on Thursday that the United States “fundamentally rejects” the ICC’s decision to issue the arrest warrant.
“We remain concerned by the prosecutor’s rush to seek arrest warrants, and, you know, some of the processes that have played out,” Singh informed us. “And again, we’ve been very clear that the ICC does not have jurisdiction over this matter.”
The ICC charged Netanyahu and Gallant with “crimes against humanity and war crimes,” including using famine as a form of warfare and targeting people.
President Biden criticized the court’s decision to issue arrest warrants for two senior Israeli officials.
“The ICC issuance of arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous,” Mr. Biden remarked. “Let me be clear once more: whatever the ICC may claim, there is no equivalence between Israel and Hamas. We will always support Israel against threats to its security.”
Israeli President Isaac Herzog criticized the court’s actions in a statement on Thursday.
“Taken in bad faith, the outrageous decision at the ICC has turned universal justice into a universal laughingstock,” Herzog pointed out. “It makes a mockery of the sacrifice of all those who fight for justice – from the Allied victory over the Nazis till today.”
Herzog stated that the ICC’s judgment ignores Hamas’ use of human shields, the terror acts that began the war on October 7, 2023, and the Israeli hostages who remain in Gaza.
Israel made multiple measures to prevent the ICC from approving the arrest warrants. They first claimed that the ICC has no jurisdiction over Israel, but the court ruled that the arrest warrants may be issued under the “territorial jurisdiction of Palestine.”
Israel also filed other procedural objections, which were denied.
The ICC’s move comes just days after Senate Majority Leader-elect John Thune vowed to penalize the court if the arrest orders were executed.
The United States does not formally acknowledge the ICC’s jurisdiction, but this is not the first time Washington has attempted to block the court’s proceedings.
In 2020, the Trump administration blocked the ICC’s efforts to examine suspected war crimes committed by US soldiers and the CIA between 2003 and 2004 “in secret detention facilities in Afghanistan,” and imposed sanctions on ICC investigators.
Biden’s administration reversed the sanctions immediately after taking office.