Biden’s Response to ICC Netanyahu Arrest Warrant Is Complete Garbage
On Monday morning, the International Criminal Court announced it was seeking to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, as well as other senior Israeli and Hamas leaders on of war crimes charges, as well as crimes against humanity. Joe Biden’s response is pathetic—and totally inadequate, given the larger humanitarian situation in Gaza. “The ICC prosecutor’s application for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous. And let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence—none—between Israel and Hamas,” Biden said in a short statement. “We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.”Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a longer statement also casting doubt on the legitimacy of the arrest warrants.The United States fundamentally rejects the announcement today from the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) that he is applying for arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials, together with warrants for Hamas terrorists. We reject the Prosecutor’s equivalence of Israel with Hamas. It is shameful. Hamas is a brutal terrorist organization that carried out the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and is still holding dozens of innocent people hostage, including Americans. Moreover, the United States has been clear since well before the current conflict that that ICC has no jurisdiction over this matter. The ICC was established by its state parties as a court of limited jurisdiction. Those limits are rooted in principles of complementarity, which do not appear to have been applied here amid the Prosecutor’s rush to seek these arrest warrants rather than allowing the Israeli legal system a full and timely opportunity to proceed. In other situations, the Prosecutor deferred to national investigations and worked with states to allow them time to investigate. The Prosecutor did not afford the same opportunity to Israel, which has ongoing investigations into allegations against its personnel. There are also deeply troubling process questions. Despite not being a member of the court, Israel was prepared to cooperate with the Prosecutor. In fact, the Prosecutor himself was scheduled to visit Israel as early as next week to discuss the investigation and hear from the Israeli Government. The Prosecutor’s staff was supposed to land in Israel today to coordinate the visit. Israel was informed that they did not board their flight around the same time that the Prosecutor went on cable television to announce the charges. These and other circumstances call into question the legitimacy and credibility of this investigation. Fundamentally, this decision does nothing to help, and could jeopardize, ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement that would get hostages out and surge humanitarian assistance in, which are the goals the United States continues to pursue relentlessly.It took the Biden administration months to call for a limited ceasefire, after months of the State Department going so far as to warn its diplomats to avoid using the word entirely, along with other calls for peace like “end to violence,” or “de-scalation.” Trying to blame the ICC for thwarting acting to hold Israel accountable and help bring an end to the disastrous assault on Gaza is laughable.When the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin last year over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine Biden welcomed the news. That arrest warrant “[made] a very strong point,” Biden said at the time, adding that the Russian dictator has “clearly committed war crimes.”The charges against Netanyahu and Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant include “causing extermination, causing starvation as a method of war, including the denial of humanitarian relief supplies, deliberately targeting civilians in conflict,” ICC prosecutor Karim Khan told CNN.“The fact that Hamas fighters need water doesn’t justify denying water from all the civilian population of Gaza,” he added.At least 35,000 people have been killed in Israel’s war on Gaza, the majority of them women and children. International aid agencies have warned of widespread famine and mass starvation, as well as shortages of medical supplies.
On Monday morning, the International Criminal Court announced it was seeking to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, as well as other senior Israeli and Hamas leaders on of war crimes charges, as well as crimes against humanity. Joe Biden’s response is pathetic—and totally inadequate, given the larger humanitarian situation in Gaza.
“The ICC prosecutor’s application for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders is outrageous. And let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor might imply, there is no equivalence—none—between Israel and Hamas,” Biden said in a short statement. “We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken issued a longer statement also casting doubt on the legitimacy of the arrest warrants.
The United States fundamentally rejects the announcement today from the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) that he is applying for arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials, together with warrants for Hamas terrorists. We reject the Prosecutor’s equivalence of Israel with Hamas. It is shameful. Hamas is a brutal terrorist organization that carried out the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and is still holding dozens of innocent people hostage, including Americans. Moreover, the United States has been clear since well before the current conflict that that ICC has no jurisdiction over this matter. The ICC was established by its state parties as a court of limited jurisdiction. Those limits are rooted in principles of complementarity, which do not appear to have been applied here amid the Prosecutor’s rush to seek these arrest warrants rather than allowing the Israeli legal system a full and timely opportunity to proceed. In other situations, the Prosecutor deferred to national investigations and worked with states to allow them time to investigate. The Prosecutor did not afford the same opportunity to Israel, which has ongoing investigations into allegations against its personnel. There are also deeply troubling process questions. Despite not being a member of the court, Israel was prepared to cooperate with the Prosecutor. In fact, the Prosecutor himself was scheduled to visit Israel as early as next week to discuss the investigation and hear from the Israeli Government. The Prosecutor’s staff was supposed to land in Israel today to coordinate the visit. Israel was informed that they did not board their flight around the same time that the Prosecutor went on cable television to announce the charges. These and other circumstances call into question the legitimacy and credibility of this investigation. Fundamentally, this decision does nothing to help, and could jeopardize, ongoing efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement that would get hostages out and surge humanitarian assistance in, which are the goals the United States continues to pursue relentlessly.
It took the Biden administration months to call for a limited ceasefire, after months of the State Department going so far as to warn its diplomats to avoid using the word entirely, along with other calls for peace like “end to violence,” or “de-scalation.” Trying to blame the ICC for thwarting acting to hold Israel accountable and help bring an end to the disastrous assault on Gaza is laughable.
When the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin last year over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine Biden welcomed the news. That arrest warrant “[made] a very strong point,” Biden said at the time, adding that the Russian dictator has “clearly committed war crimes.”
The charges against Netanyahu and Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant include “causing extermination, causing starvation as a method of war, including the denial of humanitarian relief supplies, deliberately targeting civilians in conflict,” ICC prosecutor Karim Khan told CNN.
“The fact that Hamas fighters need water doesn’t justify denying water from all the civilian population of Gaza,” he added.
At least 35,000 people have been killed in Israel’s war on Gaza, the majority of them women and children. International aid agencies have warned of widespread famine and mass starvation, as well as shortages of medical supplies.
