US President Joe Biden strongly rejected the decision of International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan to seek arrest warrants for Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) submitted a request for the issuance of an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Galant and three Hamas leaders, including Ismail Haniyeh.
Prosecutor Karim Khan said in a statement that he has reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Galant are criminally responsible for “war crimes and crimes against humanity” committed on the territory of Palestine, in the Gaza Strip, since at least October 8.
Biden said the decision was “outrageous” and vowed to stand by Israel as the process unfolds.
“Let me be clear: whatever this prosecutor implies, there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security,” the US president said.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Washington “fundamentally rejects” Khan’s decision.
“It is shameful. Hamas is a brutal terrorist organization that has carried out the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and is still holding dozens of innocent people hostage, including Americans,” said the head of US diplomacy.
Although the Biden administration rejected the court’s jurisdiction over Israel because it is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, it praised the ICC’s decision to issue arrest warrants for senior Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, over Moscow’s actions in Ukraine. Neither Russia, like Israel, is a signatory to the Rome Statute, AA writes.
