“Whatever the ICC may imply, there is no equivalence, none, between Israel and Hamas,” denounced American President Joe Biden this Thursday, November 21.
Joe Biden considered the arrest warrants of the International Criminal Court against Israeli leaders “scandalous”, in a press release published this Thursday, November 21.
“Whatever the ICC may imply, there is no equivalence, none, between Israel and Hamas,” commented the American president after the international court issued arrest warrants against the Prime Minister Israeli Benjamin Netanyahu, his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, but also the head of the armed wing of Hamas Mohammed Deif for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
“We will always stand by Israel in the face of threats to its security,” the outgoing president wrote.
Republicans want sanctions against the ICC
“We remain deeply concerned by the prosecutor's eagerness to seek arrest warrants and by the troubling errors in the process that led to this decision,” a White House National Security Council spokesperson previously said. .
He repeated that according to Washington “the ICC did not have legal jurisdiction in this matter”. The spokesperson assured that Washington was “discussing next steps with (its) partners, including Israel.”
Donald Trump has not reacted to these arrest warrants, but his future National Security Advisor Mike Waltz has promised a “strong response” to the “anti-Semitic bias” of the ICC when the president-elect is sworn in in January.
In Congress, Republicans unanimously called for sanctions against the international organization. “The International Criminal Court acted in the most absurd and irresponsible way possible,” criticized powerful senator Lindsey Graham, close to Donald Trump.
“It is time for the United States Senate to act and sanction this irresponsible organization,” he said.
Neither the United States nor Israel is a member of the ICC, a permanent court charged with prosecuting and trying individuals accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Founded in 2002, this institution which today has 124 member states has only handed down a handful of convictions since its creation.
