Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday condemned the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) decision earlier this week to issue arrest warrants for senior Israeli and Hamas officials.
ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan announced that he is seeking to prosecute Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant, and senior Hamas officials Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Dei Arrest warrants were issued for the husband and Ismail Haniyeh.
“This is an outrage,” Netanyahu told Fox News host Sean Hannity. “This is a deranged rogue prosecutor. His goal to demonize the only Jewish state and the only democracy in the Middle East is false and dangerous.”
Karim Khan is the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. (Getty Images)
Khan accused Netanyahu and Galante of war crimes and crimes against humanity. He accused senior Israeli officials of seven crimes, including “starvation of civilians as a tactic of war,” “deliberate attacks against civilians” and “intentional homicide.”
Netanyahu criticized the ICC for simultaneously requesting arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas officials, saying the move sought to create a “false symmetry” between “Israel’s democratically elected leaders and the terrorist tyrant of Hamas.”
He added that the ICC decision was like the arrest warrants requested for Winston Churchill, President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Adolf Hitler during World War II, or the arrest warrants for George W. President Bush issued the same arrest warrant as Osama bin Laden.
Panoramic view of the International Criminal Court (ICC) building in The Hague, Netherlands, on April 30, 2024. ((Photo by Selman Aksunger/Anadolu via Getty Images))
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According to the Associated Press, Israel launched the war after Hamas militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped about 250 people to Gaza.
The health ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza does not distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths, saying more than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war.
President Biden Dismissal of ICC’s application Issued arrest warrants for Israeli officials, saying “there is no comparison between Israel and Hamas”.
“It’s clear that Israel wants to do everything it can to ensure that civilians are protected,” Biden said.
Israeli soldiers gather near the Israel-Gaza border in southern Israel before entering the Gaza corridor, Wednesday, May 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zweigenberg)
He added: “Contrary to the charges against Israel in the International Court of Justice, what is happening is not genocide. We reject this. We will always stand with Israel and threats to its security.”
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Netanyahu also criticized the International Criminal Court for accusing Israel of starving Palestinian civilians.
Khan said in a statement that since October 8, Israel has imposed a “total siege” on Gaza, which includes closing three crossing points and “arbitrarily restricting access to the Gaza Strip.”[ed] After border crossings reopen, essential supplies, including food and medicine, will be transferred through the crossings.
As Israel continues its attacks on Gaza, Palestinians, including children, are unable to access many basic needs, including basic food supplies, due to the imposition of a total blockade on the area; therefore, on May 18, 2024, in the city of Deir al-Balah, Gaza , they queued for hours to wait for meals distributed by charity organizations. ((Photo: Abed Rahim Khatib/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“The siege also includes the long-term severing of the cross-border water pipeline from Israel to Gaza (Gaza’s main source of clean water) starting on October 9, 2023, and the cutting and impeding of the electricity supply from at least October 8, 2023 to the present. At the same time , there have been other attacks against civilians, including incidents that prevented humanitarian agencies from delivering aid; and attacks and killings of aid workers, forcing many agencies to halt or restrict operations in Gaza.
Netanyahu called the accusation a “lie” and “false.”
“We put in 20,000 trucks — 500,000 tons of food and medicine. Food prices in Gaza dropped dramatically because the market doesn’t lie,” he told Hannity. “People are eating about 3,000 calories a day when they actually need 2,000 calories a day. That’s nonsense.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said Congress is Review its options Respond to ICC decisions, including the possibility of sanctions.
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A panel of three ICC judges must decide in the coming months whether to issue arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Galante, Sinwar, Deif and Haniyeh.
