US President Biden Labels ICC War Crimes Warrant for Israeli PM “Outrageous”

The President of the United States, Joe Biden, described an International Criminal Court (ICC) war crimes arrest warrant targeting the Israeli prime minister as “outrageous”. The ICC additionally issued an arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu’s former defence minister, Yoav Gallant, and for Mohammed Deif, a Hamas commander whom Israel states was killed in July. According to judges, there were “reasonable grounds” to conclude that the three individuals held “criminal responsibility” for offenses committed during the conflict involving Israel and Hamas. The warrant elicited a divided reaction from Europe and the US, with multiple European nations affirming their respect for ICC rulings. The British government suggested that Netanyahu could face arrest should he travel to the UK. In a statement, Biden asserted that “whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security.” Both Israel and Hamas have denied the accusations presented by the ICC. Netanyahu stated on Thursday: “The antisemitic decision of the international court in The Hague is a modern Dreyfus trial, and it will end the same way.” This was a reference to a prominent antisemitism case that occurred in France more than a century prior. The Israeli Prime Minister commented: “The court in The Hague accuses us of a deliberate policy of starvation,” adding, “This when we have supplied Gaza with 700,000 tons of food to feed the people of Gaza. We issue millions of text messages, phone calls, leaflets to the citizens of Gaza to get them out of harm’s way – while the Hamas terrorists do everything in their power to keep them in harm’s way, including shooting them, using them as human shields.” Netanyahu declared that Israel would “not recognise the validity” of the ICC’s ruling. Earlier this week, the UN cautioned that Palestinians in sections of northern Gaza, which are under siege by Israeli forces, were “facing diminishing conditions for survival” due to the delivery of almost no aid for 40 days. Gallant stated that the ICC had positioned “the state of Israel and the murderous leaders of Hamas in the same row and thus legitimises the murder of babies, the rape of women and the abduction of the elderly from their beds”. Ehud Olmert, who previously served as Israel’s prime minister, informed the BBC that despite his criticism of Netanyahu’s management of the conflict with Hamas, he disagreed with the ICC’s determination. Olmert conveyed to Radio 4’s World Tonight programme: “Israel has not committed genocide or war crimes that deserve these charges against the prime minister and the minister of defence.” Hamas did not comment on the warrant for Deif but characterized the action against Netanyahu and Gallant as an “important historical precedent, and a correction to a long path of historical injustice against our people”. Palestinians residing in Gaza voiced their expectation that Israeli leaders would now face justice. Israel refutes the accusation that its forces are perpetrating genocide in Gaza, an issue that is the focus of a distinct case before the International Court of Justice. The effect of the warrants declared by the ICC will be contingent upon the decision of the court’s 124 member states – a group that excludes Israel and its ally, the US – regarding their enforcement. A spokesperson for the UK Prime Minister refrained from specific comments on the matter, but affirmed that the UK would consistently “fulfil the obligations under the act and indeed our legal obligations”. This pertains to the International Criminal Court Act 2001, which stipulates that upon the court issuing an arrest warrant, a Secretary of State “shall transmit the request…to an appropriate judicial officer”. Should the officer confirm the warrant’s issuance by the ICC, they “shall endorse the warrant for execution in the United Kingdom”. Representatives from the EU and various European nations have all issued statements in support of the Court. Josep Borrell, the EU’s foreign policy chief, declared that “the decision of the court has to be respected and implemented”. The Dutch foreign minister stated that “we will act on the arrest warrants”, and Italy indicated its support for the Court, asserting it should “play a legal role and not a political role”. The spokesman for the German chancellor noted that Berlin maintained “unique relations with a great responsibility for Israel”, and that additional measures would only be pursued if a visit by Netanyahu and Gallant was “foreseeable”. Two of Israel’s strongest allies within the EU dismissed the Court’s determination. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced his intention to invite Netanyahu for a visit and “guarantee him that if he comes, the ICC’s ruling will have no effect in Hungary”. Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala characterized the court’s action as “an unfortunate decision” for drawing an equivalence between “the elected representatives of a democratic state with the leaders of an Islamist terrorist organisation”. South Africa, which has initiated a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice alleging genocide, endorsed the decision and called upon “all state parties to act in accordance with their obligations in the Rome Statute”. South Africa did not uphold an ICC arrest warrant for Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir during his visit to the nation in June 2015. The ICC prosecutor’s legal action against Netanyahu, Gallant, and Deif originates from 7 October 2023, the date Hamas gunmen assaulted Israel, resulting in approximately 1,200 fatalities and the abduction of 251 individuals to Gaza as hostages. Israel retaliated by initiating a military operation aimed at eradicating Hamas, a campaign during which a minimum of 44,000 people have died in Gaza, as reported by the territory’s Hamas-controlled health ministry. Regarding Deif, an ICC pre-trial chamber determined there were reasonable grounds to believe he was “responsible for the crimes against humanity of murder; extermination; torture; and rape and other form of sexual violence; as well as the war crimes of murder, cruel treatment, torture; taking hostages; outrages upon personal dignity; and rape and other form of sexual violence”. The chamber further indicated reasonable grounds to believe that these crimes against humanity constituted “part of a widespread and systematic attack directed by Hamas and other armed groups against the civilian population of Israel”. Concerning Netanyahu and Gallant, who was succeeded as defence minister earlier this month, the chamber found reasonable grounds to believe that they “each bear criminal responsibility for the following crimes as co-perpetrators for committing the acts jointly with others: the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare; and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts”. Additionally, it identified reasonable grounds to believe that “each bear criminal responsibility as civilian superiors for the war crime of intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population”.