Biden denounces ICC for its ‘scandalous’ implication of equivalence between Israel and Hamas

Washington
CNN
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The Biden administration on Monday forcefully denounced efforts by the International Criminal Court to obtain arrest warrants for senior Israeli officials and Hamas leaders, saying the court’s efforts put the terrorist organization and a principal ally of the United States on an equal footing.

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an exclusive interview Monday that the international court is seeking arrest warrants for officials including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity for their respective roles in the conflict. October 7 attack on Israel and subsequent war, which left tens of thousands of Palestinians dead.

The prosecution team is also seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as senior Hamas leaders, Khan said.

In a statement Monday, Biden called the ICC’s efforts “outrageous.”

“Let me be clear,” the president said in the statement, “no matter what this prosecutor may suggest, there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas. »

Speaking at a White House reception marking American Jewish Heritage Month later Monday, Biden reiterated his position that the ICC’s pursuit of an arrest warrant is baseless.

“It is clear that Israel wants to do everything it can to ensure the protection of civilians,” Biden said. “Let me be clear: what is happening is not genocide. »

Khan’s pursuit of the arrest warrants gave Biden — a longtime supporter of Israel and its right to exist — the opportunity to speak out strongly in support of the United States’ main ally in the Middle East at a time of tense relations between the president and Israeli leaders. In an interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett earlier this month, Biden for the first time placed conditions on US aid to Israel due to Israel’s planned invasion of Rafah in southern Gaza. Biden has also had several candid phone calls with the Israeli prime minister in recent months as he tries to persuade Netanyahu to pursue options that do not involve a military operation in a population center.

The announcement marks the first time the ICC has sought an arrest warrant for the leader of a key US ally, and places Netanyahu in the company of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the late Libyan despot Muammar Gaddafi – both of whom is the subject of arrest attempts. by the ICC.

Khan, the ICC prosecutor, rejected criticism of the court’s efforts to obtain the arrest warrants. “No one is above the law,” he told Amanpour.

Neither the United States nor Israel are members of the ICC. But if the court grants an arrest warrant for Netanyahu or Gallant, the move would make it extremely difficult for either Israeli leader to travel to any of the 124 countries party to the court’s laws, including major U.S. allies like Britain and Germany, which would require member countries to cooperate in efforts to extradite people subject to these arrest warrants.

News that the ICC is seeking arrest warrants for Israeli leaders has led to condemnation from the United States and some of its allies. Britain said the court’s efforts were “not helpful” in achieving a pause in the fighting. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the United States “fundamentally rejects” the court’s announcement, saying it “could undermine” efforts to reach a ceasefire and release agreement hostages between the warring parties.

Biden administration officials have also questioned whether the ICC has jurisdiction to seek these arrests.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, calling the ICC’s efforts “baseless and illegitimate,” said House Republican leaders would consider sanctions in response to the court’s decision. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the Biden administration plans to stay in close contact with members of Congress but stopped short of promising to support any Republican effort to impose new sanctions on the ICC.

Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont — who talks with Democrats even though his position on Israel is often at odds with Biden’s — said he supports the ICC’s decision. Sanders is one of the country’s most prominent Jewish politicians and has criticized Israel’s war effort.

“The ICC prosecutor is right to take these actions,” Sanders said in a statement, adding that it was “imperative that the global community respect international law.”

Despite strong condemnation of the ICC’s efforts by Biden and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, several senior Senate Democrats have flatly refused to take a position, underscoring the growing division within the party over the country’s handling of the war. Israel.

Asked if she agreed with the ICC decision, Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan told CNN’s Manu Raju: “I would say I don’t support Netanyahu or Hamas, and I think that we would be able to move forward much better if both were to leave.

But others have aligned themselves with Biden.

Sen. Sherrod Brown, who faces a tough re-election in Ohio, criticized the ICC prosecutor. “I don’t see any moral equivalence between the democratic government of Israel and a terrorist group like Hamas, none,” he told CNN.

Condemnation of the ICC’s efforts places the United States in a difficult position. The United States supports a separate ICC effort to document and investigate Russian war crimes related to its continued operations in Ukraine.

Kirby said the United States would continue to support these efforts.

“I would like to remind everyone that one of Mr. Putin’s real war goals is to kill innocent Ukrainians,” Kirby told reporters Monday. “I mean, he’s deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure with the goal of killing innocent civilians.

“That’s not what the IDF does,” Kirby added.

Still, Kirby acknowledged, the United States continues to urge the Israeli government to be “more discriminatory, more targeted (and) more precise” in its operations in Gaza.

This story has been updated with additional details.

CNN’s Nikki Carvajal, Haley Talbot, Morgan Rimmer and Kristin Wilson contributed to this report.