Joe Biden
On Monday, US President Joe Biden slammed the International Criminal Court prosecutor’s outrageous request for an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
As Washington hastened to defend its key ally, Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned that the Hague-based court’s decision may jeopardize ceasefire talks to end the Gaza conflict.
Karim Khan, ICC Prosecutor, is seeking arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, and top Hamas leaders, on suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In a statement, Biden stated, “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”, Biden continued.
Biden went on to say, “The United States will always stand with Israel against threats to its security”.
Neither the United States nor Israel is a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which was established in 2002 as a court of last resort for the world’s worst crimes.
When asked if Biden backed ICC arrest warrants for Hamas’s leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, and political chief Ismail Haniyeh, White House spokesman John Kirby responded, “We don’t believe the ICC has jurisdiction in this matter”.
Biden’s support for Netanyahu’s ICC bid comes amid recent tensions over Israel’s war in Gaza in response to Hamas’s October 7 attack.
The United States recently postponed a shipment of bombs to Israel to deter an offensive in the southern city of Rafah.
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