…Says it’s working with Israel on next steps
…Lawmakers urge sanctions on court
The White House said Thursday that it “fundamentally rejects” the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue arrest warrants against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes in Gaza.
This is as some lawmakers, including US President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for national security adviser, urged sanctions against The Hague-based ICC over the decision, and Israel was said to be working with the incoming administration on punitive measures against the court.
One Republican senator hinted the US should invade The Hague in retaliation for the warrants.
“Let me be clear once again: whatever the ICC might imply, there is no equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas. We will always stand with Israel against threats to its security,” US President Joe Biden said in his first statement responding to the ICC decision, which he denounced as “outrageous.”
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the US would not execute the arrest warrants, and called the ICC move a “flawed process.”
“In contrast to how Chief ICC Prosecutor Karim Kahn has treated others, including (probed Venezuelan President) Nicolas Maduro and his associates, the prosecutor failed to provide Israel with a meaningful opportunity to engage constructively and to properly consider its domestic processes,” she said.
“This calls into question the credibility of the prosecutor and his investigation,” she added.
By contrast, Michigan Representative Rashida Tlaib — a member of the ultra-progressive “Squad” Democrats and only Palestinian-American member of Congress — welcomed the ICC’s “long overdue decision,” saying it “signals that the days of the Israeli apartheid government operating with impunity are ending.”
The warrants effectively bar Netanyahu and Gallant from entering the ICC’s 124 member states. Israel and the US, neither of which are members of the court, have slammed the motion to arrest Netanyahu and Gallant.
ICC Chief Prosecutor, Karim Khan had announced in May that he was seeking the arrest of Netanyahu and Gallant, as well as three Hamas leaders who have since been killed. At the time, the US administration assailed Khan, saying he had failed to provide Israel with the opportunity to investigate the claims.
However, the Biden administration has so far rejected calls from Republican lawmakers to sanction the court as Trump had done in his first term.
On Thursday, a White House National Security Council spokesperson told The Times of Israel that Washington is “deeply concerned by the prosecutor’s rush to seek arrest warrants and the troubling process errors that led to this decision.”
“The United States has been clear that the ICC does not have jurisdiction over this matter,” the spokesperson added.
“In coordination with partners, including Israel, we are discussing next steps.”
The Kan public broadcaster reported Thursday that Israel had compiled a list of sanctions that the Trump administration could slap on the court. The list was said to include specific figures in the court who could be targeted.
In June, the US House passed a bill that would cancel the US visas of ICC officials, restrict entry of, and place financial restrictions on any of the court’s officials who are seeking to detain or prosecute allies of the United States. Biden said he was “strongly opposed” to the legislation, which passed with a majority of 247-155, including with the support of 42 Democrats.
It has not been taken up by the US Senate, however, though Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, called the initial request for arrest warrants “reprehensible.”
Hinting at the direction of the next White House, Trump’s slated national security adviser, the hawkish Republican Representative Mike Waltz of Florida, wrote on X that “You can expect a strong response to the antisemitic bias of the ICC and UN come January,” when Trump takes office.
“The ICC has no credibility and these allegations have been refuted by the US government,” wrote Waltz, adding that “Israel has lawfully defended its people [and] borders from genocidal terrorists.”
As yet, there have been no comments from Trump himself or the rest of his foreign policy picks: New York Representative Elise Stefanik, who is slated to be Washington’s next ambassador to the UN, and Florida Senator Marco Rubio, whom Trump selected for US Secretary of State.
However, Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, whom Trump reportedly considered for Secretary of Defense, implied the US should invade The Hague over the warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant.
“The ICC is a kangaroo court and Karim Khan is a deranged fanatic. Woe to him and anyone who tries to enforce these outlaw warrants,” wrote Cotton on X.
“Let me give them all a friendly reminder: the American law on the ICC is known as The Hague Invasion Act for a reason. Think about it.”
Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, another Trump-aligned hawk, alluded to Khan’s alleged sexual misconduct in assailing the ICC.
“Calling for an independent investigation of the prosecutor’s misconduct one day and issuing a warrant based on his work product the next day is an affront to any sense of fairness and the rule of law,” wrote Graham on X.
“The Court is a dangerous joke. It is now time for the US Senate to act and sanction this irresponsible body,” he wrote.
Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the newly elected leader of US Senate Republicans, slammed the ICC, saying its “outrageous, unlawful and dangerous” actions “threaten Israel, but left unchecked they could pose a threat to the United States in the future.”
He urged his Democratic counterpart, Schumer, to bring before the US Senate the bill that would sanction the ICC.
“If he chooses not to act, the new Senate Republican majority next year will,” said Thune, whose party won control of the Senate in the November 5 election.
Senator Jim Risch of Idaho, the leading Republican on the US Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, also assailed the ICC’s move as a “complete disgrace,” adding that Israel is not under the court’s jurisdiction.
“The US must move forward with sanctions against this corrupt organization,” wrote Risch on X.
His counterpart on the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, Representative Michael McCaul of Texas, also assailed the ICC’s “anti-Israel witch hunt blatantly ignores the actual facts of this conflict.”
“Israel, like the United States, is not a member of the ICC, and has shown it can investigate and hold its own citizens accountable when necessary,” said McCaul. “The Senate must act immediately to enact our bill and protect American servicemembers and officials, and our allies.”
Representative Ritchie Torres — a firmly pro-Israel Democrat, whose New York district includes the large Jewish community of Riverdale in the Bronx — joined the call for sanctions against the “kangaroo court,” breaking with the Biden administration.
“Not only did Hamas wage war on Israel, causing the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust, it carefully constructed a battlefield designed to maximize the loss of civilian life,” he wrote. “The ICC should be sanctioned not for enforcing the law but for distorting it beyond recognition.”
Another pro-Israel Democrat, Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, slammed the court, but stopped short of calling for sanctions on it.
Sharing a news report about the arrest warrants, Fetterman wrote: “No standing, relevance, or path. Fuck that.”
The war in Gaza was sparked on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages. Israel’s counteroffensive has killed more than 44,000 people, according to the Hamas health ministry.
The figure cannot be independently verified and does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, of whom Israel says it has killed at least 17,000 in Gaza, in addition to about 1,000 inside Israel during the onslaught.
The ICC accuses Netanyahu and Gallant — whom the prime minister fired earlier this month — of targeting civilians and using starvation as a weapon of war. The court on Thursday also issued a warrant for Hamas military chief Mohammed Deif, who Israel says was killed by an IDF strike in Gaza in July.
Khan had sought arrest warrants for Deif and slain Hamas leaders Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar for the terror group’s massacre.
