Twelve United States senators have written to the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, threatening severe repercussions if the court issues arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli officials.
In the letter dated April 24, the senators alleged that the ICC was seeking to punish Israel for taking “legitimate actions of self-defence against Iranian-backed aggressors.”
The legislators cited Mr. Khan’s report of “scenes of calculated cruelty” he witnessed following the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel, saying they could not find “moral equivalence between Hamas’s terrorism and Israel’s justified response.”
“Issuing arrest warrants for the leaders of Israel would not only be unjustified, it would expose your organisation’s hypocrisy and double standards. Your office has not issued arrest warrants for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei or any other Iranian official, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad or any other Syrian official, or Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh or any other Hamas official. Nor have you issued an arrest warrant for the genocidal General Secretary of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, or any other Chinese official,” the letter said.
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The letter further stated that both Israel and the US are non-members of the ICC, thus placing them beyond the court’s purported jurisdiction.
“The United States will not tolerate politicized attacks by the ICC on our allies. Target Israel and we will target you. If you move forward with the measures indicated in the report, we will move to end all American support for the ICC, sanction your employees and associates, and bar you and your families from the United States. You have been warned.”
Since the October 7 attack, which claimed nearly 1200 Israeli lives, Israel has launched an incursion into Gaza. According to the Gaza health ministry, the Israeli Defense Force has reportedly caused the deaths of more than 34,000 Palestinians so far.
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