5/20/2024–|Last updated: 5/20/202410:38 PM (Mecca time)
US President Joe Biden – on Monday – described International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan’s request for the court to issue arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Galant for their role in the war on Gaza as “outrageous.”
Biden added – in a statement to the White House – “Let me be clear: Whatever this prosecutor means, there is absolutely no equivalence between the positions of Israel and the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).”
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken also rejected the Attorney General’s request, raising questions about the court’s jurisdiction and the process of submitting it, stressing that the request may jeopardize the negotiations aimed at reaching an agreement regarding detainees and a ceasefire.
He added, “Israel was ready to cooperate with the court, and the public prosecutor was scheduled to visit Israel next week, but he went out in front of television to announce the accusations… The court has no judicial authority over Israel.”
He added, “These and other circumstances raise questions about the legitimacy and credibility of this investigation,” considering that the ICC Prosecutor’s “equation” between Israel and Hamas is “shameful.”
Undermining negotiations
The US State Department also said – in a statement – that “the International Criminal Prosecutor’s announcement will push Hamas into intransigence and undermine reaching a ceasefire.”
She indicated that she “believes in the necessity of holding the movement’s leaders accountable, but she does not believe that the International Criminal Court has the authority to do so.”
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin also announced that the United States will continue to cooperate with the court regarding Ukraine, despite its disagreement with it over the request to issue arrest warrants against the two Israeli officials.
British Defense Minister Grant Shapps confirmed that the request for arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant would not affect his country’s continued export of weapons to Tel Aviv, saying, “We support Israel as a country regardless of individuals.”
For its part, the German Foreign Ministry said that Israel has the right to defend itself provided that international humanitarian law and its relevant obligations are applied.
Welcoming parking
On the other hand, Belgian Foreign Minister Hajjah Lahbib said that the International Criminal Prosecutor’s request to issue arrest warrants against those responsible for “war crimes” in Palestine is “an important step to investigate the situation.”
Lahbib added – in a statement published on the X platform – that “combatting impunity, wherever crimes occur, is a priority for Belgium.”
She expressed her country’s support for the work of the International Criminal Court, stressing “the necessity of prosecuting those responsible for crimes in Gaza at the highest levels, regardless of their perpetrators.”
The South African presidency also welcomed the announcement by the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court requesting the issuance of arrest warrants against Israeli officials and leaders of the Hamas movement.
crimes against humanity
The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, announced – earlier today, Monday – that he had submitted requests to the court to issue arrest warrants on charges of committing war crimes and genocide against humanity, in connection with the war in Gaza and the attack of last October 7.
Khan said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defense Minister Yoav Galant bear responsibility for crimes against humanity in Gaza, and that the evidence finds that the two Israeli officials are complicit in causing suffering and starvation of civilians in Gaza.
He also said that there are reasonable reasons to believe that both the leader of the Hamas movement in Gaza, Yahya Al-Sinwar, and Muhammad Diab Ibrahim Al-Masry, known as Muhammad Al-Deif, the commander-in-chief of the Martyr Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the movement’s military wing, and the head of the movement’s political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, are responsible for committing war crimes and against humanity. In Israel, according to his words.