Washington, DC [US]: US President Joe Biden has strongly condemned the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor’s application for arrest warrants against Israeli leaders, calling it “outrageous.” This statement comes amid ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, with Biden reaffirming unwavering support for Israel.
“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. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security,” President Biden said.
The ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan announced on Monday that his office had applied for arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders for alleged crimes during the Hamas-led October 7 attack on southern Israel and Israel’s subsequent war on Gaza. The US State Department also issued a statement rejecting the ICC Prosecutor’s announcement, describing it as “shameful.”
“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,” the statement read.
The State Department emphasized that the ICC has no jurisdiction over the matter and criticized the Prosecutor’s approach, arguing that the ICC did not allow the Israeli legal system sufficient time to investigate allegations against its personnel.
ICC Prosecutor Khan asserted that there are “reasonable grounds” to believe that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant bear “criminal responsibility” for war crimes and crimes against humanity. He also sought arrest warrants for three Hamas leaders – Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh, and Mohammed Diab Ibrahim al-Masri (also known as Deif) – on similar charges.
