George Clooney contacted a senior White House official last month to complain after President Biden criticized the International Criminal Court’s decision to request a warrant against senior Israeli officials over the war in Gaza, a case the actor’s wife had worked on, according to two people familiar with the matter.
His wife, Amal Clooney, a prominent human rights lawyer, served on an advisory committee that helped lead the court’s investigation, which resulted in requests for an arrest warrant against the prime minister Israeli defense minister and three senior Hamas leaders, accusing them of illegal conduct that led to thousands of civilian deaths.
Mr. Clooney filed his protest with Steve Richetti, an adviser to Mr. Biden who played a central role in his fundraising efforts four years ago. It had no effect on U.S. policy, a senior administration official said on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.
Still, Mr. Clooney’s decision to contact the White House (with a text message, one of the people said) underscores the problems that Israel’s actions have caused for Mr. Biden as he tries to reconcile his support for a loyal ally with his own misgivings. and increased pressure from the disillusioned American left.
To illustrate this dilemma: Mr. Clooney is scheduled to appear June 15 in Los Angeles at a high-value fundraiser for Mr. Biden, attended by former presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. In a fundraising email sent Saturday on behalf of the Biden-Harris campaign, Mr. Clooney said: “Joe and Kamala’s message of hope and belief in a better future for all is one that I believe. »
Simon Halls, a spokesman for the actor, declined to comment on Mr. Clooney’s interaction with Mr. Ricchetti, but said his client “had every intention of attending the fundraiser.”
A White House spokesperson had no comment on Mr. Clooney’s complaint, which was reported earlier by the Washington Post.
The United States and Israel are not members of the International Criminal Court, located in The Hague. After the court’s chief prosecutor announced he would seek the arrest warrants on May 20, Mr. Biden strongly criticized ” the decision, affirming “that there is no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas”.
In a report posted on her family foundation’s website, Ms Clooney said she had worked with court prosecutors for four months “to evaluate evidence of alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity” in Israel and Gaza .
Ms. Clooney, a Lebanese-born lawyer, worked as an investigator at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and prosecuted Hezbollah members accused of the 2005 assassination of the Lebanese prime minister.
Last month she co-signed an opinion article with other members of an ICC advisory committee arguing that their investigation found “reasonable grounds to believe” that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant “committed crimes of war and crimes against humanity.
Their report found enough evidence to accuse Israeli leaders of the war crime of “intentionally using the starvation of civilians as a method of warfare and the murder and persecution of Palestinians as crimes against humanity.”
THE The House voted mainly along party lines Tuesday to impose sweeping sanctions on the ICC by forcing Mr. Biden to restrict entry to the United States, revoke visas and impose financial restrictions on anyone in court involved in an attempted investigation, arrest , detention or prosecution of “protected persons”, or allies of the United States. It would also target anyone providing “financial, material or technological support” for these efforts.
Mr. Biden’s advisers said he was “strongly opposed” to the measure because it would impose sanctions on a very broad range of officials, including court staff members and any witnesses involved in a potential case.
But it reflects fissures within the Democratic coalition and broad bipartisan anger at the ICC, with 42 Democrats crossing party lines to support the Republican-backed measure.
