Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday criticized the International Criminal Court (ICC) for its decision earlier this week to seek arrest warrants against senior Israeli and Hamas officials.
Karim Khan, the ICC’s chief prosecutor, announced that he was seeking arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallantas well as senior Hamas officials Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Deif and Ismail Haniyeh.
“It’s outrageous,” Netanyahu told Fox News host Sean Hannity. “He’s a rogue prosecutor gone crazy. He wants to demonize the one and only Jewish state and the only democracy in the Middle East, and that is both wrong and dangerous.”
Karim Khan is the chief prosecutor of the ICC. (Getty Images)
Khan accused Netanyahu and Gallant of war crimes and crimes against humanity. He alleged seven crimes committed by senior Israeli officials, including “starvation of civilians as a method of warfare,” “intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population” and “willful killing.”
Netanyahu criticized the ICC for request arrest warrants against Israeli and Hamas officials at the same time, arguing that there is an attempt to create “false symmetry” between the “democratically elected leaders of Israel and the terrorist tyrants of Hamas.”
He added that the ICC’s decision would be tantamount to seeking arrest warrants for Winston Churchill, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Adolf Hitler during World War II or President George W. Bush and Osama bin Laden during the war against terrorism.
A general view of the International Criminal Court (ICC) building in The Hague, Netherlands, April 30, 2024. ((Photo by Selman Aksunger/Anadolu via Getty Images))
A NIGHT OF INTENSE FIGHTING MARKS ISRAELI ADVANCED DEEPER INTO RAFAH
Israel launched its war after Hamas militants brutally killed 1,200 people, most of whom were civilians, and kidnapped about 250 others in Gaza, according to the Associated Press.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, which does not distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths, said more than 35,000 Palestinians were killed during the war.
President Biden rejected the ICC’s request for arrest warrants against Israeli officials, saying there is “no equivalence – none – between Israel and Hamas.”
“It is clear that Israel wants to do everything it can to ensure the protection of civilians,” Biden said.
Israeli soldiers gather near the Israel-Gaza border in southern Israel before entering the Gaza Strip, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
He added: “Contrary to the allegations against Israel made by the International Court of Justice, what is happening is not genocide. We reject this. We will always stand with Israel and the threats to its security.”
AUSTIN SAYS NO EVIDENCE ISRAEL IS COMMITTING “GENOCIDE” IN GAZA STRIP WAR AGAINST HAMAS
Netanyahu also criticized the ICC for claiming that Israel was starving Palestinian civilians.
Khan said in a statement that since October 8, Israel imposed a “full siege” of Gaza that involved the closure of three border crossings that “arbitrarily restricted the transfer of essential supplies.” including food and medicine – through border posts after their reopening. »
As Israeli attacks on Gaza continue, Palestinians, including children, are unable to meet many basic needs, including basic food, due to the complete blockade imposed on the region; Thus, in the town of Deir al-Balah, in Gaza, they queue for hours to receive meals distributed by charitable organizations on May 18, 2024. ((Photo by Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty Images))
“The siege also included cutting off cross-border water pipes between Israel and Gaza – the main source of drinking water for Gazans – for an extended period starting October 9, 2023, as well as cutting off and obstructing the electricity supply from at least October 8, 2023 until today. This occurred alongside other attacks on civilians, including those queuing for food; obstruction of aid delivery by humanitarian agencies; and attacks and killings of aid workers, which have forced many agencies to cease or limit their operations in Gaza,” the statement read in part.
Netanyahu called the accusation a “pack of lies” and “false.”
“We sent 20,000 trucks, or 500,000 tons of food and medicine. The price of food in Gaza has fallen because the markets don’t lie,” he told Hannity. “People are getting about 3,000 calories a day, compared to the 2,000 they need. That’s a load of nonsense.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said Congress review your options to respond to the ICC decision, including the possibility of sanctions.
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A panel of three ICC judges is expected to decide in the coming months whether to grant the arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant, Sinwar, Deif and Haniyeh.
